Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/16/2014
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Location
Exploratorium
Category(ies)
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In this one-time-only event, The Residents’ groundbreaking album Eskimo is presented as a multichannel, 3D sound spectacular accompanied by the equally innovative visuals of their companion Eskimo DVD. A prolific and pioneering avant-garde collective, the Residents have released over 60 albums and developed an extensive catalog of multimedia and performance art projects over the course of their 42-year career.
As a project, Eskimo has a curious and varied history. Interested in presenting a highly mythological, ethnic culture, the group created their own romanticized version of so-called “primitive” music, combining invented language and instruments with recorded sounds to convey stylized, Inuit-inspired stories. After four years of trial, error, serendipity, and experimentation, the album was released to critical acclaim in 1979.
Twenty years later, The Residents revisited the project using a different medium, releasing the Eskimo DVD in 2002. Ultimately considering Eskimo a sound-based work, the group felt its potential could be pushed even further, and approached the Exploratorium with the idea of presenting Eskimo in the Kanbar Forum. By digitizing the original, multi-track tapes and playing the album through the Forum’s 99-speaker Meyer Sound Constellation system, they knew it would be heard as never before.
And it will. Accompanied by visuals originally created for the Eskimo DVD, The Residents’ most unique and innovative album will surround listeners with the swirling sounds of whales, whirling harpoons, dancing spirits, and chilling arctic winds. Bring a blanket.
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