Kayib

The performance Kayīb (2023) is a multilayered exploration of the hidden connections and forgotten stories that shape our world. Built on songs that have been banned and the sounds of secret societies, Arutiunian merges the sonic entanglements of oil extraction with histories of charlatanism to explore musical and political peripheries. Running a series of hypnotic and repetitive sonic movements through the bodies of self-made brass instruments, the performance unfolds as a complex interplay of multiple illicit voices and fictitious encounters between a cast of speculatively interrelated characters and musical figures. The work integrates protagonists such as George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (1867–1949), the Armenian-Greek mystic active in Paris in the early twentieth century and renowned practitioner-teacher of techniques aimed to produce higher states of consciousness, and Haile Selassie (1892–1975), the emperor of Ethiopia fascinated by Armenian musicians. Arutiunian creates a hypnotic, immersive experience that challenges listeners to think critically about history, power, and the nature of reality.