A Rite for Ruins is a new musical performance by Publik Universal Frxnd, developed in collaboration with Janne Kosmos and Silva Westera. The production combines live vocals, cello, organ, bass guitar, an electronic score, and mechanical sound sculptures into an exploration of loss, memory, and the functions of mourning during a period of societal instability.

For this special Amsterdam homecoming, the performance features a guest appearance by the legendary Baby Dee, performing a live rendition of the hymn 'Idumea'.

The work is dedicated to Frxnd’s friend and chosen sister Simone Victoria Moss, also known as Babes LaBeija of the House of LaBeija, who passed away in 2023. The performance features an audio snippet of Simone from an interview in which she shares her ideas about what might exist after death. This fragment forms a structural starting point within the composition, positioning her voice as a continuous presence throughout the work.

About the artists

Publik Universal Frxnd is an Amsterdam-based artist whose work explores the entanglement of body, machine, and nature in the wake of industrialization. Taking a queer perspective on histories of labor, migration, and political instability, their recent performances use music and sound to investigate representation, queer subjectivity, and the idea of working with or through constraints. Their work critiques how post-industrial landscapes reflect histories of erasure and ecological loss. Their practice balances research, collaboration, installation and performance and music.

Baby Dee is an iconic American multi-instrumentalist, and performance artist whose work spans vaudeville, gospel, folk, and avant-garde chamber pop. Beginning her career as a street performer in 1970s New York, she later became a fixture of the city's downtown scene, collaborating with the likes of Marc Almond and David Tibet of Current 93, with whom she recorded her rendition of the hymn Idumea.

Having released acclaimed albums on Durtro and Drag City (such as the Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy-produced 'Safe Inside the Day') her immense legacy as a unique performer and personality remains entirely untouchable. She will join the Publik Universal Frxnd’s ensemble for A Rite for Ruins, to perform her beguiling version of Idumea on harp with cello accompaniment.