Apetechnology is Back for Round Three!

One of only three artists coming to Dlectricity 2017 to have presented at all three festivals, Detroit-based collective Apetechnology is back!

Apetechnology combines tech and art to focus on the human relationship with technology. Referring to their work as “Detroit Retrograde Futurism,” the group looks back on the once-celebrated “future” with a critical eye.

The collective had a show at Public Pool Art Space in Hamtramck in 2016. Their piece “Slendrotron,” an electronic Gamelan orchestra that plays music randomly generated by a computer algorithm, was featured in a show of other multimedia work.

For Dlectricity 2017, Apetechnology is presenting “The Shadows of Slendrotron (The Monkey God’s Great Leap),” a robotic performance piece inspired by traditional Javanese puppetry that brings the “Slendrotron” orchestra to Dlectricity. “The Shadows of Slendrotron” includes the live performance of an adaptation of a play from the Hindu epic Ramayana using automation, puppeteering and robotics accompanied by music from the electronic Gamelan orchestra.

Apetechnology’s piece “MechanoShards” at Dlectricity 2014 explored synchronized motion, light, sound and musical composition using 20-foot tall mechanical constructions created to look like shimmering crystal shards.

Collective members Chip Flynn, Leith Campbell and Leo Garza will present “The Shadows of Slendrotron.” Flynn founded Apetechnology in 2002, returning to Detroit to hone in on aesthetic machine design; Campbell explores all forms of technology while simultaneously testing the limits of improvisation; Garza is a S.A.G. puppeteer who has recently done media modeling work for Disney/Pixar.

Thank you so much to The Knight Foundation and Bluewater Technologies for their generous support of this project!

Thank you so much to the Detroit Institute of Arts for hosting this project!