PARTY AT LUNCH IN SPECIAL DINER premiered at the Cedar Cultural Center (MPLS) on February 11, 2023.

PARTY AT LUNCH IN SPECIAL DINER uses footage from a 1936 Oliver Mining Company film to blur perceived separation between classes and differences in interactions with environment. Highlighting cause and effect in the history of extraction industries in the 20th century, a pre-recorded track of environmental sounds from the region scarred by iron mining asks us to listen attentively to our environment as a method of subverting the power hierarchies between man and earth that have been strengthened in dominant American narratives.

Excerpt from live performance.

Composition, field recording, and video / Sara Pajunen
16mm Mining Inspection Tour film, 1936 courtesy Kathryn A. Martin Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Minnesota Duluth
Thank you to Aimee Brown for her help with the archival footage