Oz Malul
Mark Fell
John Driscoll
Ujino Muneteru
Guy Goldstein
Nathaniel Mellors
György Ligeti
José Carlos Martinat
Manuel Rocha Iturbide
Dmitry Morozov
Steve Reich
Zimoun
Mike Kramer
Oliver Dicicco
Konrad Smoleński
Nik Nowak
Muku Kobayashi
Kouichi Okamoto
Chelpa Ferro
Martin Messier
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Oz Malul’s works feature clumsy, halting, intentionally inefficient machines. He usually invents and builds their mechanisms and then intentionally introduces flaws into them. The result is a seemingly human action, whose character is both absurd and phlegmatic.
Bumper
Wireless Magal
Portfolio
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Mark Fell (half of IDM outlet SND) focusses on the sonic version of a singularity. He deconstructs rave and electronic music to produce compositions and sound installations which are modernist critiques in themselves. Spatiality, pure sound synthesis and harsh digital noise serve an experience beyond sound itself. On the festival he present the performative installation Skydancers, which is as immersive as silly.
SkyDancers
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Speaking in Tongues is a sound installation created by John Driscoll. It uses a set of custom ultrasonic instruments (above our hearing) which respond to small amounts of movement. These movements are then translated into the audible region. Visitors can interact with the instruments using: Wii Nunchucks to control servo motor direction and speed under arduino control, manual control of a turntable and spring mounted reflector, and capacitve sensors to control rotation of foil reflectors.
Speaking in Tongues
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Ujino Muneteru transforms mechanical sounds into complex rhythms. Bored by the technical limits of his instruments, the guitarist and bassist experiments with new sounds. Different sounding bodies widen the spectrum of resonance; simple mechanical motors produce new tones. In particular domestic appliances, tools, and large machinery from the fifties to the seventies play a significant role here because of their mechanical simplicity and haptic palpability. Points of reference to the Japanese “Noise Music”, a type of sound movement from the eighties rooted in John Cage and the Fluxus, can also be seen.
The District of Playwood City
Broadcast & Bent Guitar
New Yuck
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Guy Goldstein is a following artist, one that “comes after”. The things that lay in front of him, those that were caught in the net, he receives as an inheritance and displays them as loot.
Sound Table
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British artist Nathaniel Mellors makes irreverent, absurd and hilarious videos, sculptures, performances and writings that challenge our notions of taste, morality, and intelligence.
Neanderthal Container
Giantbum
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Gÿorgy Ligeti’s 1962 composition for 100 metronomes, Poème Symphonique, owes much of its success to its presentation as a ridiculous spectacle. But no piece in Ligeti’s catalogue better distills the composer’s fascination with chaos, order, and broken systems. The piece, notated as a short text score, lasts as long as it takes one hundred mechanical metronomes, all set in motion at the same time, to unwind and stop ticking. Thus, the shape and energy of the piece, if not the duration, is always the same: a tendency towards sparser texture and eventually silence as the metronomes unwind.
Poème Symphonique
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Jose Carlos Martinat’s artistic practice lies in the collision between two diverging notions of public sphere. One, which assumes it as a realm of unrestricted discursive interaction about social and political issues. And another, that takes it as a realm where conflict is institutionalized under the prerogatives of the hegemonic structures of dominance.
Pista 1
Manifiestos
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Manuel Rocha Iturbide is a Mexican composer and sound artist. He started his musical studies when he was 13 years old. In 1988 he started using video work. In 1989 he realized his first sound sculpture at the milestone exhibition “14 artists around Joseph Beuyce” in Mexico City, with important Mexican artists from his generation such as Gabriel Orozco.
Sin titulo
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R x2 is a kinetic sound sculpture by Moscow-based media artist Dmitry Morozov collecting data on the shocks in the earth’s crust (earthquakes) and capturing all of them above 0.1 Richter magnitude scale. On an average day there are up to 200 of these quakes.
R x2
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Pendulum Music (For Microphones, Amplifiers Speakers and Performers) is the name of a work by Steve Reich, involving suspended microphones and speakers, creating phasing feedback tones. The piece was composed in August 1968 and revised in May 1973. Reich came up with the concept while working at the University of Colorado. He was swinging a live microphone in the style of the cowboy’s lasso, and noting the produced feedback, he composed for an “orchestra” of microphones.
Pendulum Music
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Zimoun is a Swiss artist who lives and works in Bern, Switzerland. A self-taught artist, he is most known for his sound sculptures, sound architectures and installation art that combine raw, industrial materials such as cardboard boxes, plastic bags, or old furniture, with mechanical elements such as dc-motors, wires, microphones, speakers and ventilators.
