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You are here: Home / LACE / 2020-Current Year / APOLAKI: Film Screening and Artist Talk

APOLAKI: Film Screening and Artist Talk

Sunday December 10, 2023 | 2-5 pm
Philosophical Research Society
3910 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Limited free parking available on site
Free admission – RSVP to rsvp@welcometolace.org

Join LACE and Micaela Tobin (White Boy Scream) for a special screening of APOLAKI: OPERA OF THE SCORCHED EARTH. Following the screening, Micaela will host an artist talk with artists and collaborators Jay Carlon, Carlo Maghirang, and the Liyang Network. Light refreshments will be provided.

ABOUT APOLAKI: OPERA OF THE SCORCHED EARTH

APOLAKI: OPERA OF THE SCORCHED EARTH is a new experimental opera by Filipino-American composer Micaela Tobin in collaboration with installation designer Carlo Maghirang and dancer/choreographer Jay Carlon. Continuing her celebration of the pre-colonial mythologies of the Philippines, Tobin’s new work tells the story of Apolaki, the precolonial God of Sun and War, who finds themself lost in a foreign and unfamiliar land (present day Tongva Land/Los Angeles) after being displaced from the Philippines by Spanish colonizers. This opera is a radical meditation on the complex relationships between settler colonialism, migration, and diaspora, and invites the audience to join Apolaki in this immersive pilgrimage, premiering at the historic and storied Zorthian Ranch overlooking the Los Angeles Basin.

Learn more about APOLAKI: OPERA OF THE SCORCHED EARTH here.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Micaela Tobin is a soprano, sound artist, and teacher based in Los Angeles, CA who specializes in experimental voice and contemporary opera.

As a sound artist with a background in opera, Micaela integrates voice and electronics within the genres of noise and drone music. Her work incorporates ritualized gesture and amplified object-symbolism and explores her diasporic identity as a first-generation Filipina-American. Micaela’s vocal practice is based in building connections between the physical voice as a means of empowering one’s ‘inner’ voice and challenging colonial stories and systems. 

Composing primarily under the moniker “White Boy Scream,” Micaela dissects her operatic and extended vocal techniques through the use of electronics, oscillating between extreme textures of noise, drone, and operatic sound walls. Her most recent full length album, “BAKUNAWA” (Deathbomb Arc) includes elements of sonic ritual, ancient myth, and ancestral memory. Of the album, Steve Smith of The New Yorker Magazine asserts that “opera would do well to pay attention.” The album was ranked #9 Release of 2020 in The Wire Magazine. In May 2021, Micaela premiered the cinematic adaptation of the album through REDCAT, titled “BAKUNAWA: Opera of the Seven Moons.”

As an opera composer, Micaela premiered and earned a five-star review for her first original experimental opera, entitled “Unseal Unseam,” at the world’s largest art festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in summer 2016; the work was described as “hypnotic” and “paralyzingly beautiful,” by New Classic LA after its U.S. debut in October 2017. Her most recent opera, “Belarion: A Space Opera” which premiered at the American Legion Center in Pasadena, CA in February 2019, is about the magickal practices of JPL founder Jack Parsons.

As a performer, Micaela played the principal role of Coyote in the critically acclaimed opera, SWEET LAND (dir. Yuval Sharon & Canuppa Luger; Comp. Raven Chacon & Du Yun). She also performed with The Industry in their groundbreaking opera, “Hopscotch, a mobile opera for 24 cars (dir. Yuval Sharon).” She has also toured with hip-hop experimentalists clipping. on their 2017 tour with The Flaming Lips. Micaela also appeared as a principal vocalist in the premiere of Ron Athey and Sean Griffith’s automatic opera, “Gifts the Spirit”; and as a soprano soloist alongside Annette Bening in the play “Medea” at UCLALive.

Micaela is currently a voice teacher on faculty at the California Institute for the Arts and teaches through her private studio, HOWL SPACE, in Los Angeles, CA.

Jay Carlon was born and raised on California’s Central Coast, Carlon’s work is inspired by growing up the youngest of 12 in a Filipino, Catholic, and agricultural migrant-working family. He is committed to connecting his art practice to sustainability and his personal and collective journey of decolonization.

Jay’s work has been presented in Los Angeles at REDCAT NOW Festival, The Broad Museum, Los Angeles Dance Project, Annenberg Community Beach House, LA Dance Festival, Electric Lodge, Los Angeles Performance Practice D+R Residencies, homeLA, and Beach Dances; in New York at 92ndY and The CURRENT SESSIONS; in Phoenix at Breaking Ground Festival; in Monterrey, Mexico at Espacio Expectante; and in Bangkok, Thailand at Creative Migration. Jay is a performer and directing associate with aerial spectacle theatre company Australia’s Sway Pole, where he has performed at the 2014 Olympics, the 2016 World EXPO, and the 2018 Super Bowl.

