SPEKTRUM Tea Service

From January 11 - 15th, Nick Jaina hosted a series of intimate performances in support of his new book SPEKTRUM, which itself is based on an arts installation he helped create, which was also named SPEKTRUM.

Part reading, part music performance, part discussion, the goal of Spektrum Tea Service is transformation. Each seating is limited to eight people. When the guests arrive, one of them selects a card at random that determines the color for the hour. The lighting is changed to the appropriate color, and the guests are served tea. Nick begins looping guitar music to create a sound bed for the recitation of the appropriate chapter of the book. Discussion, laughter, and transformation ensues.

Nick Jaina is an author and musician living in Oakland, California. His 2015 memoir Get It While You Can was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. His work has appeared in McSweeney's, Atlantic Monthly, Wilderness House Review, Somnambulist, Oregon Journal of the Humanities, and many other places. He has composed music scores for feature films, such as the indie comedy All Sorts and the forest fire documentary Elemental. He also co-founded a ballet collective in New York City, which performed its works at the Baryshnikov Center and BAM Center for the Arts.

His new book is called SPEKTRUM, and it documents a walk through a rainbow.

You can watch Psychopomp’s interview with Nick Jaina about his project below.