HUMAN RESOURCES LOS ANGELES
SCREENING OF TOUR WITHOUT END (92 min.) AND LIVE PERFORMANCES BY RACHEL MASON AND BRONTEZ PURNELL AND CONVERSATION WITH CHRIS KRAUS AND LAURA PARNES
Human Resources is pleased to present Tour Without End (2014-2019), a multi-platform installation by filmmaker Laura Parnes, organized by Jeanne Vaccaro. Tour Without End casts real-life musicians, artists and actors as bands on tour, and expands into a cross-generational, Trump–era commentary on contemporary culture and politics. It features members of Gang Gang Dance, LeTigre, The Julie Ruin, MEN, Eartheater, MGMT, Light Asylum, and more.
Shot in real environments and situations, the core group of players improvised based on semi-scripted scenes. Because many of these performers are legends themselves in the New York City downtown scene, they are archetypes playing archetypes. The work revels in the sometimes hilarious — but always complex — band dynamics that the characters endure while touring, collaborating, and aging in a youth-driven music industry. As the players move in and out of character, blending fiction and real life, the film moves in and out of non-linear narrative and historical document. Shot from 2014–2018 at over 15 DIY music spaces in and around New York City — many of which have since shuttered their doors — the film acts as an urgent time capsule for the rapidly gentrifying city.
The installation version highlights the extensive and growing archive of live performance in NYC shot during the four-year production schedule and the raw footage from the improvised scenes. These include more than thirty musicians and ten underground music venues. The archive expands as the project is shown.
