Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Gregory Battcock (1941-1980) The ART of Performance


The Art of Performance: A Critical Anthology (1984) [PDF, 1.2mb]


Edited By: Gregory Battcock and Robert Nickas

This /ubu edition edited by Lucia della Paolera, 2010
The original edition was published by E.P. DUTTON, INC. NEW YORK



CONTENTS
Introduction

Part 1: Historical Introduction
Attanasio Di Felice: Renaissance Performance: Notes on Prototypical Artistic Actions in the Age of the Platonic Princes
RoseLee Goldberg: Performance: A Hidden History
Annabelle Henkin Melzer: The Dada Actor and Performance Theory
Ken Friedman: Fluxus Performance
RoseLee Goldberg: Performance: The Golden Years


Part 2: Theory and Criticism
Michael Kirby: On Acting and Not-Acting
Cee S. Brown: Performance Art: A New Form of Theatre, Not a New Concept in Art
François Pluchart: Risk as the Practice of Thought
Peter Gorsen: The Return of Existentialism in Performance Art
Wayne Enstice: Performance Art's Coming of Age
David Shapiro: Poetry and Action: Performance in a Dark Time
Herbert Molderings: Life Is No Performance: Performance by Jochen Gerz


Part 3: The Artists
David Bourdon: An Eccentric Body of Art
Vito Acconci: Notebook: On Activity and Performance
Robin White: An Interview with Terry Fox
Chris Burden and Jan Butterfield: Through the Night Softly
Les Levine: Artistic
Rob La Frenais: An Interview with Laurie Anderson
David Shapiro: Notes on Einstein on the Beach
From Jail to Jungle: The Work of Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik


BIOGRAPHY

Battcock, Gregory
Date born: 1941 [some sources say 1937]
Place Born: New York, NY
Date died: 1980
Place died: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Art critic, art historian, and painter. Battcock was the son of Elizabeth T and Gregory J. Battcock. He attended Michigan State University, receiving his A.B. before graduating from Hunter College (today Hunter College, City University of New York) with an M.A. He also attained a certificate at the Academia de Belli Arti, Rome. Battcock painted as an abstract expressionist and did theater costume designs. Battcock was close friends with Andy Warhol and starred in several of the artist’s films, including "Batman Dracula," 1964 and "Horse," 1965, as well as Gregory Markopoulos' films "Galaxie," 1966 and "Iliac Passion," 1967. He became a special correspondent for Arts Magazine also in 1967. His interest in cinema led him to write articles about other Warhol films such as, “Notes on the Chelsea Girls: A Film by Andy Warhol,” 1967, and “Warhol Film,” 1968. Battcock contributed to the re-definition of what the art world categorizes as art in that many of his anthologies address "new" fields of the aesthetic exploration of media such as film and video. He advocated that video is able to serve purposes other than the commercial, as it can stimulate intellectual and artistic inquiry. Battcock was appointed associate professor of art history at Fairleigh Dickenson University, Teaneck NJ Campus, advancing to professor of art history, William Paterson College, Wayne, NJ in 1970. He accepted the additional responsibilities of editor of Arts Magazine in 1973. During these years, he wrote and edited books about minimal art, conceptual art, realism, photo-realism, video art, new music and art education, and he had. In these activities Battcock sought to define a "new art." For example, the anthologies he edited investigated new types of relationships developing between artists, critics, art objects and the art world. Correspondingly, he believed that close and direct contact with artists and their work was necessary in facilitating the creation of new art. Because of Battcock’s interests in new media and the relationships he developed with artists of his time, scholars today are more closely examining the role of the art critic in the Warhol era. Upon completing his dissertation, Constructivism and Minimal Art: Some Critical, Theoretical and Aesthetic Correlations, he received his Ph.D. from New York University in 1979. By then, Battcock was a significant member of the contemporary American art world. On December 24, 1980, Battcock was stabbed to death at his condo in Puerto Rico; his murder remains unsolved. An openly gay man, he lived a lifestyle which the art historian Robert Rosenblum (q.v.) described at “performance theater.” His papers consisting of biographical information, correspondence, works of art, financial records, photographs, artist files, printed material, datebooks, and manuscripts of published and unpublished writings are in housed in the Archives of American Art, The Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Alice Neel’s painting, “David Bourden and Gregory Battcock,” 1971, is in the collection of the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas Austin. [contributed by the “Methodologies in the History of Art and Visual Culture” class, University of North Texas, fall 2008, of Prof. Jennifer Way, Julie Barnofski, JC Bigornia, Richard Bond, Twyla Bloxham, Candace Dugger, Andrea Duffie, Jeremy Moore, Krissi Oden, Kristen Wagstrom, Heather White, Betsy Williamson.]

