USA - Sphere Entertainment presented a special Exosphere content show in celebration of Earth Day featuring work from multi-Grammy Award-winning Grateful Dead and Dead & Company percussionist Mickey Hart, and filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg.
Hart’s and Schwartzberg’s artwork combined into an 11-minute content show that ran through the day. Their art featured individually at various times throughout the day as well. Hart and Schwartzberg are the latest artists to design for the Exosphere as part of Sphere’s XO/Art programme, which features artists’ work on Sphere’s immersive exterior.
“Our XO/Art programme continues to make art available and accessible to the public in a highly innovative and unique way, both in Las Vegas and around the world,” said Jennifer Koester, president, Sphere Business Operations at Sphere Entertainment. “Mickey Hart and Louie Schwartzberg are artists who utilise novel techniques to not only create impactful visuals, but also tell important stories, and we are proud to feature their immersive work in a first-of-its-kind show on the Exosphere to celebrate Earth Day.”
“I've always felt that music has the power to connect us to the rhythms of the Earth and the universe,” said Mickey Hart. “The Sphere project is my attempt to harness those rhythms and create something that speaks to the interconnectedness of all life. It's a visual representation of the rhythms and energies that inspire me. It is like a beat in a song, creating layers of texture and emotion on the canvas. Earth Day should remind us that we are all part of a vast, cosmic symphony, and that it is our responsibility to care for this planet and all its inhabitants.”
“I am excited to share nature’s wonders on the largest canvas on Earth,” said Louie Schwartzberg. “These sequences make the invisible visible by exploring the foundations of Life. We start with Earth’s majestic landscapes, to soil making fungi, to flowers and their pollinators, all of which propels life to flourish. When assembled together, they tell the magical story of unseen worlds that sustain Life on Earth. This is the greatest story to tell on Earth Day. Let’s celebrate Life.”
Hart’s piece, entitled Rhythms of the Universe, is a 90-second visual symphony consisting of four phases, each characterised by movements and colour patterns. To create the details and intricate patterns in his Exosphere piece, a Pythagorean monochord was played through a subwoofer whose ultra-low frequencies induce vibrations that bring the artwork to life.
For his six, 90-second Exosphere pieces, Schwartzberg went back to his documentarian roots, drawing from nature footage and utilising his renowned time-lapse photography technique.
