Image
A tight shot of the eye of an elephant.

Sanctuary

Carlos Casas, Chris Watson, and Tony Myatt
Friday, March 22, 2019 at 7:30PM
Concert Hall

After a devastating earthquake, Nga, an old elephant and probably the last of his kind, and Sanra, his mahout, embark on a journey to find the mythical elephant’s graveyard. A story of discovery and mourning in which the spectator becomes the protagonist, the film follows the duo as they are stalked closely by a group of poachers, who begin to die one after another under mysterious circumstances. 

Carlos Casas’s Sanctuary offers a mesmerizing sonic and visual cinematic environment that immerses the audience in the sounds, textures, and hues of the jungle. Projected on the mega-screen in EMPAC’s Concert Hall, and featuring live Ambisonics, Wavefield Synthesis, and infrasound to induce a deep sense of physical closeness with the elephant, Sanctuary presents a unique sensorial experience that collapses the boundaries between art, nature documentary, and adventure film.

Chris Watson collaborated with the bioacoustician and elephant communication expert Joyce Poole to record the acoustic sphere of elephants. Tony Myatt developed the infrasound speaker and implemented the spatial audio. Both will perform live on the speaker systems installed throughout the hall. This is the US premiere of the project, which was previously presented at the Fondation Cartier, Paris; the Tate Modern, London; and the Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels.

Main Image: Eye of Nga, still from Sanctuary, Carlos Casas, Chris Watson, Tony Myatt. Courtesy of the artists. 

Dates + Tickets

Film/Video
Music/Sound
Sanctuary
Carlos Casas, Chris Watson, and Tony Myatt
Friday 22
7:30 PM
March 2019
$6, EMPAC+ Free

Rensselaer students receive FREE tickets the day of the event through the EMPAC+ program. Just look for the white pole and swipe your ID.

Discipline
Wave Field Synthesis
Ambisonics
Live Cinema Presentation

Season

Curator
Funding

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.