Artist(s): Julius Eastman
Date: January 30, 1981
Humanity and Not Spiritual Beings were two pieces performed and composed by Julius Eastman at The Kitchen. Humanity was a vocal solo, amplifying language, words specifically, as an equal, musical element. They translated Eastman’s experience of being and demonstrated that words and their meanings hold the same power, with or without instrumental accompaniment. Not Spiritual Beings was composed for pianos and instruments, fortified by accumulations and reiterations of sound. Eastman presented such compositions as emblematic of his central interest in speech and action.