The Powers of Nature
Two events, Okeanos and Sanctuary, bring sound and cinema into the EMPAC Concert Hall creating a unique experience of projected sounds and images. Using EMPAC’s spatial audio systems, Okeanos is a concert that takes the audience into a world of underwater sounds recorded around the globe that move above and around the listener; Sanctuary is a live cinema performance using hundreds of loudspeakers to sonically expand the story of an elephant and his mahout on a mystical journey.
Chris Watson (UK) is regarded as one of the world’s leading recorders and performers of wildlife sounds. The films, installations, and projects of the Catalan filmmaker Carlos Casas take form at the crossroads of documentary, fiction, visual, and sound arts.
Tony Myatt (University of Surrey) is a specialist in spatial sound recording and reproduction. He developed an underwater microphone system and subsonic speaker used to spatially reproduce elephant communication and low-frequency underwater sounds. The trio of artists has collaborated on performances, live cinema, and installations.
Main Image: Chris Watson, Okeanos, Courtesy of the artist
Season
EMPAC Spring 2019 presentations, residencies, and commissions are made possible by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with continuous support from the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts; and the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts. Additional project support by the National Endowment for the Arts; the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College.