Home Country: United States

Sources: Young, Vernon. “I’ve Been Reading These Film Critics.” Hudson Review 21 (Summer, 1968): 337-344; Henry, Garritt. “Whole Picture.” Art International 15 (December 1971): 89; Battcock, Gregory. New Ideas in Art Education; A Critical Anthology. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1973; Nabakowski, Gislind. “Raimund Girke.” Heute Kunst (G.F.R.). No. 4-5 (December 1973): 16-19; “New York City Edition.” File (Canada) 3 (Spring, 1976): 18-61; Crimp, Douglas. “Yvonne Rainer, Muciz Lover.” Grey Room no. 22 (Winter, 2006): 48-67; [obituaries:] “Art Professor Is Slain in San Juan.” New York Times December 26, 1980, p. B2; [remembrance, including Rosenblum recollection] Russell, John. “Art People.” New York Times January 16, 1981, p. C20.

Bibliography [dissertation:] Constructivism and Minimal Art: Some Critical, Theoretical and Aesthetic Correlations. New York University, 1979; edited. The New Art: A Critical Anthology. New York: Dutton, 1965; edited. The New American Cinema: A Critical Anthology. New York: Dutton, 1967; ed. Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology. New York: Dutton, 1968; Idea Art: A Critical Anthology. New York: Dutton, 1973; New Ideas in Art Education: A Critical Anthology. New York: Dutton, 1973; “Aesthetic for Rebellion.” Art and Artists 7, no. 10 (January 1973): 12-14; “Aesthetics and/or Transportation.” Arts Magazine 48, no. 1 (September-October 1973): 33-5; “Abstract Expressionism: The End of an Age.” Domus 528 (November 1973): 367; “Exhibition in Rome: Contemporanea [Mostra a Roma: Contemporanea].” Domus 531 (February 1974): 48-52; “It Is.” Arts Magazine 48, no. 7 (April 1974): 31-3; “Andy Warhol: New Predictions for Art.” Arts Magazine 48, no. 8 (May 1974): 347; “Marchese Emilio Pucci di Barsento.” Arts Magazine 48, no. 9 (June 1974): 40-2; “Warhol: and an Exhibition in October in Milan [Warhol: e una Mostra in Ottobre a Milano].” Domus 541 (December 1974): 36-7; edited. Super Realism: A Critical Anthology. New York: Dutton, 1975; “New York Developments.” Art and Artists 9, no. 11 (February 1975): 4; “Art in America: Saari, Hirshmann, Oppenheim.” Domus 546 (May 1975): 53-4; “An Interview with Salvador Dali.” Art and Artists 10, no. 5 (August 1975): 4-5; “Dali.” Domus 550 (September 1975): 50-1; “News from New York.” Domus 550 (September 1975): 53; “Controversy in New York, Concerning the Article by Tom Wolfe, 'The Painted Word'.” Domus 551 (October 1975): 50-1; “Andy Warhol: A Book.” Domus 553 (December 1975): 52; “Good Taste, Bad Taste.” Domus 555 (February 1976): 47; “Video and Napkins.” Domus 559 (June 1976): 52; “Les Levine: 'Media Artist'.” Domus 560 (July 1976): 50-2, I-IV; Battcock, Gregory. “The Venice Biennale [La Biennale di Venezia].” Domus 564 (November 1976): 1-19, I-VI; Why Art: Casual Notes on the Aesthetics of the Immediate Past. New York: Dutton, 1977; “New York: Art Exhibitions.” Domus 566 (January 1977): 53-5, III, VI; “Without Importance.” Domus 567 (February 1977): 52-3, VI; “Soho: The Artists' Day.” Domus 575 (October 1977): 55; edited. New Artists Video: A Critical Anthology. New York: Dutton, 1978; "Forward." in Meisel, Louis K. Photo-realism. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1980; “Ocean Liners: The Way They Were.” Art in America 68, no. 6 (Summer 1980): 142–7; edited. Breaking the Sound Barrier: A Critical Anthology of the New Music. New York: Dutton, 1981.



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Free Download Robbie basho Live in Stone City

Robbie Basho in Stone Sity Iowa 1982


Click the image to download

Creative Commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0
sources: http://www.robbiebasho-archives.info/

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Dance with Pina Bausch

Orpheus und Eurydike (1975)
   
Duration: 2 hours



Dance-opera by Pina Bausch
Music Christoph Willibald Gluck

Musical Direction Janos Kulka
Director and Choreographer Pina Bausch
Collaboration Hans Pop
Set and Costume Design Light Rolf Borzik
Choirs Werner Wilke
Technical Direction Rolf Bachmann

