Nature’s Nickelodeons

How can the nature documentary escape from the framework of the big, or small screen? In this performance, curator Amy Cutler sets out to hack the language and content of this genre. She is aided by a group of experimental artists from a wide range of disciplines, including beatboxer Jason Singh, synth musician Bridget Hayden, harpist Serafina Steer and the Genetic Choir’s instant composers. They take their inspiration from various largely forgotten practices, in which rather than being a TV event, the nature documentary was a group experience—such as an abandoned idea of Walt Disney’s to put cinemas for these documentaries in zoos.

In their adaptations of old nature docs, they create new heroes and villains, question the familiar anthropomorphic storylines, and give new meaning to classic sounds and images. How does the film of a spider spinning its web change when it’s accompanied by subtle chords on the harp? Join a series of exciting live performances on a journey to submerged volcanoes, bioluminescence, swarming insects, and many other eccentrics, outliers and oddities.