A Big Event in a Big Space: NANA FEST at FEED Media Art Center
Four days of art and music
BEGINNING THURSDAY, OCT. 1
The North American New Art Festival (NANA FEST) is a bold, ambitious undertaking. Expect four straight days of experimental media – mostly of the musical, digital, and audiovisual variety – for six to 12 hours per day, on three separate stages. Its intersecting events will be hosted by FEED Media Art Center in downtown Erie, a 50,000-square-foot former furniture store devoted to an expansive, chaotic repertoire of avant-garde art-making.
According to FEED's booking director, Nathaniel Hale Garnon, visitors can expect a "schedule of continuous, but not conflicting, fine art entertainment." Among the trio of deep, wide exhibition spaces on its ground floor, the actions, artworks, and performances will evolve constantly. "As one act is performing, others are setting up, tearing down, and staging," according to Garnon.
The entertainment itself is a mix of the local, national, and international, with "new experiences" as its unifying theme. Put differently, NANA FEST might borrow elements from rock concerts, art openings, film screenings, dance performances, and DJ sets – but the total experience will escape those classifications as well.
Erieites will recognize a few homegrown innovators, such as electronic music wiz Adam Holquist (aka onewayness), saxophonist Joel Hunt, and bassist Stephen Trohoske. Members of the FEED team are participating as well – expect media art from founder Benton C. Bainbridge and a musical performance from Garnon, his wife (Michalina Wilińska Garnon), and two New York-based innovators (Tomomi Imai and Yuko Fujiyama).
Collaboration will be key to many of the performances, which often balance sound, visuals, and eccentric technology. For example, Colorado-based experimental filmmaker Robert Schaller will premiere a new piece during Friday's programming, in collaboration with media artists Jason and Debora Bernagozzi. Schaller, founder of the Handmade Film Institute, has been making tactile, intimate films for decades, focused on "the materiality of the film medium itself," according to his website. Alongside his latest work, the Bernagozzis will physically move about the space while operating handheld projection screens, adding a performative element to what might otherwise be a passive viewing experience. In addition, Erie-based composer Ethan Hayden will perform a musical piece inspired by Schaller's film work.
NANA FEST has assembled an impressive list of established veterans within the contemporary avant-garde. Another example is Ben Miller, whose work in rock and experimental music spans more than 50 years. In 1977, he joined the art rock supergroup Destroy All Monsters, which (in its various incarnations) featured members of bands like the Stooges, the MC5, and Mission of Burma – as well as visual artists Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw. At NANA, Miller will lead a performance of Terry Riley's legendary composition In C, considered one of the masterworks of psychedelic minimalism. For fans of electro-acoustic innovation, the festival will also feature a collaboration between Baltimore-based noise musician Obie Feldi and M.C. Schmidt. Since the mid-'90s, Schmidt has served as one half of the electronic music duo Matmos, whose long, unusual resume features collaborations with Björk, an album built out of samples from medical procedures, an album produced entirely by sounds from the duo's washing machine, and an album featuring 99 guest musicians. Prepare for something unusual and surprising!
If this all sounds too highbrow for you, there's some down-and-dirty rock music as well. Pittsburgh's Microwaves are aggressive and math-rock adjacent, following in the angular footsteps of Steel City rockers like Don Caballero. Rochester's Bug Day is similar, opting for a less technical, noisy art-punk sound. Visitors can also expect the usual array of stationary art during the festival – FEED is full to the brim with screens, sculptures, and vintage TVs – so you'll never feel like a captive, passive audience.
"The entire festival will also have extensive documentation for archival purposes," according to Garnon. "FEED is foremost a Media Arts Center, with vast video potential and we operate a regular livestream series liveFEED." So, expect its actions to find an afterlife online. In addition, as the festival concludes at 10 p.m. each night, time will be set aside for improvisations that are open to the public – and expected to go late. Finally, if four straight days of media art isn't enough for you, an event titled afterNANA will occur on Oct. 10 at 4 p.m., featuring experimental music from Weird Paul Petroskey, Bonnie Kane/John Loggia, Dei Xhrist, and A Map of Everything.
I asked Garnon about the ideas behind NANA FEST, and he cited the importance of artistic "scenes" in places like New York, San Francisco, and Seattle. This led him to ask himself: "Why can't Erie be a part of this? Why can't our city be recognized as an identity or platform for some of the most innovative art around the world?" Maybe by the end of the first weekend in October, it can!
NANA FEST will begin at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1, and conclude at 10 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 4 // FEED Media Art Center, 1307 State St. // Starting at $39 // Tickets and info: tickets.eriereader.com
