Dan Graham

Past Future Split Attention (1972)

"Two people who know each other are in the same space. While one predicts continuously the other person's behavior, the other person recounts (by memory) the other's past behavior. Both performers are in the present, so knowledge of the past is needed to continuously deduce future behavior (in terms of causal relation). For one to see the other in terms of the present (attention), there is a mirror reflection or closed figure-eight feedback/feedahead loop of past/future. One person's behavior reciprocally reflects/depends upon the other's, so that each one's information is seen as a reflection of the effect that their own just-past behavior has had in reversed tense, as perceived from the other's view of himself."


Lax/ Relax (1969)

In this work created in 1969, the artist articulates spoken language with body language by means of a feminine voice which mirrors his own in the framework of a repetitive structure.

Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989)

Not I
15' 06"
1973
Starring and Introduced by Billie Whitelaw

Not I takes place in a pitch black space illuminated only by a single beam of light. This light illuminates an actress's mouth. The mouth utters a monologue of fragmented, jumbled sentences which gradually coelesces into a narrative about a woman who has suffered an unpleasant experience. The title comes from the character's repeated insistence that the events she describes did not happen to her.


The stage directions also call for a character called 'the Auditor' who wears a black robe and can be dimly seen at the back of the stage, occasionally raising its hands in a gesture of impatience. When Beckett came to be involved in staging the play, he found that he was unable to place the Auditor in a stage position that pleased him, and consequently allowed the character to be omitted from those productions. However, he did not decide to cut the character from the published script, and whether or not the character is used in production seems to be at the discretion of individual producers. As he wrote to two American directors in 1986: "He is very difficult to stage (light--position) and may well be of more harm than good. For me the play needs him but I can do without him. I have never seen him function effectively."

A similar artist Steve McCaffrey has been experimenting in a very similar field since the 70's. To view my other post on him click here...

Wet Sounds UK Tour 2011

Wet Sounds is an underwater sound art gallery - a deep listening experience
Touring swimming pools, it presents listening sessions to a floating and diving audience in the water. The participants are fully immersed in sound. Free to move weightlessly in the sound space. Read Press Release...

I found the experience to be quite extraordinary, as you were able to navigate 'hot spots' of sound underwater where I imagine, due to the shape of the swimming pool and different depths of water, the sound would sound much louder and all encompassing. Seeing as the water actually enters your ear and is in direct contact with your ear drum the sensation is that you are hearing the sounds in much the same way as when you might speak for example, therefore it is quite a bizzare experience when there are vocals played through the speakers, which actually feel like they are much closer.

Of course this is not the first time where a swimming pool has been used as means by which to exhibit sound works. Max Neuhaus was experimenting with this idea as early as 1971, in his series water whistle which is described by the artist here:

"The sound sources were hydraulic: a network of hoses fed water through a configuration of whistle-like devices, each enclosed in a reflector. The water pressure in the hoses caused them to flex constantly, reorienting each sound source independently. This formed a shifting sound texture which varied according to the listener's position in the pool. "

Projection of underwater shape with sound source locations,
Water Whistle XVII, 1983
Ink and colored pencil on paper, 96 x 96 cm

Listeners at Water Whistle III, St. Paul YMCA, 1972

The Philips Pavilion

Brussels World’s Fair, 1958

In 1956, the artistic director of the Philips company, Louis C. Kalff, asked Le Corbusier to design a pavilion that would embody and demonstrate the excellence of the company’s products for the benefit of visitors to the Brussels World’s Fair. Le Corbusier agreed, proposing a “bottle” that would house a light, colour, image, rhythm and sound show that Le Corbusier called an “electronic poem”. Poème électronique was the title of the musical score commissioned from avant-garde composer Edgar Varèse specifically for use in the Pavilion.

(read more...)

Feldstärke international

Open Day at Centquatre (Paris)
Saturday 3rd April

Over the Easter Holidays I went to go visit a friend in Paris. Whilst I was there I found out about this opening being held in this fantastic building CENTQUATRE, a place where the artistic dynamic pushes back the boundary between art and the public.


People were inside this temporary enclosure creating sounds out of objects which they had purchased for under a euro. The performance was then streamed live to several tv's and speakers next door for the audience to watch, creating a somewhat disjointed experience of a live event - existing in such close proximity yet witnessing the event through a screen.


“Feldstärke international” is an exchange programme that brings together students from 16 Schools of Art from Germany, France and Turkey, as well as one from the United States. Participating students have the mission to share their disciplines and to work together with the enthusiasm and the vision of creating works of art collectively.


The aim of this programme, which is a joint programme between CENTQUATRE, PACT Zollverein (Essen) and ¨cˇu’m„a* (Istanbul), is to motivate the 44 arts students from all disciplines (design, dance, cinema, landscaping, plastic arts, music, theatre etc.) to work together at each of the three partners’ venues, thus at PACT in January 2010, at CENTQUATRE in April and finally in Istanbul in October. The programme, which was launched in 2009, is to be developed at international level over the next few years.


The picture above is the site of a performance where two people would hold balloons just outside the beam from the projector and gradually bring them in, creating fantastic effects as they span the balloons round highlighting a temporary round window of the projected pattern


The Blog is the online forum of exchanges between the students where they share their interactions, whether they happen over long distances or when they meet together: www.104.fr/blogfeldstaerke10

Exhibition in Garage Space

Barnes Building, Garage Space
4th December



I had booked out the garage space earlier on in the term however I left the promotion till quite late on as I wasn't too sure what was going to happen.

