The Heart of a River

Ticket to the performance includes pre-performance discussion at 6:30 PM and a complimentary drink.

Water gives life to our planet and its civilizations. How do we understand the earth’s endlessly dynamic, constantly changing waters—not just scientifically, but artistically?

Inspired by the rivers of India, the poetry of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, and data about the effects of climate change and pollution on India’s rivers, DJ Spooky partners with musicians from Brooklyn Raga Massive, composer and author Ravé Mehta, and designer Geeta Mehta to present a multimedia portrait of water.

“Rivers are networks and they amplify network effects. From the Tigris and Euphrates rivers of Mesopotamia to the Yangtze of China, from the Danube to the Thames, from the Mississippi to the Hudson, from the Amazon to the Yukon, we’ve seen over and over that where we have rivers, civilizations evolve beyond almost anything we can predict. How do we make a portrait of a rapidly evolving world with music? That’s a question I’m asking myself throughout this journey.” —DJ Spooky

6:00–10:00 PM – DJ set by ”The Peace Révolution”in K2 Lounge

6:30–7:15 PM – An artist Pre-performance discussion in theater with DJ Spooky, Geeta Mehta, and Felicia Young

7:30–8:30 PM – Multimedia performance in theater by DJ Spooky, Brooklyn Raga Massive, and Ravé Mehta

About the Speakers

Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, is a composer, multimedia artist, and writer whose work immerses audiences in a blend of genres, global culture, and environmental and social issues. Miller has collaborated with an array of recording artists, including Metallica, Chuck D, Steve Reich, and Yoko Ono. His large-scale, multimedia performance pieces include Rebirth of a Nation, Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica, commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Seoul Counterpoint, written during his 2014 residency at Seoul Institute of the Arts. His multimedia performance Sonic Web will premiere at San Francisco’s Internet Archive in January 2019.

Named National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2014, his written work has been published by The Village Voice, The Source, and Artforum, and he is the editor of Origin Magazine. Miller’s work has appeared in the Whitney Biennial, The Venice Biennial for Architecture, the Miami/Art Basel fair, and many other museums and galleries. His books include the award-winning Rhythm Science, published by MIT Press in 2004; Sound Unbound, an anthology about digital music and media,The Book of Ice, a visual and acoustic portrait of the Antarctic, and The Imaginary App (MIT Press) on how apps changed the world.

Brooklyn Raga Massive has been praised by the Wall Street Journal for “expanding the notion of what raga—the immersive, epic form of Indian music—can mean” and dubbed the “leaders of the raga renaissance” by the New Yorker. The fun-loving members of this music collective have made huge waves for “preserving the past while blurring genres in an inventive spirit” (New York Times).

Ravé Mehta is an award-winning composer, pianist, bestselling author, and a recipient of the Tesla Vision Award by the Tesla Science Foundation. Ravé spent the past 15-plus years researching the science behind fear and flow states to gain a deeper understanding of how we can transcend our boundaries and access more of our superpowers. He’s applied these insights to his creative endeavors including music and has performed piano sound baths around the world, integrating the principles of flow to help others drop into a deep blissful state for a unique sound healing experience. Ravé also produced the award-winning live stage show FLOW, which with his cast of acrobats, dancers, contortionists, and aerialists, is often described as yoga meets Cirque du Soleil to his live piano concert.

Ravé is also the author of The Inventor, a bestselling graphic novel published by Scholastic based on the true story of Nikola Tesla. The Inventor is now being used by schools across the country to help engage kids to read and learn while inspiring STEAM learning, as discussed in his TED talk “Education for a Hyper-Visual Culture.”

Columbia University’s Indian Rivers Research Project

Represented by Geeta Mehta

The Urban Design Program at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation has been conducting research and design studios on the rivers of India for the past four years. This “water urbanism” project started with Vaigai River in Madurai in South India in 2015, followed by work on the Hooghly River in Kolkata and the Ganges in Varanasi. The current focus is on Mula Mutha River in Pune. In each case, the post-professional students from around the world in this program visit the rivers to work with local academic institutions to experience firsthand the ecological, spiritual, and economic impacts of the rivers, and meet with people to learn about their relationship to these rivers they hold sacred. The study culminates in development of concepts to restore sustainability and the robust connectivity of the river to people. The work is then shared with local stakeholders and published through freely downloadable eBooks given below:

Water Urbanism Madurai

Water Urbanism Kolkata

Water Urbanism Varanasi

Image Credit

Credit Sytse de Maat