Traveling, performing, making, dressing and more...

cardinal vowels

So my friend Tom told me about an interesting piece that I wanted to think about out loud:

"I was reading this catalog abut the installation artist ann hamilton and there was a section bout a piece called 'mneme" that had a turntable in it and the passage really struck me...hamilton made a recording of the "cardinal vowels"..."the hinge sounds of language, a set of eight tongue configurations, not aligned with the vowels of any particular language, but the reference points of all speech"
she had somebody spinning the record by hand so that the sounds were slurred and "animal like" with the idea that the hand and its fingers would be exchanged for the tongue...resystemizing the world of thought and experience."

Reading this email reminded me of a speech installation that was in place at the Semper Depot in Vienna.

This artist had individualized different phonics from words. It worked almost like a telegram machine. This little thing would trigger this pipe to make the sound that each little pipe-thing was assigned to. One could type anything on an old school computer that had a software that would transfer what you typed into the appropriate sound. Similar to the machine that the Deaf use when using the telephone.

I have a favorite record right now that is all about how to treat and care for your dog. I don't really use the whole record so much as the first 5 seconds of the record. There is this recording of a dog, or rather a man making doggy noises, that starts with panting, then continues to making snorgling noises and whines. I find that when I use this portion of the record I can almost form interesting words, if I'm in the zone that is. If I think about it too much then it's a no dice situation.

Here are some other interesting installations from the Wein Modern. It was so great to be included in such an interesting collection of work.

This piece was interesting because it was so similar to otomos record set up:



Great minds think alike?

This piece was interesting as well. It was a hand made needle that was placed on a piece of sliced wood. The wooden turntable(?) was then hooked up to a motor and the needle sawed the grooves into the wood. By the time I saw it there had been a significant amount wood chipped off from the needle. Then the image was transfered to this TV thing. I don't know a lot about video stuff, so I have no idea how the rest of it worked out, but the presentation was interesting and slightly humorous.


After reading Tom's email I am now seriously considering buying a vinyl cutter to create my own records of sound choices. Often times when I step outside and listen to the outside noises, to me it's so interesting to listen to nature and hear the right placements of sound coming from different areas of time. Just like improvisation. I'm always so grateful when I hear it happening.

My host in Vienna, Dieter, has his own vinyl cutting machine and actually cut Otomo, ErikM, Billy and me seperate records to use for the performance. He even cut a record with a protrait of Otomos face. One thing that I found interesting about vinyl cutting machines are the mess ups. I think Dieter said that it took him about 15 trys for each one record that was meant for each artist. And we recieved 2 of them.



So my question to him was if I could have some of the mess ups. Some mess ups were recorded with too much low end so when you place a needle on the record it skips because the low end has melted the vinyl in a certain way that the needle could'nt "catch" onto the grooves.

It's like a delicious dream. The only thing I could think of after hearing about tom's disco-very is that I need to get my hands on that record. Or maybe make my own???

WHEN AND WHERE I'LL BE 2010

May 15 2010

Brecht Forum with Gene Coleman

Brooklyn, New York, US



May 18 2010

Outpost 186, May 2010 Tour w/ Seeded Plain

Boston, Massachusetts, US



May 19 2010

Strange, May 2010 Tour with Seeded Plain

Portland, Maine


May 20 2010

L’Envers, May 2010 Tour w/ Seeded Plain

Montreal, Quebec, CA



May 21 2010

May 2010 Tour w/ Seeded Plain

Toronto, CA



May 22 2010

Dreamland Theater, May 2010 Tour w/ Seeded Plain

Detroit, Michigan



May 23 2010

Robinwood Concert House, May 2010 Tour w/ Seeded Plain

Toledo, Ohio


May 25 2010

Enemy, May 2010 Tour w/ Seeded Plain

Chicago, Illinois


May 26 2010

Sugar Maple, May 2010 Tour w/ Seeded Plain

Milwaukee, WI


May 27 2010

The Ritz Theater, May Tour 2010 w/ Seeded Plain

Minneapolis, MN



May 28 2010

Ames
Progressive, May 2010 Tour w/ Seeded Plain

Ames, Iowa



May 29 2010

Bemis Center, MAY 2010 Tour w/ Seeded Plain

Omaha, Nebraska



May 30 2010

Clawfoot House, May 2010 Tour w/ Seeded Plain

Lincoln, Nebraska



Jun 13 2010

Whitebox Gallery

NYC, New York



Jul 1 2010

Whitney Museum, Christian Marclay Retrospective w/ Marina Rosenfeld

NYC, New York



Jul 2 2010

Whitney Museum, Christian Marclay Retrospective w/ Elliot Sharp

NYC, New York



Jul 3 2010

Whitney Museum, Christian Marclay Retrospective w/ Elliot Sharp

NYC, New York



Jul 4 2010

Whitney Museum, Christian Marclay Retrospective w/ Elliot Sharp

NYC, New York



Jul 9 2010

Whitney Museum, Christian Marclay Retrospective w/ Marina Rosenfeld

NYC, New York



Jul 11 2010

Whitney Museum, Christian Marclay Retrospective w/ Alan Licht and Lee Ranaldo

NYC, New York

HOUNDSTOOTH ON FADER TV