VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Houston Museum of African American Culture presents DJ Spooky “The Secret Song”, a performance with chamber group.

The Houston Museum of African American Culture is pleased to bring celebrated turntablist, producer, author and artist DJ Spooky to Houston for a performance and Q&A. A ground-breaking meditation on hip-hop and electronic music’s relationship to philosophy, economics, and the science of sound, DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid’s latest manifesto melds words, images, and sounds.

DJ Spooky flips hip-hop old school and new school sounds into a sonic fiction landscape where rock meets dub, classical music, and experimental jazz. With a vast array of projects in just about every conceivable media, and on just about every continent, Spooky has also been honored with solo shows at The Tate Modern, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Robert Miller Gallery. “The Secret Song” is a triumphant union of visual art aspects, and video, with a unique sound design. “The Secret Song” is a must-see!!!

*Special Location: The Museum of Fine Arts, 1001 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX 77005 (Brown Auditorium - Caroline Wiess Law Building)

There is no charge for admission.

About DJ Spooky:

DJ Spooky (Paul D Miller, born 1970, Washington DC) is a composer, multimedia artist and writer. His written work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Source, Artforum and Raygun amongst other publications. Miller's work as a media artist has appeared in a wide variety of contexts such as the Whitney Biennial; The Venice Biennial for Architecture (2000); the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany; Kunsthalle, Vienna; The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and many other museums and galleries. His work "New York Is Now" has been exhibited in the Africa Pavilion of the 52 Venice Biennial 2007, and the Miami/Art Basel fair of 2007. Miller's first collection of essays, entitled "Rhythm Science" came out on MIT Press 2004, followed by "Sound Unbound," an anthology of writings on electronic music and digital media, published in 2008.

Miller's deep interest in reggae and dub has resulted in a series of compilations, remixes and collections of material from the vaults of the legendary Jamaican label, Trojan Records. Other releases include Optometry (2002), a jazz project featuring some of the best players in the downtown NYC jazz scene, and Dubtometry (2003) featuring Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Mad Professor. Miller's latest collaborative release, Drums of Death, features Dave Lombardo of Slayer and Chuck D of Public Enemy among others. He also produced material on Yoko Ono's most recent album "Yes, I'm a Witch." Miller’s large scale, multimedia performance pieces include “Rebirth of a Nation” (now on DVD), and “Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica”.

This man is as brainy as a Mensa meeting, sharp as Zorro's sword, funny as Falstaff. He is Einstein with a better haircut, a streetwise black Tolstoy, a revved-up renaissance man for the digital age, obsessed with art, information and digital technology.
-Sunday Star Times – Aukland, NZ

About HMAAC:

The mission of HMAAC is to collect, conserve, explore, interpret, and exhibit the material and intellectual culture of Africans and African Americans in Houston, the state of Texas, the southwest and the African Diaspora for current and future generations. In fulfilling its mission, HMAAC seeks to invite and engage visitors of every race and background and to inspire children of all ages through discovery-driven learning. HMAAC is to be a museum for all people. While our focus is the African American experience, our story in Texas informs and includes not only people of color, but people of all colors. As a result, the stories and exhibitions that HMAAC will bring to Texas are about the indisputable fact that while our experience is a unique one, it has been impacted by numerous races, genders and ethnicities.

HMAAC’s new home at 4807 Caroline is targeted to be renovated and opened to the public in 2011. For more information, visit our website at www.hmaac.org  or call us at 713.526.1015.