HyperTropic.

18th Subtropics Experimental Music & Sound Arts FestivalThe Subtropics Experimental Music & Sound Arts Festival turns 18 this year and continues to bring new beats and sounds to Miami’s art scene. As the largest and oldest festival of its kind in the region, Subtropics… stands out as one of South Florida’s true Cultural treasures. Headquartered again at Dorsch Gallery in Miami’s Wynwood Art District and hosted for a night by ArtCenter / South Florida and Miami Beach Cinematheque in Miami Beach, the festival is presenting sound works and experimental music from a selection of local and international composers and performers. Why are we celebrating the arrival of this event? and why it flawlessly got to its 18th anniversary? If we are eager to listen, the work of these artists will tell us why. Its not only their aesthetics or the ways to present their works, but their marked intention to break through traditional art forms by proposing an art that can truly engage with the audience in a dialogue. With the current avalanche of decorative art productions arising from the high demand of the local real estate industry, participatory art in Miami like performance, poetry readings or experimental music, etc, are rarely found in our art spaces. On the contrary, this edition of Subtropics comes plenty of public appearances and interventions. Lincoln Road (We need more pedestrian areas in Miami) became the perfect arena for many of the participants. During the opening night, Bio-acoustician David Dunn will flood the air with simultaneous performances of In Air, In Water, In Earth, In Trees, an autonomous computer-controlled sound installation that uses audio samples recorded with a systems created by the artist. The work includes sounds coming from several hundred of different species and additional sounds of the earth itself like rivers and streams, tree interiors or natural radio signals, just to name a few. Not short of resources, local artists will also participate. Initiated by faculty composer Orlando Jacinto García, NODUS is the faculty new music ensemble in residence at Florida International University’s School of Music. Specializing in the Art music of our time, the makeup of the ensemble varies for each concert depending on the works being presented. For this festival performance, their presentation ranges from controlled to free improvisation, exhibiting a variety of contemporary instrumental and vocal techniques. Also, following their experience with Cars & Fish, Charles Recher and Gustavo Matamoros have developed Hypersonic Test: Florida I + II, experimental essays on themes portraying the good, the bad, and the boring of Florida living to further their exploration into the nature of hypersonic technology. This technology uses sound generators that produce audible directional sound beams that exist outside the human hearing range. In celebration of Subtropics’ 18th anniversary, Dorsch Gallery will show an encore screening of We Jam Econo – The Story of the Minutemen, a feature length documentary directed by Tim Irwin chronicling the early 80’s punk rock band from their humble beginnings in the harbor town of San Pedro, CA. Told by those who witnessed; the film weaves together footage from over fifty newly shot interviews with archival interviews and live performances of the band to capture the dynamic energy and do-it-yourself spirit of these punk rock pioneers. Video is also part of this year’s Subtropics Festival edition, celebrating Visual Music as an art form that merges the VJ and the abstract film tradition. Some of these works were originally performed live as concert-style presentations, while others, such as those by Bill Alves and Beth Warshafsky, produce interactive relationships between computers, music, and dance. March 4th 2006 marks the end of this multidisciplinary event with the celebration of the Subtropics Marathon. The closing event united in one lively evening artists and sound practitioners who have come to the medium from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Local and international participants will shape the all-star performance that over the years has become an outstanding springboard for interchange and collaborations. While the echoes of Art Basel Miami Beach and Art Miami are still resounding, the 18th Subtropics Experimental Music & Sound Arts Festival comes to fill out the gap created by the mega-events aftermath with an incredible roster of artists and art interventions pleasing the curiosity of those that come to visit Miami for something else than the usually magnificent art market. Ring the bell?, it should because if we want to keep the pace of the international art world besides being a four days host, we should be ready to step out of our Florida Rooms. For more information, please call: 305.981.0600