Alexis Gideon will be performing the third installment in his critically-acclaimed multimedia opera series, Video Musics III: Floating Oceans across the US and Europe in the fall of 2012, including a performance in Norman at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 15 at MAINSITE Contemporary Art, 122 E. Main. Admission is $5, and there will be a Q&A session and reception following the screening.

Gideon is an interdisciplinary iconoclast whose body of work joyfully challenges the presumed constraints of visual arts and music genres. Where others attempting the same projects might get lost in the weeds, Gideon’s ferocious intelligence and crystal-clear vision produces some of the most engaging pieces audiences will encounter. Gideon worked with Cynthia Star (Lead Painter for Coraline, Laika Studios) and Jacob Rubin (Best New American Voices), among others, to produce the video piece. Video Musics III: Floating Oceans was funded by a generous award from The Regional Arts and Culture Council, the second consecutive grant from this organization Gideon has received. (Gideon’s first RACC award was for Video Musics II: Sun Wu-Kong.)

Video Musics III: Floating Oceans is a 38-minute stop-motion animation video opera based on the works of the early 20th century Irish writer Lord Dunsany, and inspired by the time and dream experiments of the Irish physicist John William Dunne. The piece is dedicated to Flann O’Brien. Video Musics III: Floating Oceans contrasts the vivid dreams of its poet-protagonist with the foreboding routine of pedestrian life. Parts operate under the tow of dream logic. All dialogue and narration are expressed through lyrics and music performed live in front of the projected video. The piece explores non-linear and traditional linear narrative, and uses the musical meters of modern classical, hip-hop, ambient, and psychedelia.

A modern-day travelling bard, Gideon’s US performance schedule includes dates at The New Museum in New York City, The St. Louis Film Festival, The Santa Fe Art Institute, and a month-long exhibit of original artwork from his video at The University of Denver’s Emmanuel Gallery. Following the US performances, Gideon’s traveling exhibition goes to Europe for four weeks.

Gideon has been called “a singular visionary, creating multimedia opuses that have no peer” (The Portland Mercury). The Confucius Institute of SUNY Stony Brook specially recognized Gideon for his thoughtful integration of ancient texts with hyper-modern expressive elements. His pieces have been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, German and Chinese, and have been performed in ten countries. Gideon studied at New York City’s LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts, and under the mentorship of Anthony Braxton at Wesleyan University.

For more information on the performance, please contact Joshua Boydston at joshb@normanarts.org.