HALLOWMASS 2024 E X P U R G O! Denver’s legendary 57-member avantprimal-futuristik ensemble, itchy-O, celebrates 10 trips of HALLOWMASS around the sun with a 3-night reality-warping ceremony, EXPURGO! Taking place over a globally traditional timespan that honors ephemerality — October 31-November 2 — the collective exalts ancestral lore while contributing their own aural-ocular-corporeal offerings, inviting their spectators to disrobe their day-to-day acumen and participate collectively in a state of synchronicity. We connected with itchy-O to learn about their why’s of this upcoming journey. Itchy-O’s annual Hallowmass ceremony venerates a multitude of traditional festivals — Día de los Muertos, Allhallowtide, the Hungry Ghost Festival, Obon, Samhain to name a few, and other global rituals honoring all things temporal. Why is impermanence something worth celebrating? Impermanence is integral to the fabric of life. Without the old passing away there would be no space for the new to emerge. By liberating ourselves of bondage to the past, we free our energy to focus on grounding in the present and moving forward into the future. And there is something powerful in coming together as a community to do this in celebration. Realizing this October marks your 10th Hallowmass, I was spellbound in memory of the first celebration, physically feeling that electricity like it was yesterday. Though each year is intended to be an ephemeral immersion, they undoubtedly build off of each other, inextricably linked through a rhythmic energy. Why has Hallowmass’ annual frequency been important and what’s the impact on itchy-O and its co-creating audience as a result? Life, like nature, moves in cycles, in rhythm. By maintaining this practice for a decade we, as a community, have built and are continuing to build a shared experience that holds space for change over time. By honoring the lives, relationships, beliefs and institutions that pass through, Hallowmass is a place for all of us to pause and reflect on the losses and liberations that shape our journey. Returning annually to this collective celebration empowers our community to consciously participate in that evolution. Hallowmass builds, year-to-year, in sync with the cycles of life. One of your missions is to create an opportunity to expunge all facets of ego, to release expectations, to let go of our current understandings of the world in an effort to experience unification, and perhaps even PHOTO BY ANT SMITH IRINA MAR SETH MCCONNEL v No. 130
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