240 prepared dc-motors, cardboard boxes 60x20x20cm
36 ventilators, 4.7m3 packing chips
317 prepared dc-motors, paper bags, shipping container
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Mike Kramer is a sound and recording artist. His work invites listeners to get intimate with the sounds presented, using Field Recordings combined with electronic composition as a working method.
Whispering Wall III
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An installation by Oliver diCicco, titled Sirens, consists of 11 free-standing, drone-emitting sculptures. Their hemispheric shape brings to mind the horns of some mechanical beast, while their purpose suggests oversized tuning forks, and they move with the lilt of a human-proportioned metronome. When turned on, they filled the room with rolling, gently overlapping layers of long, held tones.
Sirens
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Konrad Smoleński describes his work as a mix of “spectacular pyrotechnic effects” and “minimal punk aesthetic.” Smoleński’s works frequently have an audio component, which might take the form of noise, music, or noise music. Speakers and microphones are also frequent motifs in his installations, appearing in overwhelming configurations and quantities, often alongside combustible materials and flames. The artist has an openly anarchic disposition, which manifests in the works as a sense of anxiety, disorientation, and awe. Smoleński works in multiple mediums including photography, videos, installation, sculpture, and performance. He is also an active experimental musician, and performs in guerrilla concerts with his group BNNT.
One Mind in a Million Heads
Dizzy Spells
Oscillations
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Berlin artist Nik Nowak combines visual art and music. His best-known project, the Panzer, or sound tank, critically addresses acoustic warfare and deals with the idea of sound as a catalyst. He was inspired to create this work of art by the presence of Iraqi sand on German streets.
Soundtank
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The sound installations of Muku Kobayashi involve wooden-crafted with polished elements. The devices move with smooth mechanical movements to look almost unreal, creating a cinematic sound. They generate various types of sounds, and possibly noise, transmitted to horn speakers. They are operated automatically and perfectly integrated, both in aesthetics and design, with old analogue equipment such as VU meters or audio oscillators.
盛るとのるソー
丈の低い木の丈は低い
蚊帳をうめる
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The Kouichi Okamoto musical table installed 504 volumes on the top plate, and there are 504 musical box movements which play only a single sound in the point of the 5-m electric line extended from there. The motor revolving speed of the musical boxes are adjusted by the volume of the table, and the musical boxes play sound at random.
Musical Table
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Jungle Jam by Chelpa Ferro uses motors and plastic bags to create a cacophony of sound, echoing the rhythms and the tunes of Liverpool streets. A specially tailored rhythmical composition is ‘played’ by the bags. The piece inverts the process through which musicians appear in the commercial context of Liverpool’s streets and brings commercial detritus into the gallery.
Jungle Jam
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Sewing Machine Orchestra is a sound and light installation and performance by Canadian artist Martin Messier. The eight 1940-1950s Singer sewing machines are interlinked with a micro-controller system without need for human interaction.
Sewing Machine Orchestra (installation)
The Sewing Machine Orchestra (performance)
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p.s. Hey. ** Liquored Goat, Hi, man. Cool, the Kuan book is really good. Lutz is very meticulous and, thus, very non-prolific. He can work on a single story for years. Ha, you like Lubricated Goat. They were, at least for a long time, Mike Kelley’s favorite band. Take care, D. ** David Ehrenstein, Happy Monday. ** Dóra Grőber, Hi, Dóra! Great, I love the Higgs book, which, I guess, I already showed. Thank you about the apartment. The searching is being intensified starting today. We’ll see. Yeah, the shooting is scheduled for the second and third weeks of April. We hoping/trying to get an additional four or so days at least because shooting the film in two weeks will be very difficult. And we’ll be out there in Bas Normandie preparing everything for probably a bunch days before we start shooting. It’s going to be ultra-exhausting, but great. I’m going to decide when the reading is today. Probably soon, maybe as soon as next week. I hope you got to have a lengthy, great time with your missed, beloved friends. And that the interviews are still proceeding fairly smoothly. My weekend was okay. Lots of work, a little drama (I’m incredibly far behind on paying my taxes to the point that it has become a big crisis that I now have to resolve quickly, ugh.) Oh, I’m