Interspecies Improvisation and Ecological Sound
With Jaron Lanier and David Rothenberg
Saturday, May 3
8 - 10 p.m. PDT | Doors at 7 p.m
@ Nonhuman Teachers Studio & Greenhouse
3209 Fletcher Drive Los Angeles, CA 90065
On Saturday May 3rd, join Fathomers, Nonhuman Teachers, and longtime musical collaborators Jaron Lanier and David Rothenberg for an evening of experimental sound!
Their improvisations often draw upon a global archive of wind and stringed instruments, played in conversation with the living world. Hosted with Nonhuman Teachers at their studio and greenhouse in Los Angeles, this evening will unfold in concert with the Eta Aquariid meteor shower, born of Halley’s Comet, offering cosmic choreography for the evening.
Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist and founder of the field of virtual reality (a term he coined). In 2018, Lanier was named one of the 25 most influential people in the previous 25 years of tech by Wired Magazine. Time Magazine said he’s one of the 100 most influential people in the world, though that doesn’t seem to be true lately. He writes orchestra music and plays the piano, and is also a specialist in unusual and historical musical instruments. Here’s a list of famous people he has performed or recorded with: Philip Glass, Yoko Ono, Ornette Coleman, John Cage, George Clinton, Kwame, T Bone Burnett, Terry Riley, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, Jon Batiste, Les Claypool, Sean Lennon, and Sara Bareilles. He is also a celebrated writer and winner of the Peace Prize for Books, one of Europe’s highest literary honors. He writes for The New Yorker. Lanier’s first book, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto, is held dear by readers as an expression of spiritual sensibility in a high-tech world. His book on quitting social media and a related Netflix documentary are inflicted on high school students everywhere to little effect.
Musician and philosopher David Rothenberg wrote Why Birds Sing, Bug Music, Survival of the Beautiful, and a handful of others, published in eleven languages. He’s performed and recorded with Pauline Oliveros, Peter Gabriel, Ray Phiri, Suzanne Vega, Scanner, Elliott Sharp, Umru, Iva Bittová, and the Karnataka College of Percussion. In 2024, he won a Grammy Award as part of For the Birds. Whale Music and Secret Sounds of Ponds are his latest books. Nightingales in Berlin and Eastern Anthems are his latest films. Rothenberg is also a Distinguished Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Nonhuman Teachers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that bridges ecological storytelling, art, and speculative thinking to help reimagine our relationship with the living world at a time when it feels like the world is ending.