Love
Orpheus
Singer Lois White
Dancer Dominique Mercy

Death
Eurydice
Singer Ingeborg Krüger
Dancer Malou Airaudo

Youth
Armor
Singer Elena Bajew
Dancer Vivienne Newport / Marlis Alt

Grief
Marlis Alt, Pedro Mascarello Bisch, Hiltrud Blanck, Tjitske Broersma? Sue Cooper, Michael Diekamp, Laszlo Fenyves, Colleen Finneran, Lajos Horvath, Margaret Huggenberger, Stephanie Macoun, Yolanda Meier, Jean Mindo (Jan Minarik), Vivienne Newport, Barbara Passow, Monika Wacker, Barry Wilkinson;

Power
Marlis Alt, Pedro Mascarello Bisch, Hiltrud Blanck, Tjitske Broersma?, Sue Cooper, Michael Diekamp, Laszlo Fenyves, Colleen Finneran, Margaret Huggenberger, Stephanie Macoun, Yolanda Meier, Jean Mindo (Jan Minarik), Vivienne Newport, Barbara Passow, Heinz Samm, Monika Wacker

Peace
Marlis Alt, Pedro Mascarello Bisch, Hiltrud Blanck, Tjitske Broersma , Sue Cooper, Michael Diekamp, Laszlo, Fenyves, Colleen Finneran, Lajos Horvath, Margaret Huggenberger, Stephani Macoun , Yolanda Meier, Jean Mindo (Jan Minarik), Vivienne Newport, Barbara Passow, Monika Sagon, Heinz Samm, Monika Wacker, Barry Wilkinson

Dying
Marlis Alt, Pedro Bisch, Hiltrud Blanck, Tjitske Broersma?, Sue Cooper, Michael Diekamp, Laszlo Fenyves, Colleen Fin neran, Lajos Horvath, Margaret Huggenberger, Stephanie Macoun, Yolanda Meier, Jean Mindo (Jan Minarik), Vivienne Newport, Barbara Passow, Heinz Samm, Monika Wacker, Barry Wilkinson

Premiere 23 Mai 1975 Opera House Wuppertal

International engagements /Tours
1993 Paris; 1994 Genoa; 2008 Epidaure; Düsseldorf

 source: http://ubu.com/dance/bausch_orpheus.html


Monday, July 29, 2013

Free Download Lee Riley








Installations

My installations are made to explore the question - how can we visualize sound? The installations comprise of structures that use sound, light and water. The sounds are created from sources that include hydrophones, transducers, motors and prepared guitars. Below are photos, sound recordings and videos of my installations.



guitar (solo) - acoustic version

An acoustic adaptation of my 'guitar (duo)' installation.





inside the glimmer

Patterns are created in water made by sound vibrations from the guitar pictured.





inside the glimmer from Lee Riley on Vimeo.


guitar (duo)

The duo comprises of a bass and guitar, both prepared. Played by a combination of motors with head massagers attached.







Untitled

Is an installation with mysterious sound and visual quality.






Untitled from Lee Riley on Vimeo.

Alva Noto, Ensemble Modern, Ryuichi Sakamoto – Utp_

Commissioned by the city of Mannheim (Germany) for its 400th anniversary, UTP was co-composed by Carsten Nicolai (aka Alva Noto) and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The work, whose title is deducted from the word "utopia," is scored for electronics, piano, and chamber ensemble, the latter being Ensemble Modern. It consists in extremely slow-paced tableaux of stretched out octaves and skeletal motives, a Butoh-like performance. The piece is solemn and entrancing, like Morton Feldman's music -- more elegant, perhaps. It marks a new step in the evolution of Nicolai and Sakamoto's music, together and apart, as neither of them had yet concocted something this sparse, this naked. Their previous collaborations could have been filed under "ambient music," but UTP belongs in the contemporary classical bin. This is a CD+DVD set. The CD includes a concert stereo version of the 75-minute work. The DVD has the same performance in 5.1 surround sound, shot with a single camera embracing the whole stage -- you won't see much of the musicians (then again, the stage is dark and not much is happening), but you get a great look at the big (really big!) screen in the back, where minimalistic yet beautiful "interference patterns"-like video art unfolds throughout the performance, minutely choreographed to the music. The DVD also includes a 40-minute "making of" that adds close-up shots of the musicians, an interview with the video artists, and an inside look at the dealings between composers and performers.

Review by


Prepared pinball

BALLS FOR CTHULHU (2013)
A pentagram shaped pinball game emblazoned with fluorescent graphics by the Rev Kriss Hades depicting the lord of the deep ones. A multiplayer pinball game with five players stationed at each of the stars five points. The outer triangular walls of the star are made from ten guitars with their fret boards facing inward into the playfield, while in the central pentagon ten pop bumpers are connected to a drum machine. These are all connected to various audio effects triggered by targets positioned throughout the game. So when the balls bounce off the strings distorted open tunings are produced while the pop bumpers accompany the din with a chaotic drum solo.
Video shot at ISEA rocks pop up program during AROMA coffee festival.



BALLS FOR CTHULHU from Lucas Abela on Vimeo.

