Van Stiefel Composer, Guitarist, and Educator

'already seen' with MIRO

Van Stiefel is with MIRO, a pre-event for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts: "Art After5" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The collaboration began a year earlier when the company was chosen to participate in the 2010 Filament Festival at EMPAC (The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center).

"With Already Seen," MIRO writes,"[we explore] the 'loop' on both the human and technological level. Taking as starting points the infinite circle of the film loop and the process of sound looping, Already Seen looks at the circles of repetition and the feelings of deja vu that permeate our lives and relationships. The performers experience the same repeating moment and we, the viewer, are left to determine what has changed and what remains the same." Live electric guitar music is looped and processed and projected to multiple channels. At the same time, dancers trigger samples using light sensors located in particular parts of the performance space.