Music, art, and culture collide in the second installment of the collaborative, desert-town festival Marfa Myths. This unique cultural program is taking place this weekend, March 13 — 15 in Marfa, Texas. Curated by New York based label Mexican Summer and co-presented with Ballroom Marfa, Marfa Myths features artists from within and outside of the Mexican Summer and Software Recording Co. rosters working creatively and collaboratively across music, cinema and visual arts contexts.
A central objective of Marfa Myths is to engage with the Marfa community and its esteemed cultural institutions. Marfa is an artist enclave tucked into the high desert of the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas, and has become a destination for contemporary art, due in part to the work of Donald Judd and the Chinati Foundation. Founded in 2003, Ballroom Marfa has established itself as a hub for artists working in music, performance, film and visual arts. Past projects include Elmgreen & Dragset’s Prada Marfa; Jonah Freeman, Justin Lowe, and Alexandre Singh’s Hello Meth Lab in the Sun; Rashid Johnson’s Shea Butter Irrigation System, and Agnes Denes’ Pyramids of Conscience. Ballroom Marfa has also hosted performances from Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Julianna Barwick, Tinariwen, and Sonic Youth, among many others. The Marfa Myths festival will coincide with the opening of a solo exhibition from Sam Falls at Ballroom Marfa, featuring new sound, video, sculptural, and wall works by the Los Angeles-based artist.
To get a better idea of what we can expect from this awesome collaborative experience, we sat down with Nicki Ittner, the Music Director for Ballroom Marfa and co-curator of the festival, and picked her brain about the organizational process of putting together such an expansive experience and what they hope to accomplish in their sophomore year.
Tell us about the festival! How has Marfa Myths evolved since its inaugural year in 2014? What can we expect this year?
Marfa Myths is a cultural program blurring the lines between music, film, visual art, recording, and more. The event is a co-curation/presentation with Mexican Summer and Ballroom Marfa. It’s grown quite a bit since last year – which was basically a (very awesome) show + recording sessions. This year we have a recording residency with Connan Mockasin and Dev Hynes; an artist residency with Liz Harris of Grouper; a “sound bath” from Jefre Cantu-Ledesma; a presentation of Gregg Kowalsky’s live installation Tape Chants; a screening of short documentaries and Holy Cow Swami; plus two nights of music from Iceage, Grouper, Tamaryn, Steve Gunn, Weyes Blood, GABI, Thug Entrancer, Co La, Bitchin Bajas, LBS. and Suicideyear. Holy cow!
I understand that you want to highlight artists who have a significant cultural impact. Can you explain how that’s defined and what the curatorial process is like?
We spent a good amount of time thinking that over. It’s a mix of the Mexican Summer roster and off label artists we know and love. Future editions will reflect a similar approach — above all, we’re music fans and wanted to put together a compelling program.
How does the Marfa Myths experience differ from that of a traditional gallery?
Well, Ballroom Marfa is not really a traditional gallery – we do all kinds of programs across all kinds of disciplines, so Marfa Myths is very in line with that spirit. Ballroom Marfa does something (slightly) similar with the Marfa Dialogues, which is a multi-disciplinary program that brings together people from the worlds of art, activism, policy, and science, to examine contemporary issues through the lens of creative practice. Obviously that’s very different from Marfa Myths, but it has similar roots and similar cross-programming.
Marfa Myths highlights exceptional works in visual arts, film, music, and performance. Do you run into any obstacles covering so many mediums?
Not really. Honestly, the real challenge is just getting it all coordinated. Being in Marfa, where we don’t really have all the options, you have to plan for everything you need way in advance. Our lives are basically devoted to planning this event for months and months.
How did Mexican Summer come to collaborate with Ballroom Marfa?
It was a mutual admiration of each other’s work – we had friends in common who put us in touch, and Mexican Summer really wanted to do something in Marfa. So we came together on the idea of putting on a show, while maybe doing some recording projects. That discussion started some years ago. Our first collaboration happened in 2014, and it really helped to set the tone for future programming. And here we are.
Pick up your tickets here!
Mexican Summer
Ballroom Marfa
Interview by Justin Davis. Share some apples with peanut butter with him over @yeahjustindavis.