BALLS FOR CTHULHU by Night from Lucas Abela on Vimeo.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

IBERWAVE SOCIOPOLITICAL LANDSCAPE José Iges

Sunday, 28. July 2013, 23:03 - 23:59, Ö1
[ DEUTSCH ]

KUNSTRADIO - RADIOKUNST


IBERWAVE SOCIOPOLITICAL LANDSCAPE

A series of programs for Kunstradio devoted to Iberoamerican Radio Art

curated by José Iges



  1. Fabián Racca, AR: Argentina 78 remix -frgms-. 2008,  13':
    • El viento cruza la cancha (The wind crosses the Court) 7'40"
    • Después de tantas cosas que se dijeron (After so many things that are said) 3'15"
    • Nuestro corazón (Our Heart) 2'12"
  2. Zael Ortega, MX: Oídos de acero (Ears of Steel) 2009, 10'
  3. Concha Jerez-José Iges, ES: Tierras de nadie: Cartografía Sonora (No-Man's Land: Sound Cartography) premiere stereo vers. 2012-2013, 15'
  4. Fabiano Kueva, ECU:  Doble Procesión (Double procession) 2000-2012, 11'

Introductory Text

by José Iges


The works of this program are related to politics and society, basically Iberoamerican. However their authors, presenting each other few affinities in the procedures, and also belong to different generations and nationalities, have in common the interest in using sound with a political consciousness, taking its themes of society.

With "Argentina 78' remix", Fabián Racca builds a sort of bastard radio play that manipulates, through a turntable and a mixer with sampling, the vinyl of the radio transmissions of the matches of the Argentine World Cup of Football 1978 and music composed for the event. The election, far from being arbitrary, has a strong ideological charge.

Two aspects are related in “Oídos de Acero” (Ears of Steel), the work made by Zael Ortega in 2009 as a commission of Fonoteca Nacional of Mexico. On the one hand, this work is largely based on the hard, unyielding and stoic battle by the mexican social activist Salvador Zarco Flores (born 1944) against the deaf institutional dismantling of National Railways of Mexico. On the other hand, this work intends a measured evocation on the ideological and cultural explosion that happened in Mexico in 1910: the Mexican Revolution.

Concha Jerez and José Iges made a multiphonic work for the EES of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MUAC) of Mexico. Among other sounds, they used those from large public protest demonstrations that took place in 2012 in Madrid and Mexico City. Their "Sonic Cartography" continues their speech around the No-Mans Land as deregulated spaces or with a changeable regulation, that are in consequence also places for disorientation. And there is no doubt that the current crisis – not just in the economic sense- favors their expansion. This the World Premiere of the radio version.

The ecuadorian artist and organizer Fabiano Kueva made in 2002 his "Espejo de Sonido" ("Mirror of Sound") as an exercise of soundscape and critical geography developed as a radio broadcast satellite between the cities of Quito and Guayaquil. The sound contrast challenges the official discourse that antagonizes both cities and the work suffered censorship and should be suspended as installation.


1. Fabián Racca, AR: Argentina 78 remix -frgms-
2008,  13'



  • El viento cruza la cancha (The wind crosses the Court) 7'40"

    soundPLAY

  • Después de tantas cosas que se dijeron (After so many things that are said) 3'15"

    soundPLAY

  • Nuestro corazón (Our Heart) 2'12"

    soundPLAY

The original manipulations are from 1998, which generated several hours of different transformations, that made the material somewhat intractable in terms of time required for processing it in a composition, since it did not have computers to work at that time... I also remember that everything was made without any budget, out of common working hours. So that in 2008, excited by the possibilities of digital editing, I realized the final remix in a month with Audacity software.

F. Racca

With Argentina 78' remix, Fabián Racca builds a sort of bastard radio play that manipulates, through a turntable and a mixer with sampling, the vinyl of the radio transmissions of the matches of the Argentine World Cup of Football 1978 and music composed for the event. The election, far from being arbitrary, has a strong ideological charge. Racca accentuates the nastier details of this traumatic episode in our history: the voice and the racist comments of the speaker José María Muñoz, emblematic character of the time, identified with the military dictatorship; Police sirens as a counterpoint to the triumph; a goal that the deformation through the mixer becomes a bitter lament by common graves; the catchy soundtrack of the Italian composer Enio Morricone modified into a kind of Elegy for the disappeared. The appeal to our memory is much more effective to the extent that Racca conforms exclusively to technologies of undoubted seventies mood - turntables, vinyl-, contemporary of the worst years of our lives.

