Dark Zone is a performance of a multimedia work for 7 live musicians and multiple video projections based on deep-sea bioluminescence. The projections will attempt to recreate actual bioluminescent patterns used by a variety of deep-sea creatures. Since the project seeks to create a truly immersive experience for the audience, the musicians will play in almost total darkness, with the video projections themselves providing the only ambient light. The project is produced by Aaron Travers, Assistant Professor of Composition at the Jacobs School of Music, and Arthur Liou, Associate Professor of Digital Art at the Hope School of Fine Arts. The work features performance by the nationally renowned contemporary music ensemble Dal Niente from Chicago.
Jawshing Arthur Liou creates video installations that depict spaces often not probable in reality. Working with both lens-based representation and digital post-production, he aims to transform recognizable imagery into realms of otherworldly experience. Liou’s videos and prints are in numerous public and private collections. Recent acquisitions include the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2011), Museum of Fine Arts Houston (2009), and the Indianapolis Museum of Art (2005). His works have traveled internationally, including exhibitions in New York, Chicago, London, Montréal, Houston, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Taipei; and film and media festivals in Sweden, Italy, Denmark, and Brazil. Liou is the recipient of Asian Cultural Council Grant, New York (2013), Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, Indianapolis (2010), and Garry B. Fritz Award from the Society for Photographic Education National Conference, Chicago (2006). International presentations of his work include the New Media Caucus Showcase, College Arts Association Conference in New York (2013), SIGGRAPH conference in Vancouver (2011) and the European Biennial Conference of the Society for Science, Literature, and the Arts in Amsterdam (2006).
Aaron Travers was born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1975. He received a BM in Composition and a BA in Classics (Latin emphasis) from Oberlin Conservatory, later receiving his MA and PhD in Composition at the Eastman School of Music. He has received numerous awards and commissions, most recently 2nd prize in the 2013 Alexander Zemlinsky Composition Competition, which earned him a commission for a new orchestral work for the Cincinnati Conservatory. His works have been performed throughout the United States, Canada, and select countries in Europe, Asia and South America by such performers and ensembles as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Third Coast Percussion Quartet, the JACK Quartet, the South Dakota Symphony, and cellist Xavier Phillip, among numerous others. He is currently Assistant Professor of Composition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He lives with his wife, Winnie, and their two children, Rowan and Linden.