Richard Lerman, a Massachusetts-based sound artist, finds sounds in unlikely places. With homemade transducers and microphones, sounds made by pitchforks, money, blowtorches, fishhooks, window screens and other everyday items are amplified; they are both the camera subject and audio source in his super-8 films. Made in the U.S., Newfoundland, South America, Japan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, Lerman's films and videos at once serve as documents of his sound art and reveal a magical, spiritual world in which seeing is not believing, but hearing is a poetic act. It can also be a political one; in his most recent work, including the installations, "A Footnote from Chernobyl" and "Los Desaparecidos," neglected and repressed sounds are collected and given voice. Lerman will present a selection of his short super-8 and video 8 works from 1982 through 1992 followed by the performance, "Changing States 5." Lerman writes, "I have performed 'Changing States' as a solo piece since 1986....This version includes video 8 material shot in Chile in 1989 at Lonquen near Isla de Maipu-a site where fifteen farm workers were murdered by Chilean police during the Pinochet regime. No one was ever brought to trial." Richard Lerman's work has been shown extensively at international festivals and showcases. Tonight's program is presented in cooperation with the Exploratorium, San Francisco. Special funding was provided by the Meet the Composer/California Composer Exchange Program, with support from the Weyerhauser Family Foundation.