Obstacle Illusion – Thollem/ACVilla

Obstacle Illusion is a live multimedia experience pairing Thollem’s solo electric score with the films of ACVilla. It includes selections from a variety of projects that illustrate ACVilla’s unique approach she calls contextualizations, layering multiple projections onto common objects and surfaces to deepen the significance of subject and object. Stemming from the name of Thollem’s solo album on Astral Spirits Records, the music is a collaboration with new technologies, an exploration of sound through unique timbral combinations with a plethora of influences and inspirations. His approach is informed by his background in 20th/21st century composition and improvisation as well as his years of perpetual travel. Through multiple overlaying of sonic and visual stimuli, Obstacle Illusion reveals subconscious thoughts and hidden memories. The experience is simultaneously pleasurable, challenging and intellectually stimulating. Eternity filtered through two artists at the center of a world on the edge. (Duration: 60 min)

”Slyly sublime and beautifully brutal” – August March, Albuquerque Alibi

ACVilla “invites viewers to see an artistic bridge between human’s urban developments and the natural world,” while “Thollem’s talent pushed the boundaries of melody, inviting the audience to observe and think deeply throughout the uncanny and unique auditory artwork they were experiencing.”
Lola Watts, Santa Barbara Independent

With ACVilla’s work, “there’s a continuous sense that things aren’t quite right but are still beautiful and intriguing. It’s a similar quality that I’m after with my approach with the Wavestate. We’re both interested in recontextualising sounds and images and therefore challenging our preconceptions about life and our relationship with the world.”
Thollem in The Wire