Anne LeBaron, Tristen Parr at Subiaco Arts Center. | Photo by Bohdan Warchomij.
Sound Scripts, a blind-peer reviewed journal, specializing in new music and sound art recently published experimental composer, harpist and CalArts faculty Anne LeBaron’s essay Sonic Ventures in Post-Truth Surrealism: Raudelunas, the Rev. Fred Lane, and LSD: Huxley’s Last Trip. The essay is based on the keynote speech she gave at the 2017 Totally Huge New Music Festival in Perth, Australia.
From the abstract:
In the arena of contemporary music and performance, truthiness—a fuzzy-edged concept linking “truth” and “post-truth”—provides a malleable framework for examining how musicians and musical communities are confronting, reacting to, or embodying belief systems grounded in deception. Does the notion of authenticity embrace deliberate falsifications? In an attempt to answer such questions, I will offer examples of performers, writers, and artists cavorting along the truthiness bridge.
An innovative performer and composer, LeBaron’s work often addresses social and political topics that are unusual and challenging. She has won numerous awards and prices, including a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, a Fulbright Full Fellowship, among others. In 2020, LeBaron will be participating in the John Donald Robb Composers Symposium, where Wave Dash will give the U.S. premiere of her new piece, Kamma Vipaka.
LeBaron’s essay Sonic Ventures in Post-Truth Surrealism, as well as the entire Vol. 6, is available to read on Sound Scripts’ website.