With an intercultural and inter-media aesthetic and praxis that can be described as “Weltradau” (World Noise), MLuM takes and makes the “best” out of the “worst (and vice versa) that various music(s), images, performance practices and sounds have to offer. Organic and inorganic processes, gong-chime cultures, ethnoise and sound mauls (as opposed to mere sound bites) are among its inspirations and references. MLuM”s creato-researchive interests include: The utilization and/or incorporation of scientific and pseudo-scientific technologies, methodologies and procedures into aesthetic and artistic processes; The aesthetics of sustainability; Sustainability as artistic tradition and genre; The geographics of social networking pertaining to the environmentics of location and mindset; Performance orientations relative to interactive systems within improvisational structures and environments; Charting influence within the aesthetic –ismos
In addition to being a featured artist on National Public Radio programs throughout the U.S.A., MLuM, a Long Beach-based punceptual and histriophonic art ensemble comprised of multi- national artists, has presented internationally (Musicacoustica, Beijing; NUS Arts Festival Singapore; Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona; Galerija 73, Belgrade, Serbia; Galerie 21, Braunschweig, Germany; Smithsonian Week, Long Beach, CA; SoundWalk, Long Beach; Il Corral, Los Angeles; SIGGRAPH LA [Music Box Henry Fonda Theater] Hollywood, CA; Computer Music Journal [MIT Press], et. al.).
Karen Crews is a Los Angeles based curator, exhibition designer, multi-media artist and musician, whose expertise lies within contemporary, time-based art. As a curator and artist, her interests are two and three-dimensional multi-media art, installation, theatrical performance art and experimental music collaboration. Her artwork ranges from figurative representations to autobiographical installations or intermediary spaces that blur audio-visual components that often create ephemeral interventions based on her identity and relationship to site-specific environments. She has participated in projects such as: Dung Mummy through the Hop-Frog Collective, Momentum with artist collective, FLOOD, Refrigerator Mothers, Auto Da Fe, and collaborated with Savage Republic. Her instrumentation includes: Non-classical Cello, Musical Saw, Drums, Keyboards, and Vox.
Karen holds her M.F.A. with an emphasis in Exhibition Design and Curatorial Studies and a B.A. in Foreign Language. She has curated/designed in the Project Room at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, Long Beach Museum of Art, the Main Art Gallery at California State University, Fullerton. Currently, Karen is pursuing a career as a contemporary art curator, enjoys developing as a multi-media installation artist and collaborates with artist groups and city revitalization programs in the surrounding cities of Los Angeles. She works as the Assistant Curator at the American Museum of Ceramic Art.