2. Zael Ortega, MX:
Oídos de acero
(Ears of Steel)
2009, 10'
 


soundPLAY


The sense of sound creation does not lie in the creator's intention neither in the interpretation of the listener, but is based in the silence listening of the same sense, that is to say, in its openness and immanence. Thus, this organization of sounds, called “Oídos de Acero” (Ears of Steel), similarly seeks to be to the listening of a dual purpose. On the one hand, this work is largely based on the hard, unyielding and stoic battle by the mexican social activist Salvador Zarco Flores (born 1944) against the deaf institutional dismantling of National Railways of Mexico. On the other hand, this work intends a measured evocation on the ideological and cultural explosion that happened in Mexico in 1910 (Mexican Revolution), focusing especially to the Railway sound object and, more specifically, their honorable workers. In short, “Oídos de Acero” (Ears of Steel) is an open work that invites to think the Railway and to think from the Railway.



“Oídos de Acero” (Ears of Steel) is a work of Zael Ortega especially dedicated to Salvador Zarco Flores, a critical and responsible mexican social activist.

In 2009, Zael Ortega was commissioned by the National Sound Archive to create an intermedia work to celebrate the centenary of Mexican Revolution: “Oídos de Acero” (Ears of Steel), which recently took the first prize at the 8th International Biennial of Radio (2010). Also, this work has been presented as a sound installation at the own National Sound Archive; in the José Vasconcelos National Library; at the Railway Museum of Mexico City; in the Museum of Railways of Puebla City; at the “Discantus: Scenarios of the New Music” International Festival (2009 and 2010 Editions); and the “Puebla: Cradle of the Mexican Revolution” Festival (organized by the Institute of Arts and Culture of Puebla City). “Oídos de Acero” (Ears of Steel) also conform the sound design of a documentary produced and directed by the Railway Museum of Mexico City, on the rescue of two Steam Locomotives from 1901: the FCI-67 Locomotive and the NdeT-507 Locomotive. Moreover, “Oídos de Acero” (Ears of Steel) was performed live on the International Electroacoustic Music Festival “Spring in Havana 2010”, dedicated to celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the National Laboratory of Electroacoustic Music, and the 45 years of the first public concert of Electroacoustic Music in Cuba, organized by composer Juan Blanco.

Commissioned and produced by Fonoteca Nacional de México.

3. Concha Jerez-José Iges, ES:
Tierras de nadie: Cartografía Sonora (No-Man's Land: Sound Cartography)
Coproduction ORF Kunstradio - MUAC EES / premiere stereo and 5.1 vers. 2012-2013, 15'


soundPLAY




Tierras de nadie: Cartografía Sonora  has as its origin the intermedia project Terre di nessuno (Tierras de nadie), carried out in Madrid in 2002, from which other subsequent installations have arisen, all of which employ audiovisual and informatic resources, as well as small radiophonic interferences. Having been invited to create a new work for the space of EES in the Museum MUAC (Mexico City), Concha Jerez and José Iges were interested in building not with those same materials, but with the very notions that underlie the aforementioned work.



Iges and Jerez remind us that the theoretician and radiophonic producer Pinotto Fava asserted two decades ago that: “in the world in which we live in, the only possible lands are No-Man's Lands”. If those terre di nessuno are deregulated spaces or with a changeable regulation, they are in consequence also places for disorientation. And there is no doubt that the current crisis –not just in the economic sense- favors their expansion.

With this work, the artists propose an acoustic immersion into some of those No-Man’s Land which have been charted from the recordings of sonic actions carried out by themselves in many places.

Many, and nobody in particular, are also invited to partake in this journey through deconstructed landscapes; following, for example, a pulcinella who, coming from the Commedia dell'Arte reminds us that the world is one large theatre, from which we receive its sonic shadows in this place. He is the solitude of the long distance runner, of the tightrope walker with whom the artists also identify, wishing that our journey takes us nowhere…

Concha Jerez (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1941) and José Iges (Madrid, 1951), have been working together since 1989, simultaneously with their respective individual work. Their practice, which in general they propose as Expanded Media with a special link to radio, is expressed as performances, concerts, installations, sculptures, videos and photomontages.

Since 1976, Concha Jerez centers her work, conceptual in its methodology, towards the development of in situ works and performances. In 2011 she received the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes bestowed by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

José Iges has composed works for tape and digital supports, as well as for soloists accompanied by live or recorded electronics and for instrumental ensembles. His fundamental axis is the interaction between instruments as well as installation, multimedia art and the use of stagecraft and radiophonic language.

This composition was accomplished with the collaboration of Jorge Alberto Alba and the support of the Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras (CMMAS), whom we thank for all their help.

Original recordings: Luc Ferrari, José Manuel Berenguer, Jessica Trejo, Hernán Risso Patrón, Concha Jerez and José Iges.
Percussion: Pilar Subirá

Commissioned by EES-MUAC, México. Stereo and 5.1 version produced by Kunstradio - Radiokunst (ORF).


4. Fabiano Kueva, ECU:
Doble Procesión (Double procession)
2000-2012, 11'



soundPLAY




UIO-GYE:  MIRROR OF SOUND

It is an exercise of soundscape and critical geography developed
between 2000 and 2002 in the cities of Quito (UIO) and Guayaquil (GYE), Ecuador.