very happy because Gisele’s and my work has been selected for the Venice Biennale, which is kind of the crown jewel of international art events. So that’s kind of a huge deal. They want to have performances of three of our works — ‘Kindertotenlieder’, ‘I Apologize’, and ‘The Ventriloquists Convention’ — plus some kind of exhibition, so I’m thrilled about that. So, it was an okay weekend if not one full of exciting-to-describe physical activities. Was yours great, and how was Monday? ** Sypha, Hi. I’d like to read those Delany journals, even though I’ve only read maybe three of his books. I don’t know that Michael Bertiaux book, but of course I’ll investigate it. Thanks a lot for sharing your current reads. I really appreciate it. ** Steevee, Seesawing hysteria is the order of the Facebook day. How was the rally? I haven’t read anything about it yet. ** Jeff Coleman, Hi, Jeff! Very nice to see you, my buddy. ‘Amygdalatropolis’ looks very, very interesting indeed. Even the trailers were alluring. Cool, I’ll do what it takes to get a copy, Thanks a lot, man! You doing all right or more than? What’s going on? ** Jamie, Hi, … ah, your name is defying my cleverness today, so just hi, Jamie! Yeah, right, about that Lutz essay. He has written a few essays about sentence writing, all mindblowing. Yes, I personally think all of Lutz’s books are very worth reading. Ideally, I would try to start with one of his two relatively more sizeable books, ‘Stories in the Worst Way’ or ‘I Looked Alive’ just because ‘AL’ and ‘Divorcer’ are very short. The apartment plan is that my roommate/partner Yury, who speaks fluent French, is going to go around to real estate agencies in person today with my/his resumes, hoping that in-person queries will be more fruitful than trying to find a place via online. We’ll see. How was Sunderland and the office? Intriguing combination. Love seasoned with thyme, Dennis ** B.R.Y., Greetings, sir. You won’t be sorry if you read ‘Assisted Living’, I’m pretty sure. And the Kuan, if you liked the samples. Happy to have caught your considerable eyes. Have a fine morning until night, minimum. ** Joseph, Hi there, Joseph! Always a great pleasure. I’m sad to say that I only knew Mark Baumer through a few texts of his that I’d read before he passed. I didn’t even know about his activism or his cross country journey. Such a terrible thing. Yes, definitely, if someone wanted to do a post about him, I would be very pleased and honored to have the blog honor him. The Higgs book is awesome, guaranteed. Yeah, big headachy mess on the apartment hunt, but there has to be way to suss it, and I have to find that way. Otherwise, I’m doing excellently. You too, I hope. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. As I told Jamie, ideally start with ‘Stories in the Worst Way’ or ‘I Looked Alive’ if you can because they’re more sizeable collections that’ll give you a bigger taste of his work, but you can start anywhere. I think I’m a creature of habit too. Witness this blog and how I do it, I guess. I think Pettibon is a genius, but I do sometimes wonder if there needs to be what seems like 500 books of his work out there. ** FLIT, Flit, buddy, Flit, holy hello, pal! Thank you mightily for the waves. I sorely need them. How’s stuff? Catch me up? ** New Juche, Hi. Well, I absolutely have to find a new apartment. There is no other option. So I will, by hook or crook. Hm, so sorry I can’t remember who you’re asking about. I’m sure that, if you find his work, I’m going to be all like ‘If it had been a snake, it would have bit me’, as my mom liked to say. If his identity suddenly dawns on me, I’ll of course let you know. Good Monday to you. ** Misanthrope, Hi. Well, our new movie is odd and dark, but it’s not something that would freak out his fan base. I think they would be all, ‘Oh, Harry’s such a cute daring risk taker!’ Cool if you finally get to see ‘LCTG’, natch. I think, based on what you say, your mom will very quickly exit the room muttering if not screaming when you start ‘LCTG’ unless you tie her to a chair, which is what I would recommend. Never heard of ‘Demolition’. I’ll check it. I’m scared of that link you shared. Strange. So I’ll tiptoe up to it maybe later after I’ve steeled myself. Wuss, right? ** James Nulick, Hi, James. Yes, I got your photo through the email system. Cool. And your friend looks nice. Thank you about my apartment woes, and, yes, I hope that by the end of this week, I will at the very least feel less panicked about the situation. Love back. ** Right. Please spend your local time today touring my new galerie show featuring noisemakers and their makers. It’s fun. I swear to motherfucking God. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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Very Rube Goldberg / Jean Tinguely today.
Hi!
These shooting plans really do sound exhausting with all the preparations and tight time frame! I hope you’ll get those additional days you need in order to work more comfortably! How likely is it that whoever you have to ask will say okay?
