"Project, Project": Wall-to-wall multimedia stimulation

The idea for Project, Project came from the minds of two Minneapolis groups, Nobot and Estate, who are quickly gaining notoriety in electronic music circles in both Minnesota and beyond. The groups’ members—Nobot’s Kyle Vande Slunt and Adam Tucker, and Estate’s Dan Kramer and Josh Johnson—have worked closely together for nearly two years, performing together throughout the region and even remixing each other’s songs. “This is the next step in our collaboration,” Vande Slunt told me while sitting at the Kitty Cat Klub last week as Estate performed a DJ set.

Project, Project attempts to merge normally disparate artistic happenings into a single, all-encompassing event. Vande Slunt sees the event as a combining the best aspects of Too Much Love (the popular weekly dance night at First Avenue), multidisciplinary art gallery happenings, and the standard multi-band show. He wants to bring together as wide an audience as possible.

In addition to the music of Nobot and Estate—which can range from irresistibly danceable electro to heavy covers of Aphex Twin—Project, Project will stretch across media from across the country and around the world. Graphic design artists Miss Lotion (from the U.K.) and Minnesota’s own J.R. Sutton will join multimedia film artists PES (with members based on both coasts and in the UK), as well as Milwaukee’s Beeple and Minnesota’s John Thompson for the night’s visual contributions. Beeple, who often performs with Nobot as well as with Vande Slunt, will be screening some of his films and engaging in live manipulation of video from the night’s audience. “People who enjoy Nobot and Estate,” says Vande Slunt, “should enjoy these visual artists, and vice versa.”

Too Much Love alum DJ Bach will be spinning throughout the night, his own music mixing with the numerous visuals swirling around him. The groups want to avoid the downtime that plagues so many standard multi-band shows. “There will constantly be something stimulating going on,” Vande Slunt told me.

Both Estate and Nobot hope the event will repeat. Both groups see potential for Project, Project to become a monthly happening at the Kitty Cat Klub. Vande Slunt sees Nobot and Estate eventually taking on more of a curatorial role as he steps aside altogether to invite guest curators to put their own spin on Project, Project. For now though, the floors—and the walls—are theirs.

Justin Schell is a freelance writer and a grad student at the University of Minnesota's Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society program. He's working on a dissertation on Twin Cities immigrant and diasporic hip-hop and plays the washboard tie with The Gated Community.

Justin Schell

Justin Schell (612to651@gmail.com) is a freelance writer and grad student in Minneapolis.