Sam Pluta: American Idols Exhibition and Concert

Sam Pluta: American Idols

February 9 - February 11
Opening Event: Thursday, February 9, 6-8pm

Exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Special Event:
Friday, February 10 at 8pm

Concert Featuring:
Architeuthis Walks on Land
Katie Young and Amy Cimini

Sonic Overload
Sam Pluta, Jim Altieri, Dan Peck, Jeff Snyder, Peter Evans, and Tom Blancarte

Admission: $10

American Idols continues Pluta’s interest in self-contained systems, autonomous sonic networks which function devoid of human interaction. This music finds a magic spot in the sonic tapestry, where sounds can hover in a state of equilibrium. With the tiniest movement away from the idea, the system is destroyed, but in this small space, an entire universe is revealed.

American Idols is an exercise in simplicity. Four electric guitars, tuned to the harmonic series of the 60 cycle hum of the world around us, are feeding back. The hum of the guitars and amplifiers is the only input to the system, yet the result is a swimming and swirling sea of guitar harmonics, a chaotic self-contained environment. The guitars feed their signal to sixteen televisions which visually display hypnotic pulses of the guitar drones.

Sam Pluta is a New York City-based composer and improviser working in the fields of acoustic and electronic music. He has been commissioned and premiered by Wet Ink Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, ICE, Timetable Percussion, RIOT Trio, So Percussion, Dave Eggar, and Prism Saxophone Quartet and has performed internationally as a laptop soloist and chamber musician. As technical director of the Wet Ink Ensemble, a founding member of the improvising quartet GBL and performing with groups like the Peter Evans Quintet, he has focused in recent years on fusing the worlds of acoustic and electronic instruments through composition and improvisation. Aside from his teaching duties at Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music, he holds the John Plude Faculty Chair in Computer Musicianship at the Walden School. His music is released on quiet design and Carrier Records.