OptoSonic Tea, a New York City artist collective currently in residence at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, will present a four-hour, site-specific indoor-outdoor multimedia performance by video and sound artists from around the world tomorrow from 7 to 11 p.m.
For “OptoSonic Tea @ the Parrish,” sound artists and musicians will create random audio with vocals and a variety of instruments, among them synthesizers, bagpipes, and violin. Visual artists will create images by projecting and manipulating a wide range of media, including analog video mixers, and video programs such as Jitter, VDMX, film, slides, and Magic Lantern.
Performances will take place in spaces throughout the museum, including the theater, lobby, terrace, meadow, event lawn, benches, and the parking lot. Audience members can wander through those areas as the performance unfolds, interacting in new ways with the building and grounds.
The event is part of the museum’s 2019 Platform project by OptoSonic Tea, which was founded in 2006 by Katherine Liberovskaya and Ursula Scherrer to explore the interactions of live visuals and audio. The collective’s engagement at the museum also includes OptoSonic Echoes, a continuous, multi-channel sound installation positioned at the exterior of the museum’s north entrance.
The roster of visual artists features Benton C. Bainbridge, Bradley Eros, Andy Guhl, Kit Fitzgerald, Asi Focker, CHiKA, Chris Jordan, Ms. Liberovskaya, LoVid (Kyle Lapidus and Tali Hinkis), and Ms. Scherrer. Sound artists are Marcia Bassett, Ranjit Bhatnagar, Shelley Hirsch, Laura Ortman, Emma Souharce, Michael J. Schumacher, Keiko Uenishi, and Shane Weeks.
Platform is the Parrish’s annual, open-ended invitation to a single artist or artist collective to respond to the entire museum as a potential site for works that transcend disciplinary boundaries and encourage new ways to experience art, architecture, landscape, and community.
“OptoSonic Tea @ the Parrish” is presented with Harvestworks, an artist-founded nonprofit that supports the creation and presentation of work using new and evolving technologies. Tickets are $12, $9 for senior citizens, and free for members and students.