VIA Festival presented by vitaminwater

Listen for what has been mistaken as the rapture (true) roaming the streets and hollows of Pittsburgh throughout the festival. You may even catch a glimpse of the wizard.

Heal the World is an ongoing roving performance by Matt Barton that uses a portable power source and an amp to blast "healing" frequencies at specific sites. In this incarnation the site in general is Pittsburgh, with focus on areas/homes the artist feels are dear to his heart (entire city). The sounds are compilations of Solfeggio frequencies which were used in Gregorian and Sanskrit chants and are used in sound and energy healing, as each frequency has specific physical and spiritual healing properties.

Combining sincerity and jest, the piece presents this phenomenon with a taste for the fantastic, dressed in Wizard garb and burying crystals with specific haphazardness all over town, mirthfully nodding to a New Age urgency to properly tune the world for the rapidly approaching ascension of human consciousness.

Previous interventionist performances of a similar vein taking place in remote, anomalous geographic features have encountered intense reactions of tears, confusion, and hugs.

Matt Barton received a BFA from Montana State University and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University. He currently teaches in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs.
www.matthewryanbarton.com