Yes, I had a really nice time with my friends and I’m only 3 interviews away from finishing this part of the research so I’m cautiously optimistic, haha!
I’m so sorry about your tax situation. This and the whole apartment mess… I just really wish they’d all solve themselves immediately!
Congratulations! Wow, this is huge! The Venice Biennale! Congratulations, really! Do you know any specifics about the exhibition part already? I’m really curious!
I’m home today, just going through the usual things. Nothing too interesting though I did get an e-mail in which my university informed me that I can go in and get my diploma so if all goes well I’ll have it in my hands pretty soon!
How was your day? How’s your arm? I do hope it’s getting better by the minute!!
Here’s a link to Mark Rappaport’s latest video essay “The Empty Screen.” It’s really quite special.
The rally itself was very positive and uplifting. Later that evening, I saw that it got a mention on MSNBC. However, it was an unpleasant physical experience. The temperature in New York yesterday was in the low 30s, and I enjoyed a mix of rain, snow, slush and even hail as I was standing here. It was supposed to last 90 minutes, but I left 15 minutes early because my feet were soaked, even though I was wearing boots. Still, I’m in no danger of being deported or refused entry to the U.S., so I felt the discomfort was well worth it (although I wouldn’t want to go another protest under similar conditions next weekend.)
Hi Dennis. It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I still lurk and read on almost a daily basis. I co-run this music group online called ‘effete noise snobs’ with a bunch of friends where we just listen to weird shit for four or five hours. I’m going to play some of these videos for them and see how they react. Can I leave some recommendations based on these videos? Try to find the album “Installation for 300 Speakers, Pianola and Vacuum Cleaner” by John Wynne. It’s one of my favorite albums for some reason and I can’t quite put my finger on it. The title gives away everything you need to know. One of the vids reminded me of Steve Roden’s “Airforms”. The sewing machine stuff also reminds me of [the user]’s music for dot matrix printers, Slot Machine Music by Adrian Rew and this album https://wasabitapes.bandcamp.com/album/pachinko-machine-music . 😛
Hope your day is going well.
Hey Dennis,
Got back from AWP last night – it was a fun time but unfortunately I brought some form of the plague back with me. It’s always great to see all the small press and how many cool books are being released — though it was unnerving to hear so many of them talking about how NEA money keeps them afloat and without that maybe 30% of the publishers at the conference would quickly go under.
More thoughts on AWP later when my skull doesn’t feel like it’s being cleft in two. Ditto for the noisemakers and catching up on the books post which looks great as usual at a glance. And: Sent you an email about my novel manuscript.
Big congrats to you and Gisele on the Venice Biennale! That’s amazing news. When does it happen?
Interestingly enough, right now I’m working on a short story (that I literally started around a year or so ago, but I took a long hiatus from it) that revolves around an experimental musician/sonic artist, somewhat a spoof of the Italian noisemaker Maurizio Bianchi, better known as MB: though my artist’s initials are BM, ha ha. Most of these names are unfamiliar to me, aside from Ligeti and Steve Reich… I believe that Sonic Youth covered that song “Pendulum Music” on their exquisite “Goodbye 20th Century” album. Some of this experimental minimalist stuff reminds me of Pan Sonic a little.
Speaking of noisemakers, the new Skullflower album is available for order. I ordered it myself last night.
Well, I’m certain you’ve read “Hogg,” ha ha. That one I’ve tried to read, but I fail every time (though Misa had no problems with it). With Delany I’ve mostly read the majority of his sci-fi work from the 60’s (“The Jewels of Aptor,” “Babel-17,” “Empire Star,” “Nova,” “The Einstein Intersection,” and the “Fall of the Towers” trilogy), two of his novels from the 70’s (“Dhalgren” and “Trouble on Triton”) and only one of his modern-day novels, “Dark Reflections,” which I think came out around 2007 or so. Although I admire his work a great deal, I do find his writing style tough going at times, though I can’t articulate why this is so.
Here’s a link to the website for the Bertiaux book that at least gives an idea of the content involved:
https://fulgur.co.uk/books/michael-bertiaux/ontological-graffiti/
Yay Dennis! Big congrats to you about the Venice Bienalle!! I imagine you must be quite pleased. That’s wonderful news.
I like just about everything featured in today’s post. I mean, what’s not to like? The Steve Reich, Zimoun and Konrad Smoleński pieces are really great, but my fave would have to to be the Kouichi Okamoto musical table, which just gets me. Did you have a favourite? A lot of the noisemaking machines look really good too.
Ta for the Lutz recommendations. That essay is still well on my mind.
