Collage Culture

Our century's creative identity crisis explored in a book and accompanying LP


 The collaborative brainchild of three individuals, “Collage Culture” is a multi-faceted appraisal of the 21st century as an artistic era built on references to the past. In accordance with its composite-driven theme, the project is available both as a nonfiction book—featuring two essays and unique artwork—as well as an LP that pairs the book’s texts with an original score. Rather than praising the millennium …

The Tea Rockers Quintet

Our interview with Li Daiguo on the band's experimental mix of tradition and ceremony

One of the most interesting phenomena to hit Chinese avant-garde music is The Tea Rockers Quintet—a tea ceremony performed by master Lao Gu and accompanied by the all-stars of Chinese contemporary music: contemporary folk singer Xiao He, China’s top noise artist Yan Jun, academic guqin player Wu Na and the young and talented instrumentalist, Li Daiguo. Together they create a mesmerizing blend of traditional instruments, …

Sleepless

Jumping robots, floating cinemas, musical jelly molds and more in our look at the web this week

Hamilton College assistant art professor Robert Knight took a series of long exposure photographs of insomniacs tossing and turning throughout the night. The low-lit blurs he captures offer a visual parallel as haunting as the wanderings of a restless mind when it simply can’t sleep. Anyone who’s suffered sleepless nights will likely feel a sense of dread around the eery beauty of the images.