Performance Art Group Paints Colorful
Canvas of Sound at U. Texas

"Interdisciplinary art" is one of those vague terms that no one but an art professor can truly understand. In the hands of the Walter Thompson Orchestra, however, it translates into works of wit, startling originality, spontaneity and visual overload.

Thompson, who is visiting from New York City, has carved out a niche in this field with his novel approach to performance art called Soundpainting.

With a stage full of performers—including musicians, actors, singers, dancers and video artists—Thompson orchestrates a multimedia frenzy that blows the mind.

To those unfamiliar with the concept, Soundpainting may seem incomprehensibly abstract; it is easily understood, though, when experienced firsthand.

For starters, the show is entirely improvised. There is no score or planned program of any kind, only a loosely-directional theme (this week's theme is "transformation"). Moreover, traditional musicians and artists of every genre are added into the fray.

This arrangement may sound like it would result in utter chaos, but Thompson is ultimately the link that holds the motley group together.

Thompson accomplishes this by using a system of over 600 physical gestures. Some commands are specific, while others leave room for interpretation by the individual performers.

The signals are broken down into seven categories: sections, signaling certain individuals or groups of players; rhythms, indicating tempos and time signatures; tonal indications, specifying tone centers and specific chords; genres, to determine the "feel" of the music; functions, used in conjunction with other signals; sculpting, instructions for concepts and textures; and palettes, short sections of notated music and/or rehearsed text or photography.

Such a system demands that the performers be highly competent and able to follow the conductor's every whim, in addition to having to be creative on cue.

The members of the Walter Thompson Orchestra are clearly capable, turning the tightest of sonic and visual corners, and flip-flopping between wildly diverse tasks instantaneously. The final result is a sensory blender, a sort of live-stage version of the Beatles' "Revolution 9."

As a finale, Thompson incorporates the audience into the show. He demonstrates a few simple gestures, then he leads both the performers and the audience in a final Soundpainting, making the perfect send-off to an evening of cutting-edge performance art.

The Sound & Vision festival runs through Saturday at the Hyde Park Theater, featuring nightly performances by the Walter Thompson Orchestra in addition to El Niño Mon Amor (or Sex and Weather in Texas), performed by Austinites Jason Phelps and Margery Segal. Various experimental-music groups will also perform.