Review of DJ Spooky performance on 4/7/09, Campbell Hall, UC Santa Barbara. Originally appeared here.
Jeff Moehlis: For Art and Science, and For Our Future
Tuesday night’s multimedia performance in UCSB’s Campbell Hall by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, provided a thought-provoking meditation on Antarctica called “Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica,” the latter part of the name borrowed from a 1953 symphony by British composer Ralph Vaughn Williams. Miller described his piece as a “work in progress” inspired by and documenting the almost four weeks that he spent in December 2007 and January 2008 in Antarctica.
The staging for this performance was Miller on the right behind computer screens and DJ equipment, a live ensemble on the left consisting of UCSB students Sonia Tripathi on piano, Katie Waltman and Dimitry Olevsky on violin, and Kate Mendenhall on cello, and a large film screen in the middle flanked by two smaller screens. Throughout, the projections on the side screens were mirror images of the center one.
The first act focused on modern film footage shot in Antarctica, showing ice formations, ice plains, ice sheets, mountains, icebergs, … the sort of awe-inspiring scenery that makes you wish you could see it in person, cold be damned. Presumably most of this footage came from Miller’s recent trip. The accompanying minimalist music here and throughout the performance was an on-the-fly mix by Miller of the ensemble and pre-recorded music and sounds enhanced by echo and other effects to give a fullness that wouldn’t be possible without such sonic processing.
The second act included a computer-generated overhead sweep of a bargraph showing per capita CO2 emissions by country. Does it surprise you that the United States is one of the biggest offenders? There were similar sweeps of the musical score, which gave interesting visual effects such as the lines being a rapidly traversed road. There were other graphs that were deliberately difficult to read because of the visual effects, but one got the strong impression that there is a lot of scientific data that points toward environmental problems in Antarctica and beyond. There were also microscale images, which I surmise to have been zoomed-in images of ice crystals whose facets and bumps at times looked intriguingly like the very much larger ice formations from the first act.
The third and final act was dominated by vintage footage of a 1950s era Soviet expedition to Antarctica. This included images of scientists gathering data, people trying to walk through blizzard conditions,
pollution-spewing ground vehicles, and an airplane with a wind-damaged wing. Unfortunately it wasn’t always clear what was happening in this footage — it would have been helpful to have English translations of the Russian text. I had better luck with the projected phrase “fur Kunst und Wissenschaft,” which translated from German means “for art and science.” Other phrases in other languages remain a mystery to me.
The performance touched on geographical, scientific, artistic, historical, environmental and political issues associated with Antarctica, issues that are often intertwined. For example, in the history of Antarctica, scientific expeditions (represented here by the Soviet Union) were used as propaganda to further a political agenda. More recently, science is suggesting that Antarctica is the canary in the coal mine warning us of imminent environmental disaster, but politics are complicating the way the world responds.
The most obvious point of reference for this performance, both artistically and thematically, is Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance, the 1982 film scored by Philip Glass that shows scenes from nature and city life. The music is in the same minimalist spirit — although here without Glass’ trademark manic arpeggios — and the message is that Antarctica is reflecting that something is out of balance with our world, namely that CO2 emissions from human activities could lead to global warming and rising sea levels. Most affected by the latter would be islands, countries like Bangladesh or the Netherlands, and states like Florida. Thank goodness we don’t live by the coast. Hmmmm, wait a sec …
Miller managed to convey a surprising amount of information about Antarctica through minimal text and without being preachy, successfully helping to put the continent back “on the map” of our consciousness. When the movie said “The End,” I wondered, is it the just the end of the movie, or something bigger? Peace out, brothers and sisters.
Click here for Paul Mann’s review.
— Noozhawk contributor Jeff Moehlis is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UCSB.
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