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.
It’s got to be a daunting task to create something even more surreal than what we wake up to every morning in our 21st-century world, but Timothy Beyer and his No Exit new music ensemble are pulling that trick off with élan in their 
It’s no secret that the pandemic caused many arts organizations to alter their plans. And while presenting concerts online was a suitable and often enjoyable alternative, they were no replacement for the shared experience of live performances.
During the past couple of years, No Exit has taken the online concert format to a new level. As 
The new music ensemble No Exit continues its longstanding collaboration with Zeitgeist, their counterparts from Minnesota’s Twin Cities, with “New Sound Worlds,” a free 
When multiple forms of art come together in a single work, there is the potential for something fascinating to unfold, but there are also unique challenges that arise. Both sides of that coin are on display in Julie and Cheri Johnson’s recent fusion of narrative and music, 
Friday the 13th — the mere mention of this day conjures up fear for those suffering from triskaidekaphobia. Or perhaps that fear stems from seeing one or more of the twelve slasher films. And, we must not forget that Italian composer Gioachino Rossini died on that most unlucky day.
The show must go on! 
Composers have always turned to works of art, literature, folklore, and music by other composers as sources of inspiration. This week, St. Paul-based