Antarctica is the star of an upcoming multimedia piece, while live turntable music will play the supporting role.
Paul Miller — aka DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid — will perform a 70-minute audio visual piece titled “Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica” at the Kimo Theater on Saturday. A quartet of local chamber musicians will accompany him.
“It’s meant to be a kind of total digital media experience,” he said. “I try to get people to think outside the box about what DJing means — is it about film, is it about music, is it about literature? Basically, most people think DJing is just making a party rock. … That’s cool, but I think there’s a lot more to it than that.”
Miller spent more than four weeks in Antarctica in 2007 and recorded sounds of the melting ice caps in a portable studio.
Video footage of Antarctica plays on a backdrop during “Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica,” and the score captures the continent’s harsh geographical environment.
“I guess you could say it’s all about landscape,” Miller said. “Sound is waves and patterns, and so is the land beneath your feet. Tectonic plate movement, gravity, you name it. Ice is just a pattern too, so I wanted to figure out a way to transform it into music.”
Miller said he was inspired to go to Antarctica by the complexity and beauty of the natural world.
“The world is changing so quickly, I just wanted to make a document about it, and think of the Earth as a different kind of record,” he said. “If you really look at all the different things going on, one of the most subtle and beautiful situations that makes life worth living on this planet is the beauty of the natural world. It’s something we’ve lost.”
The Outpost Performance Space and 516 Arts are hosting the event as part of the Land/Art project, which ends in November.
Land/Art works through a collaboration of organizations throughout New Mexico to host artists and exhibitions with land-based art.
Tom Guralnick, executive director of The Outpost Performance Space, said it is a treat to have Miller perform “Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica” in New Mexico.
“It’s been performed in several places, but not that many, so it’s pretty special we are bringing it here to New Mexico,” Guralnick said.
Suzanne Sbarge, project coordinator of Land/Art and Director of 516 Arts, said she was excited to have Miller be a part of Land/Art.
“It adds a wonderful scope to the Land/Art project, the way that he combines turntables, chamber quartet and video all into one multimedia performance,” Sbarge said.
Katie Harlow, a local cellist, will be playing in the quartet alongside Miller on Saturday. She said the score has a series of riffs that can be repeated or rearranged based on what Miller wants to do that night.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
“It’s really fun to work with somebody who is a DJ artist,” Harlow said. “It’s a newer genre, so it’s fun to have that expanded musical vocabulary to draw from.”
Miller has worked with a number of artists throughout the years, from Kool Keith to Killah Priest, from the Wu-Tang Clan to Yoko Ono, among others.
Miller’s newest CD, The Secret Song was released this month and features special guests including Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Rob Smith of the Executioners.
Student tickets for Saturday are $10, 10 minutes before the show, based on availability. Otherwise, students get $5 off the regular seating prices from $20 – $30.
After the show, patrons can meet DJ Spooky at a reception in the Richard Levy Gallery across the street from the Kimo Theater. There will also be an open house at 516 Arts.
*DJ Spooky
“Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica”
Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Kimo Theater
423 Central Ave. S.W.
$10 Student Rush Tickets
*
