Quantum Elders’ Consciousness Vaccine project was conceived and completed in 2020 and the first half of 2021. It was a time when humanity was united in developing the vaccines, what we thought was one definite milestone to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. Quantum Elders Consciousness Vaccine, an abstract avant-garde musical, is a journey in a parallel universe searching for remedies for the COVID-19 and racism dual pandemic plaguing humanity. Our protagonists are two girls, an 18-year-old African-American girl, and a 4-year-old Chinese girl from Wuhan. The artists hope to foster new considerations of social activism, aesthetics, global interconnection, and public pedagogy through a process of thoughtfully structured and innovative, creative collaboration between complementary aural, visual, and kinetic ritual components.
Selected Screening & Awards:
- Closing Feature: University of California SC April in Santa Cruz
- Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Frequency Festival
- Berlin International Art Film Festival
- New York Independent Cinema Awards
- Toronto International Women Film Festival
Lead Artists:
Rebecca D. Nie
Z.M. Rebecca Nie is the Buddhist Chaplain at Stanford. She is also a Stanford alum, Zen Master of the Korean Jogye Order, and an established Californian visual artist. As an heir of one of the oldest living mystic orders, she creates to artistically invite the audience into Zen encounters that are direct experiences of the transcendental. The inspiration for Z.M. Nie’s art comes from her introspection, global adventures, and attainment in diverse disciplines.
Karlton E. Hester
Karlton E. Hester, Ph.D. (composer/flutist/saxophonist), began his career as a composer and recording artist in Los Angeles where he worked as a studio musician and music educator. He received his Ph.D. in composition from the City University of New York Graduate Center and is currently Director of “Jazz” Studies (and member of the Digital Arts and New Media faculty) at the University of California in Santa Cruz. As performer on both flute and saxophone, he is founding music director of the Fillmore Jazz Preservation Big Band (in San Francisco), director of Hesterian Musicism, and served as the Herbert Gussman Director of Jazz Studies at Cornell University from 1991-2001. Hester specializes in premeditated, spontaneous and electro-acoustic composition. His compositions span a wide range; from numerous solo cycles for various woodwinds to chamber configurations, music videos and electro-acoustic symphonic works written in an eclectic array of styles.