I quite wanted to have a show which would expose work across the broad spectrum of Environmental Art by inviting people from third and fourth year to show work that they are currently working on to provide an opportunity for people to see what kind of work they were producing.



I was really keen on using the large windows in the space to act as a frame for a band to play, playing with the idea of the audience being able to witness the performance from outside. This would be heightened if I managed to create a large enclosure for the band so that when you are inside the garage space you wouldn't be able to see them, but it would be quite overwhelming acoustically.


I then blocked off the other enclosure at the far end of the garage space, where I had set up my steel cone which was attached to a plastic pipe which passed through the wall of the enclosure. Inside, I had set up a few speakers to play sounds which I was creating on my computer down the pipe and out through the cone.


A video of people dancing was projected onto the surface of the enclosure which we had created for the band.


James was performing a piece using old umbrellas whose spokes he had removed and attached to his fingers.



With both of these pieces, it was interesiting to observe how the dynamic of the piece was interpreted depending upon the style of the music which shifted from funky to rather harsh, loud noise at times.

At points, when the music wasn't quite so overpowering, it was possible to create a dialogue between the sounds that I was creating through the computer and waiting for a response from them.

I was quite please with the way that the show turned out and I think there should definately be more exhibitions which combine work from a range of years and cover a whole variety of media, creating a more fulfilling experience.

Steve McCaffery

reading from Carnival, Instal 2009, The Arches
Sat 21st March, Glasgow

Who

A leading Yorkshire/ Canadian language/ action/ sound poet since the early 70's.

What

He'll be performing his groundbreaking typewriter concrete poem Carnival. It's a beautiful, dizzying mandala of text, symbols, fonts and rubber stamps. And it's a kind of book as reading machine.

Why

In trying to sound the symbols (%%%..), runs of continuous letters (NZNNNZ..) and snatches of found text, Carnival, and Steve's performance emphasise the visual qualities of language. It's a kind of wander through a labyrinth of text as sound, full of exclamations, pops, clicks and absurd humour.

Highlights of NRLA 2009

Ivana Müller (Croatia) -
'While We Were Holding It Together'


While We Were Holding It Together creates images in becoming, always changing, depending on who is looking. Is it a rock band on tour? A picnic in the forest? A hotel room in Bangkok? We look, imagine and reinvent while searching for what is hidden and for what we want to see.



She develops defined performative concepts that use twists in perception or logic as a starting point, creating pieces that are poetic and scientific, philosophical and humorous, intimate and political at the same time. In her recent work she explores notions of self-invention and storytelling, often working on the borders between fiction and reality.

Highlights of NRLA 2009

Franko B


I'm essentially a painter who also works in performance. I come from a visual art background and not "live art" or theatre, and this is very important to me as it informs the way my work is read. In the last 20 years or so I have developed ways of working to suit my need at that particular time, in terms of strategy and context, by using, installation, sculpture, video and sound.
Franko B 2008

I’m Thinking of You presents a surreal, dreamlike image... a romantic vision of childhood fantasy and abandon. The body is central, but we are also presented with objects and music, which take the viewer through a contemplative, personal experience.
The first inspiration for I’m Thinking of You came from a childhood object, which Franko B made into a sculpture, altered for safe use by adults. The idea was to allow adults to play, to forget their problems, to let go, or just to have fun - in the same way that children are allowed to. Over time, and through engagement with the composer Helen Ottaway, the idea has developed and changed, with Franko using performance and music as a means to create his desired image.
The piece is presented as a durational installation, with audience members entering in small groups for 5-10 minutes at a time to have their own encounter.

Highlights of NRLA 2009

Raimund Hoghe


Raimund Hoghe was born in Wuppertal and began his career by writing portraits of outsiders and celebrities for the German weekly newspaper "Die Zeit". These were later compiled in several books. From 1980 - 90 he worked as dramaturge for Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal which also became the subject matter for two more books. Since 1989 he has been working on his own theatre pieces for various dancers and actors. 1992 started his collaboration with the artist Luca Giacomo Schulte, who is till now his artistic collaborator. In 1994 he produced his first solo for himself, "Meinwärts", which together with the subsequent "Chambre séparée" (1997) and "Another Dream" (2000) made up a trilogy on the 20th century.


"Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote of throwing the body into the fight. These words inspired me to go on stage. Other inspirations are the reality around me, the time in which I live, my memories of history, people, images, feelings and the power and beauty of music and the confrontation with one's own body which, in my case, does not correspond with conventional ideals of beauty. To see bodies on stage that do not comply with the norm is important - not only with regard to history but also with regard to present developments, which are leading humans to the status of design objects. On the question of success: it is important to be able to work and to go your own way - with or without success. I simply do what I have to do."




"As I worked on my first solo 'Meinwrts' (Mewards) rather than begin in a studio, I worked in my flat, mostly in the evening, after nightfall. A window attended as a mirror. In the darkness the glass reflected my movements and the space in which I was. At the same time there was the possibility to have a look outside - on the garage roofs, trees, street lamps and a school in which Japanese children sometimes practised German folk songs. Perhaps these early attempts in front of the window reflect my interest in theatre: the relationship between the inner and outer worlds, what's personal and what's universal, nearness and distance, dreams and reality, past and present."