Highway to Hell, Norway

Highway to Hell, Norway is a mixed media installation, garage-rock dreamscape, public access TV opera, and custom interactive technologies.
It mixes the rough DIY aesthetics of 'underground' culture (whatever that still means), and fuses them with interactive technologies.
The result is advanced and also a bit clunky and rough.
Just how I like it.
Premiered May 2025 at Flight Gallery in San Antonio, TX.

This is a walkthru of the exhibit:

Album:
18 new recordings, only available on cassette, for now, through Flight Gallery.
Here is one song: Someday (free) to listen or download.

Libretto: PDF

Images:

Videos:

writeup: A five-part opera libretto turned into various video episodes. Screened daily on small CRTs. A hacked Kinect camera will allow viewers to modulate the video in unpredictable ways, using motion sensing.

For the musical component, recorded album in two days on a single reel of 2” analog tape. Songs, interludes, and experiments. The compositions are equally indebted to Guided by Voices, Laurie Anderson, Robert Ashley, and the aesthetics of 90s DIY cassette culture.

As part of the installation, reconstructed the Personal Injury Lawyer Organ, a custom MIDI keyboard, wherein each of the 61 keys triggers a video clip of certain ubiquitous local personal injury lawyers.

Intriguing to San Antonio residents will be “San Antonio Rock Peace,” a conceptual gesture of peace in a world seemingly gone mad. For “Rock Peace,” took rocks from home, painted peace signs on them, and placed them around the city in the shape of a peace sign. More Peace Rocks will be available to take and expand/continue the project, with pins available to mark new rock locations.

Libretto, songs, and images will be collected into a small booklet, available for sale at Flight Gallery.