UC San Diego

A Mess of Things is a new documentary music-play conceived, composed, written, directed and performed by Adam Tinkle. It combines documentary audio of the creator's family, especially his grandfather, Ben Seltzman. Debuted April 1 at the Experimental Theater in the Conrad Prebys Music Center, the piece was audio and video recorded and a documentation is on file in the Mandeville Special Collections Library, UCSD.

The text attached is an artist statement describing the genesis of A Mess of Things, including the creator's process of collecting the documentary audio for the performance, conceiving its form and crafting many of its sections and components. The statement focuses on the creator's efforts to forge a hybrid aesthetics combining radio art, experimental music and direct storytelling.