Thunder Perfect Mind long form description

On Friday, December 4, the music and multi-media performing arts group BASILICA will present "Thunder Perfect Mind: An Exploration of Sound, Light, and Consciousness" at the Murphy Art Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. This vast, interactive multi-media production will include performances and installations by over 20 musicians and artists.

Thunder Perfect Mind will be presented in Suite 2 of the Murphy Art Center, the 5000-square-foot location formerly occupied by Dolphin Papers. The space will be filled with a vast installation of wood, metal, and fabric architecture that will serve as the environment for the lights, sounds, performances, and interactions that comprise Thunder Perfect Mind.

Thunder Perfect Mind focuses on themes of post-dualistic transcendence of the inherited dichotomies between consciousness and non-consciousness, order and chaos, past and future, reality and the ideal, the known and the unknown; and the establishment of a dynamic, harmonic equilibrium between these supposed binary oppositions. The dissolution of these apparent dichotomies will be realized through the spatial and temporal juxtapositions of the performances and other components of this production. This process will be presented in a manner seeking to engage both the material and the spiritual; the mind and the body; the senses as well as the emotions and the intellect.

Thunder Perfect Mind takes its name from a poem of the same title that was discovered among the Gnostic manuscripts found in a sealed clay vessel at Nag Hammadi in southern Egypt in 1945. This production will include the recitation of an interpretation of this ancient text by poet and performance artist Chelsea Parkkila. The recitation of this treatment will continue throughout the entire duration of the evening.

The musicians of BASILICA will provide thundering concretions of consciousness through the performance of compositions by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, Indianapolis native Charlie Olvera, and BASILICA's own Joe Molinaro. The precision and exuberance of these performances will create points of intense focus of psychological and physical intent amid the more nebulous chain of events that will fill the evening.

Thunder Perfect Mind will also feature the premiere of Matthew Andert's Optical Theremin Choir, a system of nearly 20 interactive electronic instruments. Like traditional theremins, these custom-designed-and-built instruments are activated by movement and proximity but instead of being sensitive to electromagnetic fields, these instruments are activated by light and visual motion.

The evening will also include the premiere of a new composition by Joe Molinaro which provides a depiction of the ideas presented in the compelling and controversial book “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by psychologist Julian Jaynes. Molinaro's "Breakdowns of the Bicameral Mind" explores Jaynes's notion of the emergence of human consciousness from the mythological dependencies of the archaic human mind into the modern perceptual and cognitive state of awareness that we now recognize as "consciousness." The composition features primal rhythms and hypnotic repetition and improvisation that will work in conjunction with the Optical Theremin Choir to produce unforgettable sculptures of sound, light, and video interactivity that will fill the entire space inhabited by Thunder Perfect Mind.

The entrances and exits of Thunder Perfect Mind will feature the Unified Fields interactive video display by IUPUI Music and Arts Technology faculty member Jordan Munson. Thunder Perfect Mind will also feature the premiere of Munson’s new audio-video interactivity system that transforms musical and environmental sound into video motion.

Prof. Andrew Bucksbarg will present his social cinema work PASS CAMERA, which will engage the audience in live audio and video reflections and interactivity, and Prof. Margaret Dolinsky's Celestial Reflections will provide breathtaking displays of digital art that will evolve throughout the course of the evening.

Additional music and video interactive improvisations will be held throughout the remainder of the evening.

Thunder Perfect Mind will be held from 8:00 to 11:00 P.M. on Friday, December 4 at the Murphy Art Center at 1043 Virginia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana 46203. Thunder Perfect Mind is presented in conjunction with the Big Car Gallery and is part of the IDADA First Friday Art Tour which is held in downtown Indianapolis every month. Admission is free, and all ages are welcome to attend. Audience participation will be welcomed and encouraged!