On May 10, as part of Kathe Burkhart's solo exhibition Bloom and Doom in the gallery, we will be screening Almost Heaven (2023), a literary performance by the artist. This sustained durational (4 hours and 42 minutes) literary performance features Burkhart reading her book Almost Heaven, in its entirety.
PARTICIPANT AFTER DARK produced and presented the online video premiere in conjunction with exhibitions of Burkhart's work at NYU’s Fales Library and Special Collections and at Cheim and Read Gallery in New York City. This literary reading is a cross between a radio broadcast, an audio book, and a Netflix series. Almost Heaven is a collection of twenty interrelated origin stories full of Southern discomfort mostly set in 1970s West Virginia, a place that is plagued by the dark side of the American dream, transgenerational trauma, poverty, the ghosts of the Civil War and a drug subculture that preceded the current Opioid Crisis but had no name yet.
The screening starts at 1pm and runs until 5pm.
Almost Heaven, written and read by Kathe Burkhart
total running time 4 hours, 42 minutes
Technical Director and Video Editor: Itziar Barrio
Cameras: Marit Liang, Itziar Barrio
Lighting Design: Marit Liang
Audio Recording and Audio Mix: Sophia Orlow
Subtitles: Sarah Anderson, Itziar Barrio
