[60] Project.
Posted on December 2, 2008 by Shay
[60] Project – Mathew Adkins, originally uploaded by Iman.
On the Friday the 28th Nov, Alison and I headed off to the premier of [60] Project by Mathew Adkins.
The experience was unforgettable for three reasons.
1. Initially we couldn’t find the North light Gallery and trekked for a good 45 mins, at one point going up a really steep hill in the direction the GPS was pointing us in. Luckily we were not alone, another group of individuals was also headed there and were looking for the evening’s venue. They were music students and the adventure was quite amusing to them as it was for us. I had previously visited the North Light before, albeit in broad daylight as opposed to a dark wintery night.
The problem came down to this, Nokia Maps informed us we were a couple of thousands miles away from the North Light gallery in California, and Google Maps was giving us a far too accurate location, which wasn’t an entrance to the gallery so much as it was the bit of land adjoining it. One of the music students’ iphone was also leading us up the wrong path.
2. Navigation aside. The work was itself was a pleasure to experience. with many sections bordering on the absolute sublime. I often find my vocabulary is very poor indeed when discussing music so I wont embarrass myself until I learn to speak the language.
What I can say is, although I’m not a synaesthete, I could genuinely see pictures and feel the music. Now this hasn’t really happened to me before, so it was quite special. When I say pictures, I mean, I could literally see scenes related to the music in a well formed narrative. The last of them unraveled itself into a semi resolved graphic novel inside my head. When I went home I headed straight for the Wacom tablet and stayed up till 3 till i got very very tired.
The story was set inside a steel cold and grey dystopian concentration camp, shot mostly in wideangle with distorted closeups. the protagonist, a guard hid, an affliction which meant he spewed colour and distorted the fabric of his reality every time he sneezed, slowly the disease spread and brought down the oppressive regime in the camp through more colourful, vibrant glitches. Think a version of the film Pleasantville by remixed Aphex Twin.
3. we arrived before the main performance, but mid way through the performances in the lobby. when I sat down, I was like – that artist looks a bit young? until I read the information sheet and realised they’re college kids from Greenhead college which is just down our road. Apparently Mathew had worked with them over summer to create musical compositions.
Ach mein Gott! they were amazing, or at least the last two were. I was very inspired after that.