Hewlett Foundation Awards Final Round of Anniversary Arts Commissions (SF Classical Voice)

Other Minds has been selected as one of 10 Bay Area organizations to receive a $150,000 Hewlett 50 Arts Commission award in the media arts category. OM will partner with media artist Trimpin to commission an evening-length multimedia work blending composition, dance, AI, kinetic sculpture, and more. The piece, titled The Cello Quartet, will feature three autonomous cellos perched atop moving platforms. San Francisco Classical Voice recently interviewed Trimpin about the project in an article about the commissions.

“Cello Quartet, the working title, is a new commission/concept/design idea to add another dimension to a music/dance performance/installation.

“In general, music/sound has three dimensions (timbre, time, and pitch); the fourth dimension would be adding ‘space,’ where the acoustical kinetic autonomous sculptural instruments are in constant motion onstage interacting with the cellist and the dancers.”

This is what Trimpin told SFCV about his project supported by a new Hewlett Foundation commission. More about Trimpin below, but first, about the awards:

The Foundation has announced the final round of awards in its five-year, $8 million Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions, marking the Foundation’s 50th anniversary.

Previous recipients of these awards include composer Meredith Monk, multimedia artist DJ Spooky, and vocalist The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol, working in partnership with Bay Area organizations Mills College, the Internet Archive, and Art + Soul Oakland, respectively. Last year alone, the Foundation awarded over $516 million in grants to organizations across the globe. —Janos Gereben

Click here to read complete article in San Francisco Classical Voice.