Miami, Nov. 16, 2016 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) MDC Live Arts confronts an aggravating topic with humor and creativity, via musician Steve Parker’s project: Traffic Jam, which culminates on Saturday, Dec 3, at MDC’s Wolfson Campus Parking Lot 1, at 4 p.,m. In the midst of Art Basel—notably the worst time of traffic congestion in Miami—MDC Live Arts will host a CARnival, featuring dozens of activities including an audience-driven vehicular orchestra.
During last year’s Art Basel, MDC Live Arts tackled climate change through the epic installation/ performance piece Holoscenes, where performers carried out everyday activities while in a human aquarium that spontaneously flooded and drained. In a similar way, Traffic Jam uses art and public spectacle to draw attention to the topic of transportation.
Steve Parker, a renegade musician who focuses on art projects that build community, takes over an block-wide parking lot in the heart of downtown Miami to host the Traffic Jam CARnival, a populist rally of sorts to include: a Make Out Point and TailGate Trivia by Emerge Miami to strengthen social bonds; a mixed ability dance performance with live musical score created from amplified and processed components of the wheelchairs from Karen Peterson Dance; a gang of skateboarding ukulele players from Inlets Ensemble; a quartet of choreographed musical bicycles by Kunstwaffen 1916; and a large scale, interactive xylophone made from automobile hoods and parts by Manita Brug-Chmielenska and Randy Burman. And, the piece de resistance, an automobile choir, where audience members will be provided an intuitive musical score that guides them to play their carhorns, windshield wipers, and headlights. The CARnival is free, open and activated by the public. MDC Live Arts welcomes Miami visitors and residents to come honk your Harleys, hot dog your hot wheels, cruise in with your convertibles, roll up, peddle in and PARTICIPATE!
In the days leading up to the CARnival, Parker will participate in residency and engagement activites with MDC Live Arts, including a Lab Chat discussion on “Making music from anything” and pop-up performances/ musical interventions. Expect pleasant disruptions to your commute.
“…if we’ve learned one thing from Steve Parker, it’s that all the world’s a concert hall. His boldness and fervor inspire us and carloads of other music lovers to go off-roading with him at every opportunity.” —The Austin Chronicle
ABOUT STEVE PARKER
Steve Parker is a trombonist, composer, and community arts organizer living in Austin, TX. He curates SoundSpace at the Blanton Museum of Art, is the Artistic Director of COLLIDE, is an artist of Ensemble Signal, and teaches at UTSA. Previously, he worked as a Fulbright and Harrington Scholar.
With a penchant for projects that build community, Parker has organized performances for 80 carhorns, honeybees, 100 marching tubas, pedicab drivers, 80 trombones, 99 percussionists, and installed large interactive instrument sculptures in parking garages and alleyways. His compositions have been featured at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Ballet Austin, the Fusebox Festival, thirdbird, the Asian Arts Initiative, and in numerous public elevators in Chinatown Philadelphia.
As a soloist, he has performed throughout the US, Europe, Asia, and South America and appeared at many notable festivals and venues, including Spoleto, Lucerne, Tanglewood, the Stone, Roulette, Miller Theatre, Bowerbird, and BACKFABRIK. He’s commissioned or premiered over 100 new works, working closely with many leading figures of contemporary music, including David Lang, Pierre Boulez, and Helmut Lachenmann.
Steve’s work has been awarded the “Best of Austin” award by Austin Chronicle and recognized by the the Austin Critics’ Table Award in various categories (Chamber Music, Instrumental Soloist, Composer, and Public Art Project). His work has been sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA, and ArtPlace. He can be heard on NPR’s Performance Today, seen on PBS’s Newshour and Arts in Context, at the SXSW music conference, and in numerous print publications. He holds degrees in Math and Music from Oberlin, Rice, and UT Austin.
ABOUT MDC LIVE ARTS
MDC Live Arts is Miami’s most eclectic performing arts series. Created in 1990 as Cultura del Lobo, MDC Live Arts has a celebrated history of bringing extraordinary national and international performing artists to Miami. The annual series presents today’s most exciting artists and designs meaningful engagement between these artists, the students of MDC, and the greater community. MDC Live Arts seeks artists from across the globe who push boundaries and honor traditions relevant to Miami’s diverse community, and aims to offer audiences opportunities to discover new ideas, perspectives and forms of expression. For more information, please visit www.mdclivearts.org.
The Programs of MDC Live Arts are made possible with the generous support of: Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council; the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; the National Endowment for the Arts; the City of Miami Beach Department of Tourism and Cultural Development, Office of Cultural Affairs; the Miami Beach Mayor and City Commissioners; Miami Dade County Cultural Passport in partnership with Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and the Foundation for New Education Initiative; the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts; and National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund. MDC Live Arts is a Partner of the National Performance Network (NPN). Major NPN contributors include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
FREE / AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION ENCOURAGED
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To purchase tickets and learn more about the 2015-16 MDC Live Arts Season, please call 305-237-3010, or visit mdclivearts.org.
MDC Live Arts Contact: Alexa Burneikis, Marketing Manager, 305-237-7733, aburneik@mdc.edu;
Publicity: Lisa Palley, Palley Promotes, 305-642-3132, lpalley@bellsouth.net