Scenius 1.0: An Evening of Innovative Music and Fine Company

On the evening of December 6th, Metonym presented Scenius 1.0, an intimate gathering celebrating innovative music, artistic collaboration, and community at MiMoDa Studio in central Los Angeles. This new event series marked a continuation of the spirit once embodied by the pre-pandemic chamber music salons hosted by Metonym collective artists in Los Feliz Hills, offering a space for shared creativity and connection.

The word Scenius, coined by Brian Eno, describes the collective intelligence that emerges from creative communities. Each event under this name is designed as a small experiment in that idea — what happens when artists from different backgrounds share a room, and an audience joins them in it.

The program featured a rich blend of classical and contemporary sounds, beginning with a performance of Schumann’s Third String Quartet, followed by original compositions for string quartet by local legend Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. The evening also witnessed the live debut of Authority Figurines, an electro-acoustic/ambient project led by Matthew Liam Nicholson and Dominic Johnson, integrating the string quartet into uniquely textured soundscapes. John Hendicott opened and closed the night with soulful DJ sets that linked the acoustic and electronic worlds.

Scenius 1.0 featured a string quartet of Fernando Lascurain (violin), Dominic Johnson (violin), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (viola, compositions), and Maksim Velichkin (cello). The event marked the beginning of an ongoing series connecting artists and audiences who value collaboration, experimentation, and the slow work of building something together.