Dead Cat Bounce is a collaborative performance work by Gary Zhexi Zhang and Waste Paper Opera (Klara Kofen and James Oldham), telling tales of time, money and the unmaking of reality in the wake of catastrophe.
Waste Paper Opera (Klara Kofen and James Oldham)
Waste Paper Opera is a collective working between sound, music, performance and film . WPO was founded in Birmingham in 2012 and is run by dramaturg, writer and researcher Klara Kofen and composer, and performer James Oldham. Their work explores ecological, musical, historical, financial and cosmic temporalities through experiments in form, dramaturgy and multimodal worldbuilding. Recent projects include Free to Choose, a collaboration with artist Bahar Noorizadeh (commissioned by Singapore Art Museum 2023, performed live at Medialab Matadero 2024), and Dead Cat Bounce, created in collaboration with Gary Zhexi Zhang (commissioned by Arts Catalyst and Medialab Matadero, 2022). WPO have taught collaborative multimodal performance making at Goldsmiths University of London, Central Saint Martins, and London Performance Studios. They are currently developing a new project, abstracts.with love for the Future Places Centre at Lancaster University
Gary Zhexi Zhang
Gary Zhexi Zhang is an artist and writer whose work explores connections between cosmology, technology and economy. He was born in Suzhou and works in London. He recently edited a book of fictions, essays and interviews about finance and time, Catastrophe Time! (Strange Attractor Press, 2023). The opera he co-created with Waste Paper Opera, Dead Cat Bounce, premiered at Somerset House in 2022. His last solo exhibition, Cycle 25, documented events that blur the boundaries between speculative belief and the material world, like natural disasters, scam nations and cosmic economies. Recent group shows include Katabasis, Totalab, Shanghai; Liquid Ground, UCCA Dune, Beidaihe & Para Site, Hong Kong; The Principle of Hope, Inside Out Art Museum, Beijing.
