Bio
Cristóbal Martínez, born in Santa Fe, New Mexico , was raised in the Española Valley community of Alcalde. He is a music composer and Media, Arts and Sciences Ph.D. student at the Arts, Media and Engineering Program (AME) at Arizona State University. As an artist, Cristóbal focuses upon developing music arrangements and other works that consider digital media and closed-loop experiential media. Cristóbal resides in Arizona and produces work while under the spell of his Northern New Mexican heritage, Latin American literature and the influence of his childhood fascination with science fiction.
His works include music compositions such as Count, commissioned for modern dance at the Bonnie Bird Theatre at the Laban Centre in London, and multimedia operettas such as La Gran Barrera, performed at Gammage Auditorium in Tempe, AZ. Cristóbal co-directs the performance troupe Los Humanos in a musical production titled Radio Healer. This production is also co-directed by artist Randy G. Kemp (Choctaw Euchee-Creek). Radio Healer examines the relationships between indigenous tribal life, and technological paradigms. This work has been performed and presented to local and international audiences.
A member of the Burning Wagon Art Collective directed by John Jota Leaños, Cristóbal's compositions include music for the internet opera Imperial Silence. He has completed the score for three acts titled Act I: Los ABCs: Que Vivan los Muertos!, Act II: Dead Time Stories with Mariachi Goose and Friends!, and Act III: DNN: The Dead News Network. Imperial Silence has premieried at museums, galleries and festivals that include the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, and 2007 Festival de Cannes.
As a Graduate College, Doctoral Enrichment Fellow at AME, Cristóbal researches and constructs multi-user interactive environments to create culturally sensitive social spaces that encourage sustained creative interpersonal behaviors. These spaces are envisioned to support multi-user goals that may include applications for art and music making, ritual, learning, play, storytelling, peacemaking, support group rehabilitation, social justice awareness, policy development, and the development of sustainable cross-cultural partnerships.