Its thread conductor is the dialog and sound contrast
through games of discursive panning they challenge
the official discourse that antagonizes both cities.

Recorded in a minidisk system with hidden microphones,
Sound mirror is a journey through public spaces,
improvised conversations and media representations.

It was released in July 2002 simultaneously as a radio broadcast
satellite by system ALRED and a sound intervention on Malecon 2000 (GYE)
and Plaza Grande (UIO), spaces in which the work suffered censorship and should be suspended.

Mirror of Sound took part of the art event in the public sphere Ataque de Alas (Wings Attack) in the Antropological and Contemporary Art Museum of Guayaquil.

Doble Procesión is a representative fragment of Mirror of Sound.

Daniel Heikalo - L'art de la guitare préparée



L'art de la guitare préparée est un disque que j'ai publié à l'origine en 1997 sur cassette. La musique fut enregistrée entre 1985 et 1996, et elle est totalement improvisée, sauf pour Écho de Melrose Senécal, qui est improvisée sur un thème composé au préalable. L'édition sur disque date de 2000, avec un ajout sur l'édition finale de 2004.

The Art of the Prepared Guitar is a CD I originally published in 1997 as a cassette-only release. It was made into a CD in 2000, with a second and final edition with one track added in 2004. The music was recorded between 1985 and 1996 and is completely improvised, except for the piece entitled Écho de Melrose Senécal whch is an improvisation based on a previously composed theme.

released 27 July 2013
Daniel Heikalo: guitares préparées, enregistrement, restoration audio, masterisation, image de la pochette.
Arif Hekimoglu: percussion
Tamara Thiébaux-Heïkalo: graphisme.
David Hillier: prêt d'une console et de nombreux superbes microphones.

abs(.)hum - Immensity of the territory

Immensity of the territory, a show in two parts.

"On stage the musicians perform live, but let the audience focus on the guitar alone in the center under a large screen upon which their films are projected, The result, a real 'static trip'! A movie to which anybody can make a scenario."

In 2008, abs(.)hum called upon the guitarist and long time collaborator Anthony Taillard with
whom they planed part one of IMMENSITY OF THE TERRITORY. In which they spent two weeks driving from NYC to New Orleans and back, collecting sounds and pictures. This road trip fed Vol. 1 of Immensity of the Territory: East.

In 2010, the three musicians returned to the USA, crossing California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. The sounds and images (picture and video) collected during this three-week road trip are the basis of Vol.2 of Immensity of the Territory: southwest. 

abs(.)hum or the guitar with engine...


Since 2003, Charles-Henry Beneteau and Christophe Havard, aka abs(.)hum, have been known for the particularity of performing on the same guitar! This guitar, remotely controlled and simultaneously mastered by both musicians utilizing a variety of devices, and output through electronic and digital media, gives new possibilities to the guitar... so much so that finally we are unable even to recognize the guitar!


Their sound, characterized by large drone like soundscapes is evocative of the vast North American landscape; even more so when Christophe Havard adds his phonography and sound art. Press reviews also reference post-rock, blues, electronica, multi-guitar music ensembles, and microtonal music...


"… C’est très beau en installation, cela fonctionne parfaitement sur disque. Il s’agit d’une oeuvre qui n’a rien à devoir aux références du genre souvent surestimé appelé "guitare préparée". Celle-ci est très enveloppée et ne craint pas la distorsion : cette musique que l’on qualifiait il n’y a pas si longtemps d’industrielle, celle des Nantais Beneteau et Havard, a su conserver la fragilité d’un artisanat créatif. Je pense que c’est ici que se définit le post-rock."
DINO – Revue et Corrigée #71 mars 2007 Discography: NO HEROES & abs(.)hum (label TIRAMIZU)
Quelques références scéniques : les Instants Chavirés (Montreuil), Penn Ar Jazz (Brest), Pannonica (Nantes), la Factory (Pau), les festivals Nuit blanche (Paris), Nuit d’hiver (Marseille), Résonances (Saint-Nazaire), SONOR (Nantes), Musiques de rue (Besançon), SONORE (Brest), Tribu (Dijon), Muzzix (Lille), Farniente (Pornichet), Meeting (Tours)…


IMMENSITY OF THE TERRITORY the show



"Immensity of the territory" by abs(.)hum at the festival Farniente from christophe havard on Vimeo.

The abs(.)hum's guitar, always on the center of the stage with the three musicians around her. The collected pictures are showed on the background. Each concert is different because the music uses improvisation and the pictures mixed all the time. The narrative and musical sound creation mixes improvisation and writing process. This music is made with the instruments and the field recording in a surround system. The duration of the show is about 1 hour (about 30 minutes for the school
presentations).


