HOLDEN & ARTS ASSOCIATES
SHARING STORIES AND CREATING PARTNERSHIPS SINCE 1983
BUGS
Produced by Kaki King & GLITCH
From Brooklyn, New York
Resources
About the Company
One of the most acclaimed guitarists today blends music and technology with the wild and wonderful world of BUGS!
This new piece for young audiences incorporates Kaki King’s signature guitar projection mapping and drum-triggered effects into a fun exploration of bugs, beetles, critters, and all things sugar. Audiences will experience magically synched visuals, emotionally rich music, playful effects, as well as audio samples and multiple kinds of insect sounds from field recordings in nature. This interactive performance encourages audiences to participate -they will be invited to shout out to their favorite bug, dance like one of the insects jiggling around on the guitar, and embrace their curiosity about the world around us.
Composer and musician Kaki King is known both for her technical mastery and for her constant quest to push the boundaries of the guitar. Visually, the show features three custom projection screens in the shape of a bug; a guitar with images projected on it; a custom ukelele; a snare drum that is used to trigger sound, video, and lights; and several LED light structures that are placed onstage and inside the drum. An enchanting concert that combines music, light, and imagery to encourage children to think about nature, ecology, and the animal kingdom.
This new production is commissioned by La Jolla Music Society and The Harris Theatre of Chicago. The La Jolla Music Society is the lead co- commissioner and hosted a residency and premiere performance of BUGS in late April / early May 2024. The Harris Theater will present a performance of BUGS in late November 2024.
BUGS 2 minute trailer!
Please contact us to see an archival full length recording.
Best for Families, All Ages
Student Matinees: PreK -3rd
Audience Size: Small to Large Venues
BUGS 60 second trailer!
Please contact us to see an archival full length recording.
Behind the Scenes Development Trailer from La Jolla engagement
Curriculum Connections
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Performing Arts: Music, Guitar, Drums, Live Performance
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Science: Bugs! Sugar, Healthy eating habits, humans’ relationship to Nature and the Natural World; Technology: Programming, Light Mapping and Projection design
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Emotional/Social Development: Curiosity, Awareness, Observation
Outreach and Workshops
If you are interested in any outreach or workshops, for families or young people, please discuss this with your HAA agent during the booking process. With advanced notice and enough time, BUGS can do an open sound check experience where Kaki and GLITCH walk the audience through the complex technical setup and explain the technology used in the show, followed by an open Q&A.
This performance is available as a “sensory friendly” or “relaxed” performances if arranged with the company in advance and with specific direction as to what adjustments are necessary for your venue.
Minimum Technical Requirements
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Load In Time: 6-8 hours
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Crew Needs: 1 Sound Engineer/Audio Tech
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Min. Stage Size: 10x10
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Sound: overheard mics, monitors, PA system
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Projector/Video Screen for visuals
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Load Out Time: 30 mins
Artistic Team
KAKI KING
Kaki King is an iconoclastic guitarist, composer, artist, and teaching performer. For over 20 years, King has created a body of music celebrated for its enduring impact in performance, recorded albums, and cinema. She has expanded the known possibilities for the role of guitarist – synthesizing musical compositions with visual art, projection mapping, sound design, and theatrical production. Deconstructing and reconstructing norms of guitar playing and composing form the basis of all of King’s creative practice. Kaki King’s sole demand for any audience is that they feel their way through her work.
For more information about Kaki King, please visit the company’s website.
GLITCH
Orsolya Szantho and Attilio Rigotti are multidisciplinary artists who co-founded the multimedia theater company GLITCH, creating work that seamlessly combines digital and physical mediums with new forms of storytelling. Rigotti is a Chilean performer, director, technology artist, videogame designer, and teacher, and a former Associate Artist with experimental company Theater Mitu. Szantho is a multimedia designer and filmmaker, working across live performance, cinema, and interactive design. GLITCH has been collaborating with King on projection and interactive design for years and is joining her as full partners on BUGS.
For more information about GLITCH, please visit the company’s website.
Critical Acclaim
Praise for Bugs!
“I could never get enough of this” –Audience Member, age 7
Praise for Kaki King!
“Everything about this show is special...a visual and auditory experience that’s interactive, striking and worth experiencing.” – Guitar World
“It's a beautiful thing when two entirely different art forms fit so well together that the boundaries between vision and sound, hand and ear, line and note, begin to blur. We're feeling that particular kind of synesthesia...” – Huffington Post
“King’s evocative performance was a sumptuous feast for the senses, a dizzying display of sound and vision by a guitarist already renowned for her innovation.”
Production Background
After releasing The Neck is a Bridge to the Body in 2015, and Modern Yesterdays in 2020, Kaki King noticed that school presentations provided enthusiastic elementary school aged children a way to experience her work in unique and novel ways.
Unlike audiences made up principally of adults, children saw something unique in the work – for them, the projection-mapped instrument became a “magic guitar,” and the interactive audio triggers felt like a real “talking drum.” Children saw the beautiful projections on a guitar – bugs, drippy kinetic sand, traveling landscapes – as something otherworldly and widely entertaining.
These experiences paired perfectly with the timing of becoming a mother herself. As a parent of two elementary-aged children, Kaki King perceived an artistic need in her own community for live arts programming that engages artistically at the highest levels, but doesn’t conform to clichés about the purpose of children’s programming. Particularly, King was inspired to create a show that brings together sophisticated music, design, and technology in a way that makes live performance accessible for children of all ages. Rather than leaning into highly educational approaches, BUGS is designed to allow audiences to experience moments of magic that can become jumping-off points for youngsters to think about nature, ecology, and our animal kingdom.
All of this provided King with the impetus to begin the process of creating BUGS, seeking the partnership of presenting and educational organizations, museums, and theaters.
This new production is commissioned by La Jolla Music Society and The Harris Theatre of Chicago. The La Jolla Music Society is the lead co- commissioner and hosted a residency and premiere performance of BUGS in late April / early May 2024. The Harris Theater will present a performance of BUGS in late November 2024.