On Friday, October 3, 2025, audiences will step into Crowder Hall for an experience that is less a traditional performance and more a journey through time, space, and emotion. EarthScape—the latest immersive multimedia work by composer and multimedia artist YuanYuan (Kay) He—invites us to witness the history of Earth through a fusion of electroacoustic music, interactive visuals, light, and dance.
But this is not just a story about Earth. It’s a story about us.
From Stardust to Stewardship
EarthScape unfolds the tale of two Earth-like planets—one facing ruin, one flourishing—linked across time and space. Their journeys serve as metaphors for the human condition: survival, resilience, love, loss, and the uncertainty of what lies ahead. As their narratives intertwine, so do those of two people caught in a similar dance of connection and separation. In the end, one remains—a sole survivor navigating the consequences of past choices.
This allegorical storytelling is brought to life in a roughly hour-long performance combining live dance, interactive light, electroacoustic composition, and real-time visual art. At its heart, EarthScape is a reflection on climate evolution, human impact, and our collective responsibility as stewards of a fragile planet.
A Continuum of Cosmos and Creation
EarthScape is not an isolated artistic endeavor—it’s the next chapter in Professors He’s growing body of interdisciplinary work. Her acclaimed earlier piece, StellarScape, transformed the lifecycle of a star into a sensory-rich performance. Through interactive visuals, motion sensors, and dance, it traced cosmic birth, expansion, and collapse—an astronomical symphony made human.
Where StellarScape was celestial and expansive, EarthScape is grounded, introspective, and urgent. It narrows the focus from the universe to our home planet, bringing the conversation from galaxies to geology, from stars to survival.
Art Meets Science in a Fusion of Disciplines
A signature of Professor He’s work is her ability to bridge vastly different fields. EarthScape continues this tradition as a collaboration between the University of Arizona School of Music, the Department of Astronomy, the Arizona Astrobiology Center, Live and Immersive Art, the School of Dance, and the School of Information.
This convergence of art, science, and technology is not merely thematic—it’s built into the fabric of the show. Electroacoustic scores mirror tectonic shifts and planetary turmoil. Light reacts to motion. Visuals evolve with sound. Every element is carefully woven to blur the boundaries between disciplines, creating a singular, unified experience.
A Multimedia Meditation for Our Time
In an era of climate crisis and technological acceleration, EarthScape offers more than just aesthetic beauty. It’s a meditation on where we come from and where we are going. It reminds us that, like the planets in the performance, our choices echo across time—and that the future may hinge on how we navigate the present.
EarthScape is both an artwork and a warning. A love story and a lament. A call to recognize the unique, delicate nature of our planet—and to treat it with the care it demands.
Whether you’re drawn by the music, the visuals, the science, or the story, EarthScape offers a rare chance to experience them all at once—and to feel, deeply, what it means to live on this planet, at this time.
Find more information and get your tickets here!
