Jeff Mills
Jeff Mills is considered the most brilliant DJ and producer of techno in the World. He is the most recognized representative figure of the Detroit Techno, where he began his career as a DJ on the WDRQ radio in 1984. He has created with “Mad Mike Banks” the collective “Underground Resistance”, which became a reference in the electro sphere. In 1992, Jeff Mills created his own label in Chicago :with “Axis”, he could keep his artistic independence and produce his own timeless electronic music compositions, inspired of science fiction. Jeff Mills’ artistic career goes much further than techno music. For over a decade, he’s been transcending disciplines with a large number of collaborations in contemporary art. Interested in cinema and attracted by images, Jeff Mills started working, in 2000, on the fusion of image and sound.
In 2000, he created and presented at the Centre Pompidou a new sound track for the film “Metropolis” by Fritz Lang. A year after, he created “Mono”, an installation inspired by the movie “2001, a Space Odyssey”, by Stanley Kubrick. In 2004, Jeff Mills produced the DVD “Exhibitionist” which presents DJ sets filmed from various angles (from front, top and side). At that same period, he acquired a new tool, the DVJ-X which allowed him to manipulate image and sound together paving the way into the Art World. In 2005, Jeff Mills made, for MK2, a new sound track for the silent movie “Three Ages” by Buster Keaton, and created a serie of 6 video art works presented in Paris at the Galerie Georges-Philippe et Nathalie Vallois and at the « rendez-vous vidéo » of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen. Jeff Mills continued this work period with a production on Josephine Baker, presented during the FIAC 2005 in the Grand Palais. On July 2nd 2005, Jeff Mills played together with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Montpellier, for the 20th anniversary of the Pont du Gard’s inclusion in the world heritage list by UNESCO. Together with the orchestra, Jeff Mills performed his own compositions, orchestrated by Thomas Roussel for this occasion. In 2007, he was invited by the movie director Claire Denis to create the sound environment of the exhibition « Diaspora » at the musée du quai Branly in Paris.. That same year, Jeff Mills received the title of « Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres» from the French ministry of Culture.
In 2008, Jeff Mills was commissioned to create a comtemporary installation for 100 Year Anniversary of the Futurist Manifesto at the Pompidou Center. At the Sonar Festival in Barcelona, Jeff Mills and « Mad Mike Banks » were together again for an historical performance called « X-102, Rediscovers the Rings of Saturn », mixing video and music. Always busy, Jeff Mills is involved in numerous projects at this time.
The next event: For the 100 Year anniversary of the famous director, Cecil B. DeMille, he’ll perform a Cinenamix at the French Cinematheque in Paris April 2nd. Go towww.axisrecords.com for more info.