Worlds In A Life

Worlds In A Life takes the audience on a real-time journey by reassembling original audio from Thollem’s albums with Nels Cline, Terry Riley, William Parker, Pauline Oliveros, and Michael Wimberly paired with live video art by ACVilla. Both Thollem’s and ACVilla’s real-time reassembling of their audio and visual recordings seem familiar and at the same time are unlike anything else. Philosophically, it is a meditation on the intrinsic value of every individual, biologically, chemically, electrically, psychologically, and culturally. It is a celebration of the infinite within each of us and our relationships with the world and each other.

“There are as many worlds in a life as there are lives in the world.”
– from Thollem/Parker/Cline: Gowanus Session (Porter Records)

Worlds In A Life is “refreshingly bonkers.”
– Anonymous audient at the Metronome Festival, Dublin

As a perpetually traveling pianist, keyboardist, composer, improviser, singer-songwriter, activist, author and teacher, Thollem‘s approach is founded on the two questions, What if? and Why not?. As a result, his projects are ever-changing, evolving and responding to the times and his experiences. He is known in concentric circles as an acoustic piano player in the free jazz and post-classical worlds, as the keyboardist and vocalist for several bands, and as an electronic musician. Both as a soloist and in collaboration with hundreds of artists across idioms and disciplines, his lifelong interest has been to work with people from all walks of life, bringing artists and communities together in ways that create experiences uniquely valuable to everyone involved.

ACVilla is a visual artist who focuses her camera on the subtleties of interpersonal dynamics and the power that context plays in constantly redefining what people believe they already know. ACVilla highlights those aspects of Life with an analog sensibility using digital equipment that fits into her nomadic lifestyle. She is known for contextualizations, her unique approach of projecting the outside world in. Her works have been presented in venues across two continents in myriad contexts, including DIYs, museums, schools, universities, film societies, and theaters. With her long-time partner, Thollem, she creates large projects from documentaries to touring multimedia experiences that take audiences on journeys navigated by the perpetually travelling duo.