Michael Sakomoto + DJ Spooky: Work in Progress

Michael Sakomoto DJ Spooky
Presented in partnership with Texas Performing Arts

time/life/beauty

Creative residency and work-in-progress showing

Dance and media artist Michael Sakamoto, composer-musician Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky and dancer-choreographer Mohamed “Barges” Smahneh introduce and perform excerpts from their current work-in-progress project, time/life/beauty. Fusing butoh, hip-hop, new music and multimedia, time/life/beauty is inspired by the intercultural and activist legacy of famed music and interdisciplinary artist Ryuichi Sakamoto.

A unique integration of hip-hop mixology, new music, dance theater, and integrated media visuals, time/life/beauty is inspired by the music and artistry of legendary composer, musician, and activist Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952- 2023), whose long and varied career in multiple genres and media surpassed definition.This project channels the artists’ shared and distinct approaches to interdisciplinary performance, intercultural dialogue and social concerns.

Tracing Sakamoto’s creative, cultural and social concerns, the artists unpack and embody the nuanced connectivity among languages and forms of expression, environment, science and culture. How do shared languages form between creators and communities? How do individual and collective human behaviors influence ecologies small and large? What is the relationship between community, place and the larger environment over time?