By Mike Telin
This week Cleveland-based No Exit and St. Paul-based Zeitgeist will continue their long-standing collaboration with “An Evocation of Our Current Time.” This 55-minute multimedia experience draws on improvisation, film, artificial intelligence, environmental manipulation, lies, magic, gaslighting and other forms of chicanery.
The 7:00 pm free performances are on Thursday at Trinity Cathedral, Friday at SPACES, and Saturday at Heights Arts.
No Exit’s Laura King spoke with artistic director/composer Tim Beyer about how the ensemble’s recent Surreality season reshaped their creative trajectory, why it’s important for artists to grapple with the foundational instability of “now,” and how audiences might react when confronted with a work that both mirrors and distorts the world we inhabit.
The interview is reposted with the permission of the ensemble and author.
Laura King: Tim, please talk about how Surreality reshaped your thinking about what a No Exit concert can be, and how An Evocation of Our Current Time has grown out of that evolution.