The Madison artist created the music for an installation in 2016.
When art meets environmental activism in Madison, you’ll likely find Victor Castro somewhere nearby, and often at the center of attention. The sculptor and installation artist has long focused on climate change and more recently made work addressing the #NoDAPL movement.
At the Municipal art show that filled up the Madison Municipal Building in December 2016, Castro, working under his TetraPAKMAN moniker, filled up a vacant office with a few of his installations—including one called “CEOs Of Denial,” which uses large, menacing rubber figures to represent corporate client denial—and some printed, blunt messaging about the Dakota Access Pipeline. Accompanying it all was some ominous, synth-based music that Castro made himself, playing through a cart-load of speakers he’d wheeled in for the occasion.
The effect was a lot more forceful in person, of course, and as the track title indicates, it was directly inspired by #NoDAPL rather than more recent climate developments. But Castro was kind enough to share a clip of the music with us this week, as a sort of soundtrack for the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord.
I didn’t even know that Castro also made music before seeing the Municipal piece. It reminded me a bit of Locrian’s Infinite Dissolution, which is more metal-influenced but also uses menacing electronics and draws on themes of energy and environmental degradation.
You can keep up with Castro’s work here and read a bit more about him in our profile from 2015.
