Adam Overton is a living composer and performer of experimental sound performance, a teacher of performance & multimedia, and a certified massage therapist based in Los Angeles. Through experiments in rhythm, presence, and contact, his work plumbs the depths of the bodymindperson, maps the intimate distance between individuals, and encourages conscious experimentation with common and alternative avenues of interpersonal exchange. A fascination with the practices and challenges of awareness, acknowledgment, and [co]existence are currently fueling his investigations.
Current projects include the initiation of the artPlus list-serv (May 2007) for Los Angeles artists living double-lives as bodyworkers, yoga teachers, psychics, and healers of all stripes, and the hosting of artSpa, a proposal for a public interface for these "art-and-then-somes" - involving artist-run walk-in clinics, workshops, experimental meditation groups, new age aesthetics panels, touchy-feely music events, and more - and has culminated in the month-long residency and calendar of events, artSpa storefront, at Sea and Space Explorations in Highland Park (Nov 2007), as well as the one-day artSpa walk-in clinic at High Energy Constructs in Chinatown (Sept 2007). Other current projects also include Feel the Love 2008, the 2nd annual Valentine's Day workshop at Machine Project, co-hosted with Routes and Methods; and the near completion of a book-and-DVD collection of performance texts and writings entitled i am sediment, set to be published in the near future with the help of Fifth Planet Press.
Recent projects and performances have included a recent trip to London for the conference Intimacy: across visceral & digital performance, and to Berlin for a series of performance events across the city (Dec 2007); a series of performance/installations at SoundWalk 2007 in Long Beach (Sept 2007); the group exhibition Between People at David Patton Los Angeles Gallery (Aug 2007); a collection of invisible performance pamphlets written for Machine Project booths at various art, craft, and book fairs (Jan, May, & Sept 2007); the collaborative Valentine's Evening workshop of massage, cpr, movement, food and more, titled Feel the Love, at Machine Project Gallery (Feb 2007); a collaborative gallery exhibition and workshop series with artist Elana Mann, titled Conversation Pieces (Feb 2006); premieres of participatory performance texts at Machine Project, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Cold Storage, CalArts, and elsewhere; and the publication of essays and texts in Leonardo Journal (Jan 2007), FOARM Journal of Arts & Research (Oct 2006), Ratsalad Deluxe (Oct 2006), Contemporary Music Review (Spring 2006), and UCLA's Extensions Journal (Oct 2005).
As a curator, in addition to the recent artSpa storefront events, Overton has also presented his five-day thesis, the Invisible Performance Workshop at CalArts (April 2005); guest-curated with Kadet Kuhne a two-day audio-visual performance event for Crazyspace's Radical Cuts series in Santa Monica (March 2005); curated the multidisciplinary group show Nude Media Night at CalArts (Oct 2004); and helped produce the CEAIT Festival 2004 at REDCAT. While living in Atlanta, Overton was a board member at Eyedrum Art and Music Gallery and a founding member of the Electric Arts Alliance of Atlanta [EAAA] (2002-03), partners with whom he helped curate or produce over 20 events and forums in less than 2 years, including the month-long Atlanta Electric Arts Festival (Nov 2002), the international sound sculpture exhibition L'Objet Sonore (Jan-Feb 2003), and the month-long EAAA Legacy Series (June 2003). He currently moderates the inter/meta/trans list-serv for live art and performance, as well as the artPlus list for artists whose lives extend into or overlap with the world of healing arts and somatics.
Overton has performed his work at festivals and venues around Los Angeles and the U.S., and in Beijing, Bergen, Norway, Berlin, and London. He is an MFA graduate of the Experimental Sound Practices (ESP) program at the California Institute of the Arts.