"Immensity of the territory #2 : the Southwest" project by abs(.)hum at the VIP in St-Nazaire, march 2011 from christophe havard on Vimeo.

A propos du spectacle, Michel Henritzi, Juin 2010
"Immensity of Territory" est un dispositif mixant images et musiques, fragments enregistrés lors d'une traversée des Etats-Unis d'Est en Ouest, avant fantasmée à travers des disques et des films made in USA. Road-movie à la façon du "Paris Texas" de Wim Wenders ou du "Stranger Paradise" de Jim Jarmush, images dont les personnages joueraient hors-champ, ou plutôt les personnages s'incarneraient dans les notes fantômes de la bande-son. Images de routes projetées sur l'écran, longues bandes d'asphaltes comme une partition déroulée dans les paysages américains. Sur la route. La musique jouée ici en évoque l'infini déroulement, l'Histoire, ses déserts et ses néons. Ombre portée de la guitare sur l'écran, symbole de toute une Amérique fantasmée, jouée par des mécaniques célibataires (un corps de guitare monstrueux sur lequel le groupe abs(.)hum a greffé des moteurs, capteurs, bootlenecks, aimants ...) y jouant des rudiments blues, folk ou de vieilles b.o de western. On y entend les fantômes de l'Amérique sonique, de John Lee Hooker à Sonic Youth, mélodies mélancoliques disparaissant dans des monochromes de limailles et de feedback(s). Toute l'histoire de la guitare se joue là dans cet "imaginary landscape" rejoué par un corps de guitare et les ombres de Ry Cooder et de Neil Young."


Exposition



At the same time and the same place of the concert, an exhibition of few selected pictures can be presented to the public.

Biographies
Charles-Henry Beneteau
In the 1970s,Charles-Henry Beneteau, self-taught guitarist, began playing finger picking and blues, inspired by the great blues guitarists, like Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Blake, Blind Lemmon Jefferson, etc. Ten years later, he decided to study classical guitar in Conservatoire (Paris) with Roberto Aussel and Sergio Assad. He won second and first price in Berlin and Montélimar international guitar competitions and is laureate of the Menuhin Foundation. He gives a lot of concerts in duet, guitar quartet and chamber music in France, Germany and Ireland. CHH is also theorbist and continuist and is steadily playing with baroque ensembles. Involved in improvisation and musical exploration, he creates, along with Chistophe Havard, abs(.)hum" (2003) – a strange duet for one electric guitar and two musicians, which brings them on the road, meeting adventurous musicians, performing with music and video.

Christophe Havard
Born in 1972, he lives in Saint-Nazaire (France). Saxophone player since he's 16 years old, he played in jazz bands during many years, before moving towards practices of sonic experimentation and the listening of the environment. Since then, he realizes sound installations and electroacoustic pieces. He's invited as artists in residency working on sound environment, he plays in several bands dealing with improvisation, experimentation and sound recording. He creates music for theater, documentary movies, participate to the activities of several non-profit organizationand teaches in workshops.
In parallel to these activities, he's a teacher in two music schools. Within the duet abs(.)hum, he uses an hybrid instrument : a prepared guitar which is controlled in distance, using electronic devices, producing drones, loops and distortions. Among the collective projects like Poyepolomi, Phono3graphie or Surface libre, he uses recorded sounds according to the locations and the kind of event in order to create narrative and/or abstracts universes. With SONE or in his own sound installations, he uses the particular properties of various materials for designing new listening systems. His compositional practice includes heterogeneous sound sources such as industrial and natural environment, objects, instruments, voices, extract from film soundtracks. He's also interested in introducing experimental music in rural context in France, and he initiated several projects about this topic.

Anthony Taillard
Anthony Taillard plays on prepared guitars and bass since 1992. He is (or has been) member of : HALFZOUHAIR SCHAG, FORMANEX, MAN, SURFACE LIBRE, SUBUTEX SOCIAL CLUB, P.I.L.S. and abs(.)hum « Immensity of The territory ». Practicing free improvisation, he played with Sylvain Chauveau, Phil Durrant, Taku Sugimoto, Keith Rowe, Noël Akchoté, Olivier Benoit, Jean Chevalier, Cédric Routier, Pascal Battus, etc. Also involved in interpretation of experimental music (mostly Cornelius Cardew and John Cage), he worked with AMM, Kasper T. Toeplitz, Jérome Joy, Brandon Labelle, Laurent Dailleau, and develop his own compositions in solo and in collaboration with the painter Cyrille Borgnet. Solo or with these projects, he works music for performance, sound and video installations, films, theater, poetry, readings.

