FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

CINCINNATI-The Contemporary Arts Center presents a night of lush, ambient improvisational music Saturday, September 15 at 8 pm at the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Downtown Cincinnati. Tickets are $7, and $5 for CAC Members, and are available online, in person at the CAC at 6^th and Walnut Streets, or by calling 513.345.8400.

This live interaction with the electronic sculpture The Blues Quartet brings together influential experimental musicians and artists João Paulo Feliciano, his long-time collaborator, composer and electronic-sound producer Rafael Toral, Sonic Youth guitarist and poet Lee Ranaldo and Trevor Tremaine, drummer for Hair Police and Death Unit.

Each member of this quartet has roots in both contemporary art and the experimental music scene. Not only did Portuguese artist João Paulo Feliciano perform in bands that opened for Sonic Youth, he also designed an alternative album cover for the band. His sculpture, The Blues Quartet, alters the environment of CAC's Kaplan Hall Lobby with its unpredictable light-and-music installation.

Rafael Toral, of Lisbon, Portugal, has long collaborated with Feliciano. Ambient layers and resonant, electronic textures characterize his guitar work. Utilizing everything from reverberation to resonant frequencies, he harvests an unprecedented diversity of sound from a single electric guitar to his create his intricate, fluid compositions.

Lee Ranaldo was named one of the top guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time). Co-founder of Sonic Youth, one of indie and punk's most influential bands, Ranaldo's career in rock spans more than a quarter century. A pioneer of new techniques and new guitar-playing styles, this world-renowned experimental artist successfully blends the energetic reductionism of punk with the intense abundance of ambient rock.

Lexington-based drummer Trevor Tremaine is as comfortable providing delicate textural drumming as he is pounding out more violent percussion. He has described the music his experimental band Hair Police performs as "ridiculous," "random," "ethereal" and "chaotic." Earlier this year, Death Unit, Tremaine's project with Bjork collaborator Chris Corsano and notable noise musicians Carlos Giffoni and Brian Sullivan, released Infinite Death, an album including live recordings and a track recorded at Sonic Youth's Echo Canyon Studio. Additionally, Tremaine has toured and recorded with Cincinnati's underground star, C. Spencer Yeh, as a part of Yeh's Burning Star Core lineup, as well as Lexington's Arms and Eyes of Smoke with electronics specialist Robert Beatty and others. __________________________________________________________
Event Detail
Saturday, September 15 • 8 pm • Kaplan Hall • $7
Blues Quartet Live Performance
Lisbon-based artist João Paulo Feliciano and his longtime collaborator, renowned guitarist and electronics improviser Rafael Toral, join Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth and Trevor Tremaine of Hair Police and Death Unit for this live interaction with Feliciano's sculpture.
Buy Tickets online at www.contemporaryartscenter.org, in person during regular museum hours, or by calling 513.345.8405
SPECIAL EVENT
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About João Paulo Feliciano João Paulo Feliciano (born 1963, Portugal) has exhibited and performed around the world as an artist, designer and musician. His music projects include the bands Tina and the Top Ten and No Noise Reduction. Both performed extensively throughout Portugal in varied venues and once opened for Sonic Youth in Lisbon. Feliciano's artwork would later be used as an alternate cover for Sonic Youth's Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. Recent solo exhibitions of Feliciano's work have been held at Culturgest and Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon and Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Serralves. Feliciano participated in the 2004 Sao Paulo Biennial, Brazil and has exhibited in numerous venues throughout Europe and South America. This exhibition is his first museum exhibition in the United States.

About The Blues Quartet
The installation features two multi-media interactive works and two graphic wall installations. The title work in the exhibition The Blues Quartet consists of four different lamps at the corners of a table-top stage with planes of transparent blue Perspex dividing the space into four sectors. The lights flicker and blink in response to music played through an iPod programmed by Feliciano and a diverse roster of musicians, curators, composers and artists. The colorful reflections, patterns, mingling of light, tint and sound create a bewildering and surprising choreography. Because the effect is unpredictable, the installation is truly part sculpture, part event. This somewhat random system takes on a personality, changing its form and light quality with its environment and surroundings.

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About the Contemporary Arts Center
Founded in November 1939 as the Modern Art Society by three visionary women in Cincinnati, Contemporary Arts Center was one of the first institutions in the U.S. dedicated to exhibiting the art of our time. In May 2003, the Center relocated to its first free-standing home, the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, designed by Zaha Hadid. Throughout its distinguished history, the Center has earned a reputation for stimulating thought and introducing new ideas by presenting the work of diverse artists from around the world, including hundreds of now-famous artists such as Laurie Anderson, Jasper Johns, Louise Nevelson, Nam June Paik, I.M. Pei, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Kara Walker and Andy Warhol. CAC focuses on new developments in painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, performance art and new media, presenting eight to 12 exhibitions and 20 to 40 performances annually.

Hours
Monday: 10 am-9 pm (5 pm-9 pm free admission)
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday - Friday: 10 am-6 pm
Saturday & Sunday: 11 am-6 pm

Admission
Adults $7.50; Seniors (65+) $6.50; Students w/ID $5.50; Children (3-13) $4.50
Members and Children under 3 free. Annual memberships start at $45.

The CAC receives ongoing support from the Fine Arts Fund, Ohio Arts Council, City of Cincinnati and AllOver Media.

2006-2007 Fine Arts Fund Partners:

Procter & Gamble, GE Aircraft Engines, Fifth Third Bank, Federated Dept. Stores/Lazarus-Macy's/FACS, Cinergy Corp., Convergys Corporation, U.S. Bank, The Kroger Company, Western & Southern Financial Group, American Financial Group and Related Entities, Cincinnati Bell, E.W. Scripps, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Cincinnati Financial Corp.

For more information, visit www.contemporaryartscenter.org.

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