Across the Americas, nonlinear time is breaking out: Christopher Columbus floats adrift on a faulty biodiesel clipper; kids dance to new songs made from loops of old music; Aztec language broadcasts intercut NPR… Using a variety of examples from his own work and others’, Jace Clayton aka DJ /rupture will discuss the importance of cross-cultural systems of knowledge in today’s networked digital reality in a free, public lecture.

Jace Clayton lives and works in New York City. Clayton uses an interdisciplinary approach to focus on how sound, memory, and public space interact, with an emphasis on low-income communities and the global South. A rigorous conceptual framework grounds each project it moves across areas as diverse as software design, sculptural objects, or performance. Recent projects include Sufi Plug Ins, a free suite of music software-as-art based on non-western conceptions of sound and alternative interfaces; and The Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner, a performance piece for grand pianos, live electronics, and voice. As DJ /rupture, he has released several critically acclaimed albums and hosted a weekly radio show on WFMU. Clayton’s collaborators include filmmakers Jem Cohen, Joshua Oppenheimer, poet Elizabeth Alexander, and singer Norah Jones. He is currently writing a book on music at the dawn of the digital century for Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 

Jace Clayton appears as part of the Interdisciplinary Seminar, created as a discussion series on artistic practice for the students of the Cooper Union School of Art and the creative community that surrounds them. Lectures are free and open to the public.

The Interdisciplinary Seminar is part of the Robert Lehman Visiting Artist Program at The Cooper Union.