Christophe Havard site 
Charles-Henry Benetetau home page on the Volume/collectif webside
References:
2012
-festival Reevox (GMEM) à Marseille (projet Immensity of the territory)
-festival Locus Sonus (Lieu Unique) à Nantes projet (Immensity of the territory)
-festival Câble à Nantes projet (Immensity of the territory)
-cinéma Ciné Jade à Saint-Brévin (projet Immensity of the territory)
2011
-le VIP à Saint-Nazaire (projet Immensity of the territory)
-festival SONORE à Brest (projet Immensity of the territory)
-la Maison des Arts à Saint-Herblain (projet Immensity of the territory)
-cinéma Ciné Presqu'île à Guérande (projet Immensity of the territory)
-résidence d'enregistrement à Césaré (centre de création musicale) à Reims (projet Immensity of the territory)
-festival Elektricity (Césaré/la Cartonnerie) à Reims (projet Immensity of the territory)
2010
-le VIP à Saint-Nazaire (projet Immensity of the territory)
-festival Musique Action in Vandoeuvre les Nancy(project Immensity of the territory)
-workshop and creation of the second part of the project "Immensity of the territory" at the Pannonica in Nantes
-a trip in the southwest of America to prepare the second part of Immensity of the territory
2009
-Athenor in Nantes
-cinema the Cinematographe in Nantes, for the festival Sonor (projet Immensity of the territory)
2008
-festival Meeting in Tours, organised by the Petit Faucheux (projet Immensity of the territory)
-festival Musiques de rue in Besançon (projet Immensity of the territory)
-OMR in St-Sébastien, organised by the Pannonica (projet Immensity of the territory)
-Festival "Farniente" in Pornichet,(projet Immensity of the territory)
-15 days in the USA with the guitarist Anthony Taillard to prepared the project "Immensity of the Territory"
-Festival Muzzix organised by the CRIME Lille (Fr)
2007
-"la Carenne" - Brest (Fr.)
-"DogPig Art Café" - in Kao-Hsiung (Taiwan) projection of a Shejingren's movie with the music of abs(.)hum: "the pith of the aphrodisiac tree"
2006
-Concert and sound installation 'cUncert-x with the association VOLUME/COLLECTIF at "Athénor (ST-Nazaire Fr.)
-"Les instants chavirés - Montreuil (Fr.)
-"Tribu Festival" - Dijon (Fr.)
-"chez l'un l'une l'autre" - Rezé (Fr.)
-Festival "musiques de rue" - Besançon (Fr.)
2005
-blockhaus DY.10 in nantes (Fr.) (+ anthony taillard)
-Parc la Garenne Lemot - clisson (association acousma) (Fr.)
-the CD "no heroes" edited by the label tiramizu (sept 2005)
-les abattoirs de Billère - pau (Fr.) (association la factory)
-art center passerelle - brest (Fr.)(association penn ar jazz)
2004:
-Pannonica - nantes (Fr.)
-théâtre athénor - st-nazaire (Fr.)
-festival résonances - st-nazaire (Fr.) (+ aimé dontigny, éric dorion, hughes germain)
-festival nuit d'hiver organised by the GRIM - marseille (Fr.)(+ anthony taillard)
-festival nuit blanche - paris (Fr.) (+ shejingren - wan-shuen tsai/yannick dauby)
-10 days of record in the théâtre athénor - st-nazaire (Fr.)
2003:
-"semaine musicale" st-brévin les pins (Fr.)
-Guérande (+ Hughes Germain)(Fr.)
-2 nights in the HUB - nantes (+ guests: Carine Lequyer, John Morin, Anthony Taillard, Basile Feriot, ...) (Fr.)
-Instants Chavirés (montreuil) (Fr.)
-the first Cd audio + video (label tiramizu)

Watch Bill Horist solo in The Great Hall at Union Station


Bill Horist solo in The Great Hall at Union Station from Prefecture Music on Vimeo.

Listen to Stefan Schmidt / Farang





'farang' is the solo project of composer and classical guitarist stefan schmidt. since 2000 he has released several albums and created music for films, exhibitions and dance performances.

stefan schmidt/farang



Free Download Christopher Willits


  • Digital Album

    Immediate download of 50-track album in your choice of high-quality MP3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

    Download for Free/$0! (or leave a small donation to help Overlap projects like this sustain)
    Christopher Willits publicly shared 121 recordings used to create the album "Tiger Flower Circle Sun", encouraging other artists to "have fun and create what you love with the sounds". This album features some of the results.

    Buy Now  name your price


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about

"Tiger Flower Circle Sun - Remixes" is a collection of remixed Christopher Willits recordings by both new and accomplished artists. This album is the result of a public remix project initiated by Willits with the help of SoundCloud, Ableton, Creative Commons and Ghostly International. Willits shared 121 recordings used to create the album "Tiger Flower Circle Sun", encouraging everyone to "have fun and create what you love with the sounds".

You can find more about this really interesting community project on Willits' site - christopherwillits.com and the original project page
willits-sample-library-vol1.herokuapp.com
released 03 April 2012