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Live Cinema Performance
August 16, 17th
8pm
Please join us for an evening of rapturous ecological spectacle provided by a first time collaboration between filmmaker Aron Sanchez-Baranda also known as Waterbod and the Musical Duo LEYA. Anemones, snails and sea cucumbers will dance to entrancing tones under the old oaks of the Arboretum for two nights only!
Aron Sanchez-Baranda documents the declining wildlife and fungi found on the Californian coast. Expressed primarily in video and photography, his art explores sensory abstraction and unconscious response to natural forms. He has created works for for musicians such as Arca and Kingston Family Singers as well as adverts for Apple computers. His recent solo exhibition, Membrana, was shown at the Venice Biennale in Italy. He is currently based in Los Angeles.
The beguiling work of LEYA occupies a space between many worlds, mixing medieval sensibilities with modern folk, classical, and pop. The duo is comprised of harpist Marilu Donovan, who uses a unique tuning system, and violinist/vocalist Adam Markiewicz, who blends operatic vocals in multiple languages with warm string tones.
LEYA has released a steady volume of work in several years. Their two albums via NNA Tapes, The Fool (2018) and its critically acclaimed follow-up Flood Dream (2020), exist alongside a wide range of collaborations. In 2018, the group wrote and performed a full-length soundtrack to I Love You, an erotic film directed by Brooke Candy and produced by PornHub that also features the duo as actors. 2019's Angel Lust, a collaborative EP with Eartheater, followed courtesy of legendary experimental label PAN. In 2022, LEYA released the fully-collaborative Eyeline, a mixtape featuring contributions from Julie Byrne, Eartheater, Okay Kaya, Actress, Claire Rousay, James K, Deli Girls, Sunk Heaven, and Martha Skye Murphy. Additional collaborations have seen the duo paired with Ecco2k, Varg²™, Liturgy, Drew McDowall, and Christina Vantzou, among others.