How did the new apartment getting tactic work out? I really feel for you, man. It’s such a crap feeling not knowing where you’re going to end up.
And I didn’t go to work today. It’s pretty bad, but I couldn’t face it. I’m feeling a little bluesy about the whole project, tbh, which seems to be having every piece of fizz or life sucked out of it in the name of ‘education’ and ‘marketing’. I hope none of our team read these comments because I told them I was ill.
I watched a Douglas Sirk film today because I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about his movies. Are you a fan? I liked the colours a lot.
So, what’s your coming week like? I’m planning on doing a whole lot of thinking.
Smoked love,
Jamie
P.S. I keep meaning to post the link to these photos, which I think you might enjoy.
https://www.dezeen.com/2017/02/06/nara-dreamland-deserted-japan-theme-park-photography-romain-veillon/
Those Mark Fell Skydancers are sublime. I thought I knew his work but no, I wasn’t expecting that at all.
@ DC, wow massive congrats to you and Gisele re Venice! That is the most spectacular news. Rachel Maclean is representing Scotland this year so it’s good to see more Yuck ‘n Yum alumni treading the Venetian boards.
I sent two tweets to gay journalist Zack Ford, in response to a lengthy series of posts he made about gay conservatives. I said something like “as it becomes easier for gay men (especially if they’re white & middle-class), more conservatives are likely to come out.” In retrospect, it was foolish not to realize that this could be taken as a defense of people like Milo Y. by people who don’t know my politics. Ford never responded, but I keep getting “likes” and “retweets” from folks like “Deplorable Me ” and a guy with an American flag in his last name. Yikes! I feel dreadful.
Hi Dennis, cool about your Paris reading…wish I could go. I have a confession to make, which somehow I’ve always wanted to reveal to you. Anne Rice admitted in her memoir that she doesn’t like reading. I was relieved to hear an author admit this, because the same is often true of me. I go for months without reading anything…and I’m always envious of people like Sypha, who consume huge volumes, when all I do is stare out of train windows in the summer. I like to contemplate! But every once in a while, an author’s voice hits me – and when I discover that, there’s nothing better. You have always done that for me. But it just happened last night – and I think you said you don’t care for Paul Auster – not sure what you’ve read of his – I love some of his stuff, and some not as much. But I started his latest 4 3 2 1 on a Kindle sample – and I can’t believe how his voice speaks to me. It’s very hard to explain. I’ve ordered it from the library and it should be there tomorrow – it’s over 800 pages! (Sypha, I’ll catch up to you yet!) What I read so far is mostly exposition about the grandparents and parents’ family – I usually hate that stuff – but his voice soothes me…and I love the way he puts words together. OK, wanted to say this for a long time. Now you know. Thanks for being one of those rare authors for me. I think part of the secret key (of what I’m able to take into my mind) is originality.
Sypha, be sure to read Chip’s “Times Square Red / Times Square Blue”
I believe I’ve already linked this, but if not Here It Is Again!
I kinda want a Mussolini foot girder and a fringed pinata stick but … blah that.
Still working on my video edit… slow going. I don’t have an easy structural in ( fucking with ‘windows movie maker’ stupid transitions) and the ‘narrative?’ is… layered… a sci-fi-fairy-tail-skewer-thing about voyeurism and murder. Anyway trying to cut them shapes into some kind of ‘neurological experience ‘…. you gotta. So, good, I am not flustrated with it yet
Your new galerie show is fun! I like how it spreads from isolated objects into invaded environments.
Dennis, …….::::hides head because he knows not one of these, and then cries a little::::
Well, as long as LCTG doesn’t have any nice-looking guys kissing, Donna Wines won’t have a prob-….wait, oh, right……ARGH!
😀
Hey, I could make a movie myself out of my tying her down and making her watch it. See? Art inspiring Art!
Oh, that instagram isn’t bad. It’s photos of the scenes one year removed from the murders, not the murder scenes themselves. If anything, they’re all very sterile and clinical looking, all seemingly abandoned. Mostly just buildings. But knowing that a murder had occurred there a year almost to the second is jarring when you see how normal and plain these places look, all cleaned up and whitewashed.
Lovely range of machines today, Dennis.
Congratulations on the Venice Biennale inclusion! Wow!
Bill
Hey, Dennis.
I’m doing okay. Nothing much changes here in Jeff land, ha ha. I’m the immobile space around which everything turns. Which I suppose means it’s all my fault. Sorry.
Hope you’re doing well. You seem to be.