Dialog: City presents Paul Miller's/DJ Spooky's large-scale multimedia performance Terra Nova: The Antarctica Suite at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Antarctica, the world's only uninhabited continent is not owned by any country, and therefore does not have a government. As Antarctica is largely inaccessible it still remains an enigma for most. Miller's Antarctica Suite examines the transience of ice, as it serves as a text for the planet to decipher. The seventy-minute performance consists of visual images from the Getty's collection and field recordings from Miller's portable Antarctic studio. The recordings captured the auditory qualities of the rapidly receding ice sheets and the way in which sound and planet interact. Miller's sampling of such sounds acts as an auditory map, helping viewers forge an understanding of Antarctica, using its environment as record.
Miller's work as a media artist has appeared in a wide variety of contexts such as the Whitney Biennial; The Venice Biennial for Architecture (year 2000); The Venice Biennial of Art 2007 (Africa Pavilion), the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany; Kunsthalle, Vienna; The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and many other museums and galleries. His 2004 solo show at the Paula Cooper Gallery in New York, Path Is Prologue, echoed his live music/theater/film performance, DJ Spooky's Rebirth of A Nation, ran simultaneously at the Lincoln Center Festival after premieres in Vienna and at Spoleto USA in Charleston, SC.
Paul Miller is the author of Rhythm Science and Sound Unbound. He received his B.A. in philosophy and French Literature from Bowdoin College. Miller is currently a faculty member at the European Graduate School.
Download the exhibition guide for Terra Nova: The Antarctica Suite (PDF)
