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Massive Attack and Adam Curtis Stage ‘Collective Hallucination’ at Park Ave Armory


February 22, 2013 | Eugene Reznik

Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja and documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis are collaborating on six performances in September, blending the music of the English group with film that weaves “arresting stories of politics and power over the past 30 years.” It’s sure to be one of most sensory-overloading experiences of the 2013 Park Avenue Armory season. The team also includes experimental hard hitter, Felix Barrett of Punchdrunk and the site-specific Sleep No More performance in Chelsea, “radical” set designer Es Devlin, and interdisciplinary art and design practice United Visual Artists. Hyperallergic tells us more:

This site-specific event integrates music, film, politics, and elements of illusion in a hallucinatory ride through the dreams and hidden realities of our strange, anxious age.

Yes, please.

The immense hangar-sized drill hall of the Park Avenue Armory seems uniquely fit for these types of big trippy art installations. Remember when Ryoji Ikeda offered audiences a chance to come face to face with the “sublime,” and step into his matrix of synchronized data with the overwhelming strobe projections and binaural beats of the transfinite?

Rebecca Robertson, president and executive producer of the Armory, says that’s kind of exactly what they’re going for: “these big immersive productions where there are no rules.”