The next two weekends also will proffer a medley of heavy-hitting subject matter that sweeps up classical ballet, digital video, hip-hop and spoken word into explorations as divergent as gentrification, the fantasy of a classic Americana and some good old-fashioned Dadaist absurdity.

“Acculturation and identity are often themes that our artists deal with, but this year, common threads have to do with themes of burnout and finding balance in the nine to five world, which is something a lot of people can relate to,” says Boone.

Filmmaker Clifton Childree’s Something Awful is a vintage curiosity: a scratched and spliced fairy tale. Lisandro Perez-Rey’s documentary Boomtown Fever paints a bleak picture of construction cranes and soaring downtown property values in Miami, while Paul Tei offers lighter fare with the illuminating Temporary Americanary Confusionary, a mockumentary that stars a camera, a mannequin and three transient 20-somethings in search of a Norman Rockwell-style America. Nikki Rollason (of the art collective Koko Flux) premieres Stuffed, a claustrophobic self-portrait that utilizes digital imagery, dance, childhood dolls and memory in an examination of eating disorders.

One of the most anticipated performances is Natasha Tsakos’ UpWake Part III, which concludes the adventures of the artist’s androgynous cartoon alter ego, Zero. UpWake I and II premiered in former Here & Now festivals. “It all started with a proposal in 2003,” says Tsakos. “It’s been a fascinating journey, and it’s because of the Miami Light Project that this piece exists.”

According to Tsakos — who’s a clown, nightclub artist, actor and writer — UpWake Part III is a “modern, fast-paced and fresh metaphor of today put under a microscope and through a telescope.”

Digital animation, 3-D imagery on all stage surfaces, stretchable spandex white screens and a healthy dose of miming enable a marriage of several artistic disciplines — not to mention concepts as contrary as Saturday morning cartoons and South Beach clubbing.

And of course, all the cross-pollination of art and technology is intentional. “We are in a world where technology has made everything look so crisp, beautiful, impeccable and fast,” says Tsakos. “A two or three hour long performance with a lot of self-indulgence and long interminable moments doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s time to step up to the world we live in and adjust to match its quality.”