2/2/2021

Sound meets vision as Dave King and Alec Soth square off in an artistic pingpong match - StarTribune.com

VARIETY

Sound meets vision as Dave King andAlec Soth square off in an artisticpingpong match
REVIEW: Alec Soth and Dave King trade sound and vision in thespirited "The Palms."
By Rob Hubbard Special to the Star Tribune

FEBRUARY 1, 2021 — 2:45PM

What happens when an internationally renowned photographer(https://www.startribune.com/for-famed-minneapolis-artist-alec-soth-the-maildelivered-an-unlikely-friendship/573065062/) and a virtuosic jazz drummer(https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-jazz-band-the-bad-plus-prepares-for-finalshows-with-original-lineup/464249433/) create a performance piece together? You getmoments in which old photos are splashed with acid while the drumming grows
increasingly explosive and the images blur and dissolve into a stream of multicoloredparticles, as if a memory is fading before your eyes.
That was but one of several rewarding moments in "The Palms,"(https://thegreatnorthernfestival.com/allevents/alec-soth-dave-king-the-palms) an
improvisation-fueled work created and performed by photographer Alec Soth andpercussionist/pianist Dave King that premiered Saturday as a webcast under theauspices of the Great Northern Festival.
The idea of one performer playing while the other presents photos may not soundcaptivating, but Soth and King exuded a spirit of following their mutual muse whereverit led. The result was a breath of refreshing spontaneity in a time when most artistic
creations come to us polished and packaged.
If you're familiar with the work of Soth — a photographer of the Magnum collective
who's had exhibits in many a museum — you may imagine it's his own images that filled
the screen at the Parkway Theater, where the duo's performance was recorded. But
they're actually gleaned from boxes of old photos he's purchased (often by the pound)from antique stores and collectors of castoff merchandise.
J AY M E H A L B R I T T E R

Over the course of an hour and seven musical movements of distinctly different moods,
viewers are thrown into moments in the lives of random strangers, ricocheting betweeneras and settings. Sometimes, themes emerge — pingpong, subjects sleeping or snorkeling— but, more often, there's a collagelike feel to "The Palms," inviting you to allow theabstract combination of images and music to wash over you.

Drummer Dave King and photographer Alec
Soth during rehearsals for “The Palms” at theParkway Theater in Minneapolis.

Soth and King found common inspiration in the work of composer John Cage
(https://johncage.org/autobiographical_statement.html) , and having the rules for animprovisation driven by tumbling dice is the kind of thing that Cage would do with thedance company of his partner, Merce Cunningham. But King's contributions wereequally influenced by the music of experimental jazz giant Sun Ra(https://youtu.be/ZoNBMIbMDD0) , evoked not only musically but in a mid-show story
the drummer delivers.
Beyond Cage and Ra, another catalyst for "The Palms" was a chronicler of mid-20thcentury late-night street life, Weegee, who once suggested pairing his images with jazz. Avariation on that theme came through when Soth presented old photos gleaned from theStar Tribune archives (http://historyapolis.com/blog/2016/07/21/the-persian-palms/) ,reading their captions while King's pedal-heavy piano grew more insistent and intense.
In a more meditative section, a gentle passage of stride piano lent a sepia tint to the two
stacks of photos Soth gradually assembled like playing cards in a game of War, men on
the left, women on the right, smiling couples eventually trumping the binarypresentation.

https://www.startribune.com/sound-meets-vision-as-dave-king-and-alec-soth-square-off-in-an-artistic-pingpong-match/600017709/

1/2

2/2/2021

Sound meets vision as Dave King and Alec Soth square off in an artistic pingpong match - StarTribune.com

What was probably a rather static performance for the small socially distanced crowd at
the Parkway was shaped gracefully for streaming by director Mike Jones. The photos
were often fused and overlaid with King beating, bowing and shaking various pieces ofpercussion with musicality and an expressive spirit.
"The Palms" feels not only like a potentially liberating meeting of creative visions, but
the welcome return of one of the Twin Cities' most imaginative impresarios, KateNordstrum, who now directs the boundary-breaking Great Northern Festival(https://www.startribune.com/with-the-great-northern-fest-minnesota-winters-just-gota-little-cooler/600013703/) . Her "Liquid Music" presentations — which fell under theumbrella of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra for most of the past decade — have always
shown her to be a skilled artistic alchemist, and "The Palms" is a prime example of heradventurous spirit.

STREET FACTORY MEDIADavid King and Alec Soth performed “ThePalms.”

The Palms
Where: Viewable through Feb. 6 at thegreatnorthernfestival.com(https://thegreatnorthernfestival.veeps.com/stream/events/17a86e5761d6) ; $15.

https://www.startribune.com/sound-meets-vision-as-dave-king-and-alec-soth-square-off-in-an-artistic-pingpong-match/600017709/

2/2