Ben Coleman assures me that his art installation at MINT Gallery’s reMIXT show won’t include a Tesla coil.

“I'll be bringing a gutted coffin -- "Pandora's Box haunted by the gibbering spirits of dead popular audio media,” Coleman said. “It will probably need to be plugged in.”

An electronic beat-smith and the British voice of Judi Chicago, Coleman is known for his savage onstage histrionics. His words were rushed, since, after a day of shamanistic wailing at Athens PopFest, he was en-route back to Atlanta for a Saturday performance and, of course, to finish his gallery submission for MINT. Although his band takes its name from the infamous feminist artist, Judy Chicago, Coleman isn’t a painter or photographer, nor is he a visual artist in any usual sense. And that’s precisely the point.

"Our primary goal is to work with people who don't have access to arts education," said Erica Jamison, the director and co-founder of MINT. "[We're] providing a venue where they don't feel like they're going to be judged on the merit of their skill level."

reMIXT is MINT Gallery’s second mixtape show but this time the call for artists was addressed explicitly to the woofer-kicking, crowd-surfing magicians of Atlanta's burgeoning music scene. Over half the roster consists of names typically seen at Star Bar, Drunken Unicorn or other local concert venues. Travis Thatcher (also of Judi Chicago) joins Sealions’ lead singer Jason Travis along with Sunni Johnson, representing the kinetic, punk rock ironists, Vera Fang. Add to the mix singer-songwriters Andre Paraguassu and Lindsay Appel, a capable photographer in her own right, and devoted artists like Amanda Goodbread of Handjob Atlanta.

“This city is really great for emerging artists,” said Lindsay Appel. “It's accepting of new voices, since there aren't as many set stages you have to go through to get established, like in New York.”

Atlanta's relative youth facilitates this sort of cross-pollination between music and the arts. Jason “J-Trav” Travis works as a graphic designer, creating Web sites and promotional materials for the Coathangers and other musical acts around town. The amphibious video artist, Bean Summer -- interviewed by Pine last November -- shows his work at dance clubs and art galleries in between his regular job booking bands at Lenny's.

“Plus there’re a few artists who are ‘bedroom musicians’: people who aren’t in a band but might play around with synthesizers or do weird sound experiments,” said exhibit curator Mike Germon. Philip Jones is one such example, summoning audio samples on his Korg Kaoss Pad.

MINT’s challenge to artists was twofold: create a work of visual art and, as a companion piece, compile a playlist on audio cassette. Beyond size constraints, artists were not constrained to specific media or musical genres.

“I’m putting the same songs on both sides of the tape,” said bassist Sunni Johnson. “But the second versions are all covers that differed from the original.”

Together, Johnson’s cassette-and-collage combination explores themes of duality and multiple personas. The 1980 cover by the No-Wave singer, Cristina, turns Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” from a bland sob into an orgiastic parody reminiscent of Nina Hagen. Johnson’s song choices parallel the artwork. Her image depicts two girls conceived as mirror selves, one in bright pastels and another, moodier rendition in metallics.

Although the technology has been supplanted by the clarity and convenience of digital media, mixtapes still have a universal appeal. A design piece in itself, the cassette casing immediately recalls the days of Autobots versus Decepticons, and the sound “quality” has a characteristic texture. It's ironic that the aesthetics of retro -- with its synthesizers and gritty recording techniques -- serve to remind us that we live in a technological age.

"I used to do mixtapes back in high school," said Appel. "My first love was in a band, so he would make them for me -- "like love letters."

"The first mixtape I ever made was for a girl named Charlotte Harben when I was about 13 or 14," said Coleman. "I never snogged Charlotte... [but] I was some kind of god when it came to meticulously arranging Blur, Primal Scream, and Charlatans songs."

The mixtape, however, isn't just a piece of nostalgia. It marks the history of a culture of "use and re-use" that, along with the work of early DJs like Kool Herc, encouraged a type of creativity beyond the consumer "point of sale." Mixing also seems to be the trend -- figuratively speaking -- among Atlanta nonprofits like MINT, WonderRoot, and Sopo Bicycle Co-op in sponsoring cross-disciplinary events.

On that subject, Coleman is outspoken yet again: "Mixing is an end in itself. As we blur the lines between one art and another, the closer we come to realizing that all songs were written by all people and that we're all basically one giant ear. At some point in the future, I hope that [there will be] no boundaries, transgressions, or points of contention and we can all get on with doing whatever it is we are here to do."

reMIXT will be featured at MINT Gallery from 23 August 2008 until 14 September 2008. MINT is located at 684 John Wesley Dobbs Ave., Unit B, Atlanta, GA 30312.