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# In Downtown LA, a Dance Set to the World War Two-Era “Quartet for the End of Time”
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/in-downtown-la-a-dance-set-to-the-world-war-two-era-quartet-for-the-end-of-time/
- Published: 2017-06-12T22:39:40.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:27:07.000Z
- Description: On June 16 and 17, Susan Silton is restaging the quartet Olivier Messiaen wrote while imprisoned in a camp, accompanied by a minimal score choreographed by Flora Wiegmann.
- Author: Matt Stromberg
- Tags: Art, Events, Los Angeles Nomadic Division, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:23 (2016, 2017, part 2)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/06/final-montage.jpg)

Dorothea Lange, “Manzanar Relocation Center, Central Photographic File of the War Relocation Authority” (1942); Stalag VIII A, (1942) (courtesy of Susan Silton)

The 20th-century avant-garde composer Olivier Messiaen wrote “[Quartet for the End of Time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYpBHc8px%5FU&ref=hyperallergic.com)” while imprisoned in a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, using the only available instruments: piano, violin, cello, and clarinet. Employing unconventional time and rhythm, and influenced by birdsong (Messiaen was an avid ornithologist), the piece conveys a sense of disorientation and anxiety, a reflection of life during wartime as well as the overarching apocalyptic theme.

Sensing resonances between Messiaen’s inspirations and our contemporary challenging political moment, artist Susan Silton decided [to restage the work](http://nomadicdivision.org/exhibition/upcoming-exhibition-quartet-for-the-end-of-time/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in a large warehouse space in downtown LA, not far from the site of her 2015 operatic piece [*A Sublime Madness in the Soul*](https://vimeo.com/151587191?ref=hyperallergic.com). The all-female cast and crew will feature four musicians accompanied by four dancers performing a minimal score choreographed by [Flora Wiegmann](http://florawiegmann.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com). The work will be preceded by an introductory reading by Cristina Frias of a text by Hannah Arendt, well known for her writings on totalitarianism.

**When:** Friday, June 16 & Saturday, June 17, 8:30pm nightly (free with [RSVP](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exchange-value-susan-silton-tickets-34553639867?ref=hyperallergic.com))  
**Where:** (1399 Factory Place, Downtown, Los Angeles)

*More info* [*here*](http://nomadicdivision.org/exhibition/upcoming-exhibition-quartet-for-the-end-of-time/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.*