7/29/2008 04:13:00 PM I've created a Google Calendar of my upcoming events if you want to subscribe or spread the word.
7/29/2008 02:47:00 PM
Ben Aqua and his group of tiny machines will perform a live synth-filled, mechanically-manipulated score to the 1989 Japanese film "Tetsuo: The Iron Man" as part of the Free Form Films live film score series.
Thursday, July 31, 10pm @ Red 7 (patio) 611 E. 7th, Austin, TX
$5 21+/$8 21-
Chad A (ex-Zom Zoms, Low Red Center) Ben Aqua (ASSACRE, MVSCLZ, Totally Wreck) Johnny Cisneros (aka VC Chldkrft, Totally Wreck) Matt LaComette (Low Red Center, Aunt's Analog) Erich Ragsdale (Low Red Center, TJ Laserphone) David Salinas (Totally Wreck) Sam Vandeliner (aka Gary B, Night Viking) Eli Welbourne (Belaire, Totally Wreck)
7/16/2008 03:52:00 PM My first solo photo exhibition opens tomorrow in Austin, Texas:
Ben Aqua Invasion of Privacy
July 17 - August 6, 2008
Opening Reception: July 17, 2008, 7-10pm
Using photography and time-based media, Ben Aqua's work explores the notion of identity formation and its relationship with fear. Often influenced by the eccentricities that occur in the development of personal identity, he depicts how these characteristics translate aesthetically and metaphorically within the subjects' immediate environments.
"In modern Western culture, we are bred with a fearful mentality; fear of death, fear of terrorism, fear of homosexuality, etc. I believe there is something tremendously powerful about the honest discovery of one's self that allows us to overcome all fear. This process of fearless self-identification that I see in others is something my work constantly explores, acting as a sort of psychological mirror in which I investigate my own humanity."
Even further, Ben's work exists within the context of our rapidly evolving technological world where identity bleeds into the virtual realm. The Internet and online media act as a wide-open virtual playground devoid of time and space. In this vein, he explores methods in which technology extends the concept of identity formation, offering the theoretical luxury of anonymity and a sort of lush, blank canvas for fulfilling one's own destinies.
7/15/2008 11:55:00 PM Force Dynamics Motion Simulation Turned Upside Down