Parkins and Higgins present their collaborative work, Arch, in which the subjective surface generates images of the topography; the luminous surface reinforces the sense of beyond. A kaleidoscopic examination of the body and the city. Electric harp, processors, multiple projections, cameras. Live music/live video. Parkins continues her sonic research on customized high octane harp and Higgins jacks into a video mixer as a performance instrument.
The FESTIVAL OF MIXOLOGY MAY 4–14 highlights artists combining music and audio with moving images and is made possible by a project grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
This performance was also videotaped and produced for a Roulette TV segment. Photo of Zeena Parkins in front of Higgins’ video by Žiga Koritnik.
Electro-acoustic composer/performer, multi-instrumentalist, improviser, and pioneer of contemporary harp performance, Zeena Parkins re-imagines both the acoustic harp and an evolution of her original electric ones, through the use of expanded playing techniques, preparations, and custom designed processing. Awards include Doris Duke Artist Award, DAAD Fellowship, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, MAP Fund grants NYFA Fellowship, Atlantic Center for the Arts Master Artist-in-Residence, Herb Alpert/Ucross Prize, Honorary Mention/Prix Ars Electronica, and three New York Dance and Performance Awards/ Bessies for her groundbreaking work with dance. Zeena Parkins is a Distinguished Visiting Artist at Mills College in Oakland, California. –Bio as of 2019
Janene Higgins is a graphic designer and video artist based in New York City. Her work spans several genres, from video performance in the experimental music scene to videos for Saks Fifth Avenue, and the design of several hundred CD packages for such record labels as Sony, BMG, PolyGram, and a wide variety of independents.
Higgins moved to New York City to design magazines, working for such publications as Esquire, Working Woman, and Fame, culminating in three years as a designer for Vanity Fair magazine. While at VF, she began designing CD covers and videos for friends in the downtown music scene, which led to an ongoing series of music/video performance collaborations with some of New York’s preeminent composers and improvisors of new music. These include duos with Elliott Sharp, Ikue Mori, Mari Kimura, Alan Licht, Nurit Tilles, Okkyung Lee, Aki Onda, and Zeena Parkins. In addition to video performance, she has directed several short experimental works, often with sound design by notable avant-garde artists including Sharp, Parkins, Christian Marclay and John Duncan. Her work has been performed and exhibited at The New York Video Festival at Lincoln Center; documenta in Kassel, Germany; The Kitchen, NYC; Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon; City of Women festival, Slovenia; The Chelsea Art Museum, NYC; HiTeca Festival in Porto, Portugal; Art Institute of Chicago; Konzerthaus Berlin; The Hamburg Short Film Festival; and at The Impakt Festival in The Netherlands. –Bio as of 2019
