Performance: Christopher Stark, Fire Ecologies
Date and Time
Location
NBAC + NON STNDRD
About the Event
Coyote Time Convening: Climate Futures and Infrastructural Imaginaries
Composer Christopher Stark and Unheard-of Ensemble present Fire Ecologies, an expansive six-part musical work that calls attention to the global environment as it faces a perilous future. Performed at the National Building Arts Center, Fire Ecologies draws attention to the toxic materials and pollution of Sauget, IL, formerly Monsanto-town, and builds upon the former presentations in locations and contexts that underscore the world’s mission to enhance climate awareness. Stark’s work draws attention to the fragility of our natural landscapes and enriches the artworks presented at NBAC as part of Coyote Time.
This event is part of Counterpublic 2026: Coyote Time and our three-day Climate Convening, which brings together artists, writers, organizers, designers, scientists, cultural leaders, and community practitioners to explore climate as a lived reality and exhibitions as opportunities for worldbuilding.
Christopher Stark is a composer deeply rooted in the American West. Having spent his formative years in rural western Montana, his music is always seeking to capture the energy of this quintessential American landscape. Stark, whose music The New York Times has called, “fetching and colorful,” and BBC Music Magazine declared, “we need to listen to,” has been awarded prizes from the American Academy in Rome, Chamber Music America, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Named a “Rising Star” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his works have been performed by ensembles such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Alarm Will Sound, and the Detroit Symphony. Stark is a Creative Partner of the St. Louis Symphony where he curates their series at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation. Stark has held residencies at Civitella Ranieri in Umbria, Copland House in New York, and the Bogliasco Foundation in Liguria where he was the Aaron Copland Fellow in Music. His film score for Novitiate starring Margaret Qualley premiered at Sundance in 2017 and was theatrically released by Sony Pictures Classics.
Register
Coyote Time Convening Registration
Space is limited and registration is required. We hope you’ll join us for this focused conversation and opportunity to learn alongside peers working to build more sustainable, responsive, and resilient cultural institutions.
Convening Support
The Coyote Time Convening is supported by the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative, established by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.
The Climate Forward Institutions Workshop directly supports Counterpublic’s Climate Impact Plan. Learn more here.
This year, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation awarded The Luminary, G-CADD: Granite City Art + Design District, The Griot Museum of Black History, and the National Building Arts Center funds to lower their carbon impacts across their campuses. In addition, the Foundation awarded Counterpublic a grant to support our work with Laura Lupton of LHL Consulting to implement our climate action plan with a long-term vision toward mitigation, adaptation, and resilience and creating a model for biennials, triennials and other large-scale exhibitions to account for their climate impacts.
The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative is the first nationwide program to support energy efficiency and clean energy use for the visual arts and the largest private national grantmaking program to address climate action through cultural institutions. The ongoing initiative provides critical support to visual arts organizations in the United States seeking to assess their impact on the environment and to lower ongoing energy costs. The Foundation has conferred more than $21.8 million since its launch in 2021, with 401 unique grants given for energy efficiency and clean energy projects at 295 institutions across 42 states and Puerto Rico.