Stories

STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE & EVERYONE ELSE
Coming soon via Vimeo!

Video artist ACVilla and keyboardist/vocalist Thollem retell stories they have collected over years of travel, including ones from just the other day, through miniature films and original music. These are audio/visual sneak peeks into otherwise unobserved events that are unfolding at the same time as ours, creating seconds- or minutes-long bonds that change our day whether we notice them or not. With an eye on these connections, ACVilla highlights the moments with an analog sensibility using digital equipment that suits her nomadic lifestyle. Thollem’s soundtrack draws on his infinite influences to create a sonic soundscape that is as equally enlightening as it is entertaining. Stories About People & Everyone Else is exactly that, told through two artists at the center of a world on the edge.

With ACVilla’s work “there’s a continuous sense that things aren’t
quite right but are still beautiful and intriguing.”
– The Wire

“A fresh sight & sound take on the road trip and all points, people & things in between.”  
– Keif Henley, Guild Cinema (Albuquerque, NM)

“Slyly sublime and beautifully brutal” – The Albuquerque Alibi

“The duo’s performance as a whole was utterly unique, a deep sense of reflection. ACVilla invites viewers to see an artistic bridge between human’s urban developments and the natural world. Thollem’s talent pushes the boundaries of melody, inviting the audience to observe and think deeply throughout the uncanny and unique auditory artwork they are experiencing.”
– Lola Watts, Santa Barbara Independent

“I had the surprising experience of feeling that I was home in all scenes,
including what seemed most unfamiliar.”
– Laurie Buenafe Krsmanovic, musician

“The musique concrète of these tracks puts together and deforms
sounds from disparate sources,
yet somehow feels of a live, organic performance.”
– S.V.A., Something Else!

Thollem/ACVilla has been presented by: Northwest Film Forum, Hallwalls, Crystal Bridges, Krannert Art Museum, Vision Festival, University of Santa Barbara, Works/San José, Yosemite Art Museum, Harwood Museum, Erie Art Museum, Nonsequitur (Seattle), Crocker Art Museum, Guild Cinema (Abq), Icebox Project Space, SITE Santa Fe, Kino Xenix (Zurich), Casa do Comum (Lisbon), Curva Minore (Palermo), Il Centro d’Arte dell’Università di Padova, Infrasuoni l’Asilo (Napoli), AngelicA (Bologna), and Metronome Festival (Dublin), among others throughout North America and Europe.

Interested in booking a live performance?
Write to:
contact@thollemacvilla.com

Other Thollem/ACVilla projects include:

OBSTACLE ILLUSION is titled after Thollem’s solo electric album on Astral Spirits Records. The focus visually is on ACVilla’s technique of projecting the outside world onto the inside of living spaces, starting with her familiy’s 150-year old adobe home in Northern New Mexico. Conjuring subconscious thoughts and hidden memories, the experience is simultaneously pleasurable and challenging.

WHO ARE U.S. at home in the unfamiliar
In 2016 Thollem and ACVilla motored around the lower 48 states of the U.S. documenting the points where people come into contact with the land and each other. Thollem scored their work as they progressed. The 3-album set is available on Aural Films.

WORLDS IN A LIFE reassembles original audio from Thollem’s series of trio albums with Nels Cline (including Terry Riley, William Parker, Pauline Oliveros, and Michael Wimberly). ACVilla takes us along their journey as nomadic artists, layering disparate images and scenes. Philosophically, it is a meditation on the infinite within each of us and our relationships with the world. An adventure to the center of ourselves. WIAL, One & Two are available on ESP-Disk’.