Combining improvised Arabic operatic singing, drones, electromagnetic microphones, string instruments, and contemporary dance, “We Shall Not Inherit the Earth” explores the parallels between US funded surveillance as a tool of violence and western classical music. The performance fluctuates between rigid sonic ‘control’ and wild experimental sounds. The dynamic between conductor, performer, and sheet music serves as a metaphor for the police state, while coil pickup microphones capture sounds from destroyed surveillance apparatuses. This experimental opera does not offer a solution, but creates space for performers to grapple with themes of power, control, agency, and the privileges of silence.

This is a boceto, or study, for a larger version of this experimental opera. It is Mercedes’s second opera; their first was *Never In Our Image*, a LGBTQIA+ gun destruction opera produced in collaboration with CulturalDC. The musical score for that work featured the sounds of weapons being destroyed and transformed into queer sonic instruments, blending percussion, opera, and contemporary dance. Mercedes has been melting down weapons for the past eight years and became interested in exploring surveillance as a contemporary tool of war after discovering that many of the foundries where she casts are also used to create drone parts.

Opera Singer: Fairouz Foty, Brittany Hunter

Contemporary Dancer: Mher Kanodyan

Percussion: Anonymous

Sound Designer: Zeos Greene

Drone Pilot: Kate Wichlinski

Main Artist: Stephanie Mercedes

“We Shall Not Inherit the Earth” is part of the 2024 Color of Surveillance conference that will be co-hosted by the Center on Privacy & Technology, the UCLA Center on Race & Digital Justice and the Distributed AI Research Institute. This conference is a all day event, please visit the Center's website to learn more.