Hurry, 591 BC –2007: The Musical 24.07.26 in Berlin, Lettrétage in der Veteranenstr.

A team of writers, musicians and artists will attempt to make a musical in 10 hours flat. The final performance that very evening will present a history of 'hurry' made in a hurry.

The event is an investigation into the plausability of taking Hurry, 591 BC – 2007, a title from the Webster's Timeline Histories series, as subject matter and the only research tool for a creative endeavor.

There are some 90,000 titles in the Timeline Histories series. Published by the mysterious Icon Group International, Inc., each book is a mélange of chronological quotations pertaining to the eponymous topic, chosen algorithmically and without human oversight — and all before 2011. Pick an adjective, noun, or verb, and publisher Philip M. Parker and his team at Icon are likely to have generated a book-length timeline of that term.

We wondered what it would be like to spend time with these books, and invited writers, artists, and a pub quiz master to find out. Issue 70 of Cabinet presents their findings on such subjects as wallpaper, trade secrets, grumbling, and John Smith. This event is the final installment in a pan-discplinary assessment of the usefulness of early AI.

Hurry, 591 BC – 2007: The Musical will be devised and written in one working day, through collaborative methods involving seats of pants and quick-drying gloss. The breathless, white-knuckled team will include, among others: Kit Downes, Nina Katchadourian, Sally O'Reilly.

Biographies of the Artists:

Kit Downes is a BBC Jazz Award and Deutscher Jazzpreis winning, Mercury Music Award nominated, ECM recording artist, composer and performer. He has toured the world playing piano and church organ with leading artists from the classical and jazz idioms. kitdownes.com

Nina Katchadourian is an interdisciplinary artist whose work includes video, performance, sound, music, sculpture, photography and public projects. Ever since her college roommate observed "You're always exactly ten minutes late," she has spent the last four decades trying to be on time. ninakatchadourian.com

Sally O'Reilly is a writer based in London. Recent projects include the performance collective Big Throw (2024–present), the novella Help in Cucumbers (JOAN Publishing, 2023), and Where They Gather (October House Records, 2022), a spoken-word and music album with Kit Downes. sallyoreilly.org.uk

Please arrive at least 10 minutes before the start of the event, otherwise your seats may be released if there is a large crowd.