2021 saw Ye (aka Kanye West) focused on his latest album, Donda. As for what he’s up to next, he says he’s working on a performance piece called The Funeral Rehearsal Of Kanye West.
First look at the new @032c_Workshop Winter Issue Special Edition Booklet featuring a conversation between Ye and Tino Sehgal.
Purchase here: https://t.co/ZPkAKxnQFC pic.twitter.com/Ujc7UQU8QC
— Photos Of Ye (@PhotosOfKanye) December 12, 2021
Ye spoke about the endeavor in a new conversation with Tino Sehgal, for German culture magazine 032c. In the print-only interview, which is included as “a special edition booklet” in Issue #40 of the publication (photos of which were shared on Reddit but then deleted), the conversation started with the two exchanging pleasantries and Sehgal asking Ye about a project he was planning to do in Berlin. Ye responded:
“Yeah, but we want to give it some more time. The idea went from throwing a Halloween party to doing a performance piece called The Funeral Rehearsal Of Kanye West. I feel like every artist should design their own funeral rehearsal. And then, when they die, people can do it again. […] It’s also a new language. At this point, every art piece I do is a window, an app, for human beings. 808s & Heartbreak was the app for Drake and The Weeknd, and The Funeral Rehearsal Of Kanye West will be the app for others.”
At another point in the chat, Ye noted, “I was talking to [German designer and Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia] about the costumes for Funeral Rehearsal, and I told him they have to look like they came from a thousand years ago, now, or a thousand years from now. And then it can go other-dimensional. It can’t be overly contemporary.”
He also said:
“I can’t let nobody love me too much, because I’m gonna get into this trap of love. And then I owe it to everyone to be the person that they fell in love with. And I’ll never be that person. I have to always have the freedom of being disliked, so I can always be me. And so, this new piece is the death of Kanye West. It is the death of the ego that separates us — it’s the birth of humanity. Let me start by killing myself. The less you, the more room for God.”
It’s not clear when Ye intends to premiere Funeral Rehearsal, but as he noted, he wants “to give it some more time,” so it could end up being a while before the world sees it. As for the interview, Highsnobiety has some exclusive excerpts of it. The full interview has some more Ye quotes about Funeral Rehearsal and other topics, so find that here.
