Arto Lindsay Performance with Niño de Elche

Soleá song of Darcy Lange and Miriam Snijders
Saturday, March 15, 6pm

Join us for a performance by ex-flamenco cantaor Niño de Elche and experimental musician Arto Lindsay during the opening of continents like seeds. Lindsay and Niño de Elche will animate the histories explored in Sadopítna, o sea, antípodas, puesto del revés y boca abajo (Sedopitna, or antipodes, turned inside out and upside down), 2023–ongoing, a sonic and sculptural work by Pedro G. Romero and Niño de Elche on view at CARA through May 18, 2025.

Combining flamenco influences, looping guitars, and environmental performance, the artists will honor Darcy Lange and Miriam Snijders with a soleá song. Lange (1946–2005) was a film and video artist who, together with Snijders, conceived of the multimedia performance Aire del Mar. Between 1988 and 1994, they performed various iterations of the stage piece—featuring still and moving images of flamenco dance, song, and guitar—throughout New Zealand and in the Netherlands. By considering flamenco histories alongside local ecologies, Lange and Snijders drew connections between the Māori and Roma people, their shared struggles against colonial oppressors, and their roles in defense of nature.

VIII. “SOLEÁ SONG OF DARCY LANGE AND MIRIAM SNIJDERS, WHO DEDICATED AIRE DEL MAR—THEIR FIRST MULTIMEDIA ECOLOGICAL OPERA—TO FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE MAŌRI PEOPLE AND PROTESTING AGAINST THE FRENCH NUCLEAR TESTING IN THE PACIFIC AND THE ENSUING DESTRUCTION OF AN ECOSYSTEM AND THE FORMS OF LIFE AND RELATIONSHIPS THAT SUSTAINED IT, USING TO THIS END THE FLAMENCO OF DIEGO DEL GASTOR, WHO HAD TAUGHT LANGE GUITAR IN MORÓN DE LA FRONTERA, IN THE SHADOW OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MILITARY BASE OF THE SAME NAME, WHICH—THERE TOO—MAKES THE SKIES TREMBLE.”

Arto Lindsay was born in Richmond, Virginia and raised in Brazil. He lived in New York for a while where he co-founded the bands DNA, the Lounge Lizards, the Golden Palominos, and Ambitious Lovers. Since the mid-90s, he has been making records under his own name. Lindsay also makes parades.

Niño de Elche (b. 1985, Spain; lives and works in Madrid) and Pedro G. Romero (b. 1964, Spain; lives and works in Seville and Barcelona) are Spanish artists whose collaborations examine and reframe the traditional forms of flamenco music. Trained as a cantaor (flamenco singer), Niño de Elche pushes the boundaries of the art form by incorporating spoken word, electronic music, and multimedia elements into his performances. Romero is an accomplished visual artist and filmmaker who has collaborated extensively with Niño de Elche. He creates immersive and thought-provoking audiovisual experiences that explore themes of identity, culture, and societal norms. Taking inspiration from a variety of cultural contexts, together they create a flamenco that is both familiar and inverted, signifying the world seen from an alternative perspective.