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Lecture opens SVMA's 'Sonido Pirata' exhibit

Sonoma Valley Museum of Art opens a new exhibition this weekend with a live improvised lecture on Sonideros by Josh Kun, director of the Popular Music Project of the Norman Lear Center at USC.

The talk is at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, at Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, 551 Broadway.

Admission is $15 for SVMA members and $20 for the general public. Advance tickets are available at www.svma.org/classes.

"The Aesthetics of Allá: A Sonidero Lecture" explores the world of mobile sound system DJs, or Sonideros, who are shaping what Kun calls an aesthetics of allá - a way of using recorded sound and audio technology to engage with borderland and migration politics.

In Spanish, allá is neither the here (aquí) nor there (allí) that we see. Allá is an "over there" that is not necessarily visible, a space we know is there but is not yet occupied or realized.

"Sonido Pirata: What You Need You Have to Borrow," is an exhibition exploring sound, memory, and cultural history. Based on the phenomenon of pirated music and its methods of distribution as forms of cultural resistance, the artists in the exhibition make use of appropriated sounds and images. Working with video, music, performance, sculpture, and installation, the artists create new innovative landscapes of popular culture.

Sonido Pirata opens to the public on Sept. 17 and runs through Jan. 1, 2012 at the museum. The museum hosts a members' reception at 6 p.m. Friday Sept. 16.

Regular hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults. Children K-12 are admitted free, as are museum members. Public programs at the Museum are part of the Calvin R. Vander Woude Lively Arts Series. Additional information is available at www.svma.org or by calling 939-7862.