Last Whispers

(Lena Herzog, US 2016, 46 min., DCP)

Lena Herzog | Special Introduction | Free Member Movie. Last Whispers is an elegy about the mass extinction of languages. Multimedia artist Lena Herzog has collected samples of extinct and endangered idioms. Both spoken and sung, the historical recordings (speech, recitatives, incantations, songs, and ritual chants) are punctuated by the sound of digitally rendered gravitational waves of collapsing stars and supernovae. This oratorio is accompanied by a sequence of black-and-white video drone footage taken in natural landscapes and animation.

In addition to her recent projects in immersive art forms, Herzog has produced extensive bodies of photographic work while traveling the globe. Before the film, at 6 p.m., she will discuss this work at a talk as part of the museum’s Wish You Were Here photography lecture series. A book signing follows the talk. Afterward, Herzog will introduce the screening of Last Whispers at 7:30 p.m. 

Talk and screening FREE to George Eastman Museum members.