Peek into Black Wasteland 

by Hangrui Zhang and LightSounds

A preview of the breadth of what LightSounds is all about, Peek into Black Wasteland is an uncompromising convergence of analogue and digital music, visual arts, and mixed media. Unfolding across three distinct sets, the production fuses experimental theatre, live instrumentation, and projection art into a cohesive aesthetic whole.

The performance draws together powerful cinematic storytelling about the alchemical transformations driven by humanity's deepest fears and desires. Extending Lychen’s work of BLACK WASTELAND (2025), which examined how symbols and signs participate in the constitution and reconfiguration of the world, it reconstructs notions of Time, Body, Language and Existence through the lens of a new central proposition: becoming — how the subject generates itself.

The journey begins with the layered liquid light projections of Pat Grimm, intertwined with Reuben Sutherland's performative electronics. This textural landscape then shifts, making space for the dynamic brass and woodwinds of Charlotte Keefe on trumpet and Rianna Henriques on flute and saxophone, their live improvisation set against the striking experimental films of Pierre Bouvier Patron, showcasing a masterful interplay of visuals and sound. Finally, the night culminates in two movements from Black Ash — the latest chapter in the Black Wasteland series — conceived through a collaborative dialogue between Hangrui Zhang, Yuchen Li (Lychen) and the Rothko Collective.

Expect a relentless, beautiful collision of improvised electronics, traditional acoustics, analogue projection, and pre-composed art music. Come in, strap in, and surrender to the experience.