Carlon has also performed with the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, Palissimo, Oguri, No)one. Art House, and danced for Rodrigo y Gabriela on Jimmy Kimmel Live (choreographed by Annie-B Parson), in Solange Knowles’ art film Metronia (2018) choreographed by Gerard & Kelly, and was appointed Choreographic Associate for Kanye West’s opera, Mary (2019).

Photos by Raymundo Barrera.

Filed Under: 2020-Current Year, LACE, Performance, Screening, Video Tagged With: apolaki, performance art video, Screening

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LACE’s Lightning Fund Opens August 15, 2025!

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LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)

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This is the final week to apply for the 2026 Light This is the final week to apply for the 2026 Lightning Fund! LACE is awarding 10 artist project grants of $6,000 each, as well as one $10,000 Jacki Apple Award grant to a mid- or advanced-career artist. Applications close this Sunday, October 5, 2025, at 11:59 PM PDT.

Applicants who are LA County residents, are at least 18 years of age, and are not currently enrolled in a college program, will be considered. Learn more about previously selected projects and submit an application through the Submittable portal at the link in our bio.
Thank you for joining us last night at the 𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 Supporter Preview & Artist Celebration! ♡

We truly appreciate your encouragement of our work supporting emerging artists, curators, and cultural workers. With your generosity, we raised crucial funds for LACE’s operations and programming, which platforms artists and communities currently under attack including LGBTQ+, disabled, immigrant, and BIPOC individuals. With the dismantling of federal funding for the arts and humanities, support for LACE is as urgent and impactful as ever.

Final reminder that the 𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 Benefit Art Auction closes today at 12:00PM PDT (3:00PM EDT)! Bid at the link in our bio. Until next year ˖⁺‧₊⟡₊˚⊹

Photos by Gina Clyne (@ginaclyne)
Slide 1: @0ll668, Slide 2: @laurenmetropolis, Slide 3: @coloredcraig, Slide 4: @smokeholler, Slide 5: @laurenmetropolis, Slide 6: @metabolicstudio
Our online art auction ends tomorrow at 12PM PDT! Our online art auction ends tomorrow at 12PM PDT! This is your last chance to bid on 50 works and 1 experience by iconic and emerging Los Angeles artists. Check out the @artsy link in our bio before it’s too late!

Artworks + Artists in order:
꩜ rafa esparza (@elrafaesparza)
꩜ Maria Maea (@maeamaria)
꩜ Anaid Garcia (@aanaaid_)
꩜ Arleene Correa Valencia (@arleenecorreavalencia)
꩜ Steve Roden (@inbetweennoise)

AND tonight we celebrate at Metabolic Studio (@metabolicstudio)! Join us at the 𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 Artist Celebration at 8:30PM! You can also join us at the Supporter Preview beforehand where donors and contributing auction artists are invited to a private reception, which includes an intimate walk-through of Lauren Bon’s (@laurenmetropolis) personal work, for the first time for this occasion. Get your tickets at the link in our bio. See you tonight ;) ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
2 DAYS LEFT! Art lovers and supporters of LACE can 2 DAYS LEFT! Art lovers and supporters of LACE can bid on 50 works and 1 experience by iconic and emerging Los Angeles artists. Bid exclusively on @artsy until this Friday, September 26 at 12PM PDT (3PM EDT). By bidding, you’ll directly support LACE’s operations and programming, which platforms artists and communities currently under attack including LGBTQ+, disabled, immigrant, and BIPOC individuals. With the dismantling of federal funding for the arts and humanities, support for LACE’s Benefit is as urgent and impactful as ever.

Artworks + Artists in order:
✧ Christine Tien Wang (@christinetwang)
✧ Garry Winogrand (@winograndfilm)
✧ Shizu Saldamando (@shizutattoo)
✧ Diana Yesenia Alvarado (@deealvarado)
✧ Kristen Liu-Wong (@kliuwong)

Looking for other ways to support LACE? Tickets starting at $25 for our 𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 Artist Celebration tomorrow, September 25 are now on sale! You can also join us at the Supporter Preview beforehand where donors and contributing auction artists are invited to a private reception, which includes an intimate walk-through of Lauren Bon’s (@laurenmetropolis) personal work, for the first time for this occasion. Learn more at the link in our bio.
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