Roberto Carlos Lange and Kristi Sword: Kite Symphony

Kite Symphony is a multidisciplinary exhibition by Roberto Carlos Lange (aka Helado Negro) and Kristi Sword, opening January 22. The project is rooted in sound and features a newly commissioned film, outdoor composition and installation, animation, series of drawings, sculpture, and a special Earth Day performance on April 22. The title illustrates the artists’ elusive and collaborative relationship with the wind in West Texas through its sonic play with kites.

“When you have your headphones on and a microphone pointing out to the expanses surrounding Marfa, you’re surprised at the density of the air. It’s like a big blanket wraps around your head and you’re invited into another world.” —Roberto Carlos Lange

Lange and Sword were invited to Marfa in March 2020 to develop a short film and live score, which turned out to be the onset of the global pandemic. They elected to stay in Marfa and their short trip expanded into an impromptu six-month residency. The extended residency evolved their commission into a full-scale exhibition, including new installation works, a community sound piece, performance, and Kite Symphony, Four Variations, an album that Pitchfork named one of the top 16 ambient albums of 2020. 

Guided by the wind and inspired by their day-to-day interplay with the local landscape, the artists centered a practice of listening to produce new work. Their experiences of connecting, sensing, and going inward are all explored through experiments with wind, sound, and light. 

The resulting exhibition will feature an impressionistic film that documents these experiments, making wind and light visible through their interactions with kites, hand-made mylar instruments, found objects, and native plant materials. The show will also include visual music that sets sonic compositions in conversation with analog animations of galaxies orbiting, multiplying, and expanding through an imaginary celestial space, inspired by the region’s dark skies. Sword’s visual scores will also be on view, with her rhythmic and repetitive brush marks revealing a landscape in constant motion. An immersive outdoor installation will transform Ballroom’s outdoor courtyard into a listening space where Lange presents an ambitious new multi-channel composition, weaving together sounds and field recordings collected from the community. 

Through their collaborative, multidisciplinary work, Lange and Sword attune audiences to expansive new sonic geographies—helping us to listen in diverse ways and reminding us of our presence in an animate world.

On Earth Day, April 22, 2022, Ballroom will host a day of performances with Roberto Carlos Lange and his musical collaborators. The show will feature live renditions of music made for the exhibition with a live ensemble, and performances by several friends of the artists. A full lineup will be announced soon.

The exhibition and programs for Kite Symphony are organized by Ballroom Marfa Music Curator Sarah Melendez.

Kite Symphony is made possible by the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Texas Commission on the Arts and National Endowment for the Arts; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; Lebermann Foundation; Virginia Lebermann & Family; City of Marfa;  Ballroom Marfa Board of Trustees; the Ballroom Marfa International Surf Club; and Ballroom Marfa members.