A View From a Window From the Outside

Music ... from space!

by Adam Scavette

[ exhibit ]

Joel Mellin doesn't care about making digital music that's pretty or catchy. "My intention is not always to create a beautiful piece of music that someone would be interested in listening to," he says. "I personally enjoy the process that goes into creating the music, by investigating a method and seeing where it leads."

The former NASA satellite engineer's "process" is pretty intense — he crafts his own music systems, plugs algorithms into them and then plays the resulting tunes on sonar-based instruments. Why? "Think of a sound you haven't heard before. Now, how do you create it?" asks Mellin. "I'm fascinated with this idea."

Sunday's "live exhibit," as Mellin calls it, will include several of his what-would-that-sound-like works, including a thunderstorm scored in real time and a self-generating language. It'll also feature choreographer Jodi Melnick's interpretations of Mellin's pieces, science-focused photography by John Soares and avant-garde dance by Holly Faurot and Sarah H. Paulson.

Be there or be squared.

Sun., June 7, 5-9 p.m., free, National Mechanics, 22 S. Third St., 215-701-4883, nationalmechanics.com.