| |
Signal to Noise Ratio
1974-84, 71 min
Compiled by The Netherlands Media Art Institute, Montevideo/Time
Based Arts
In the works of the Signal to Noise Ratio
series, “the medium is the message”. Their strength
and beauty lie in their energy and simple insights.
One of
the cultural phenomena brought about by the spiritual upheavals
and technological innovations of the 1960's was video art. In
1971, in Manhattan, New York, Steina and Woody Vasulka
founded The Kitchen which became an important centre for electronic
art. If traditional photography and film were seen, according
to the term coined by the artist couple, as “the space before
the lens”, the Vasulkas held a particular interest in “the
space behind the lens”. They concretized the idea of inner
pictures in their numerous works based on psychedelic images and
sound manipulation. Noisefields is an LSD-influenced flicker
video, Reminiscence and Violin Power more subtle
synesthesia experiments far ahead of their time.
The monumental “space-time work”
Raum hören und Raum sehen by Valie Export and Christian
Michelis is performance video at its toughest. The artist
stands in an empty room. Only the position of the camera and the
pitch of the hum just audible in room vary. “The body is
simultaneously a transmitter and a receiver,” Gary Hill
has indisputably stated when explaining the fundamental themes
of his works. In the philosophical Soundings he contemplates
“the abstract relationship between sound and materia”.
The monologue soundtrack of the video is heard from a speaker
under attack; nails are hammered in it and sand and water are
poured over it.
In a performance filmed in the Netherlands
in 1977, Laurie Anderson introduces in a very straightforward
and graphic way the tape-bow violin that later became her trademark.
The traditional horsehairs of the bow have been replaced with
a piece of audio tape. The tape contains speech, and the performance
is made up of palindromes such as the Lenin quote “ethics
is the aesthetics of the future”, produced by 'bowing' back
and forth.
The last piece in the programme, Record
Players is a humorous example of the early works of the musician
and visual artist Christian Marclay. A group of assistants
“play” vinyl records by hand, scratching, rubbing, breaking
and finally crushing them with their feet. New Yorker Marclay
is known as a pioneer of avant-garde “turntablism” and
record recycling. His music is brutal collage that shamelessly
mixes source materials from different eras. Marclay has also produced
enigmatic sculptures and installations using raw materials such
as records, record sleeves, c-cassettes, miniature or giant musical
instruments, instruments screwed on to furniture, and huge, room-filling
telephone receivers. MT
Sunday 11.11.2001 - Kiasma Theatre
16:00 - Signal to Noise Ratio screening
The Vasulkas: Noisefields
(USA, 1974, 13 min)
Valie Export: Raum sehen und Raum hören (AUT/GER,
1974, 9 min)
The Vasulkas: Reminiscence (USA, 1974, 5 min)
Laurie Anderson: Songs for Lines (USA/NL, 1977, 9 min)
The Vasulkas: Violin Power (USA, 1978, 11 min)
Gary Hill: Soundings (USA, 1979, 19 min)
Christian Marclay: Record Players (USA, 1984, 4
min)
|
|
