Composer Gabriel Pulido, who conceived the multimedia performance work Deep Surface, has a degree in music synthesis. Perhaps that's one reason why the Venezuelan-born artist's collaborations take him to Paris and New York from his home base in Miami, bringing together influences from a variety of sources to create a coherent whole.
Parisians Sabrina Montiel-Soto (visual art and video) and Walid Breidi (multimedia art) join forces with Pulido and Miami dancer and choreographer Sandra Portal-Andreu to bring many points of view into focus on a single object: the sea. On Wednesday, Deep Surface reaches the Miami Beach Cinematheque with its part film, part performance, all interdisciplinary work of art that's also a meditation on nature.
Pulido drew upon sounds from Miami Beach's Ocean Drive as well as the
ocean itself, for his soundscape. After previews since 2005 in Miami and
Brussels, Deep Surface premiered in full on the Ocean Drive Main Stage
at Miami Beach's 2009 Sleepless Night.
Layers of visual as well as sonic information unfold during the
performance.
As Portal-Andreu dances in front of a screen, her shadow
synthesizes with the projected images behind her. Musicians working on
classical instruments and those using computers create a dynamic sound
environment. Sculpture and interactive media account for two additional
components of the total work of art.
Deep Surface, described in its press material as "mainly a contemporary
art piece," proposes that "through a new multimedia artistic perspective
it also seeks to remind the audience about the sea's importance to
humanity and the necessity of its preservation." As such, the
performance serves as the artists' "homage to the sea."
Natural and synthetic sounds, as well as live and canned performance,
create a platform onto which audience members can project their own
relationship to the sea. While the artists of Deep Surface are not
heavy-handed in their message of ocean awareness, the multimedia art
work does have at its heart a deep respect and concern for the health of
the water and an urgency for humans to protect it.
With the Ocean
Foundation as a sponsor of the project and UNESCO listed as supplying
"moral patronage," Deep Surface delivers a layer of eco-consciousness
among many artistic disciplines and forms of communication.
Deep Surface place Wednesday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Miami Beach
Cinematheque (Historic City Hall, 1130 Washington Ave., Miami Beach).
Tickets cost $17 general adult, $16 student or senior, or $15 MBC
member. Visit mbcinema.com.
--Emily Hite of artburstmiami.com
