Ancient Futures

for movement artist/ceramicist, viola, and live audio-visual electronics

Ancient Futures, performed by Scott Rubin and Qū Jié

Scott Rubin - viola, movement, audio-visual programming

Qū Jié - ceramics and dance

Premiered May 22, 2026

Elastic Arts, chicago

Ancient Futures is the new project of Chicago artists Qū Jié and Scott Rubin. This work investigates clay-shaping as performance. Humanity has been creating ceramics for over 10,000 years, forging complex lineages of values, beliefs, and social structures that continue to document ordinary life. As the saying goes, clay remembers everything. The artists transform a pottery wheel into an electroacoustic audio-visual experience. Using a collection of modern and historical tools, the artists blur the boundaries between the real and the virtual; past, present, and future; calling into question our engagements with modernity, and how we hide from it.

Recorded and mixed by Jonathan Woods