MARFA — Tierras Sonidas, a new sound arts festival presenting site-specific sonic explorations, will take place across Marfa this weekend at various venues from Friday to Sunday.
Performances are free to attend. Local musician Andrew Stevens and local artist Mo Eldridge are among the inaugural festival’s organizers. Stephens said Tierras Sonidas is an expansion of a sound performance that took place at Do Right Hall last year in conjunction with Eldridge’s exhibition Not Flowers.
The multi-day event is bringing in artists from Houston, Austin, the Panhandle as well as Oklahoma and California to present experimental sound art in varying forms. Tierras Sonidas kicks off Friday night with a happy hour featuring Alta Marfa wines and performances starting at 6 p.m. at Mira Marfa. It continues Saturday afternoon with performances at the concrete construction zone next to Glitch Gallery, Saturday evening at MAINTENANT and Otherside, and Sunday morning at the Lumberyard.
Programming runs the gamut but is all based on the concept of artists responding to their environment. “There’s a dance performance. There’s a guy playing rocks. There’s a bunch of people doing synthesis,” Stevens said. “There’s a bunch of people playing instruments. There’s improvisation, there’s a bunch of arranged composition.”
Performers include guitarist and Sul Ross State University instructor Nick Hurt, Austin-based performance artist and choreographer Heloise Gold, locals Philip Boyd and Nick Terry of band Airfield and more.
A map and set times for the festival can be found on Page 3 of this week’s Big Bend Sentinel and at @tierras.sonidas on Instagram.