Gramophone DJ- Wind Up

Two gramophones, a playlist of 78s records and a tin of medium tone gramophone needles. Djing with a set list of 1930's to 1950's classic tunes, winding "Spread a little happiness" into "In the mood" . By using this obsolete technology in a way and context that dates after its intended use challenges its potentiality and function.

78s represent a specific era and are no longer made (not since 1962) and hardly used due to advances in technology. The physical, mechanical process of djing with the gramophones differs with modern music systems. The needle has to be changed every two records and the gramophones have to be wound frequently.

As part of the Sonic Arts Network Expo 2006 (23rd-26th June), Manchester, Wind Up was performed in Victoria Baths, Levenshulme (winner of BBC's Restoration programme) in the First Class Male Pool. This space was also used as a dance hall when the pool was covered, resonating with Wind Up.

Wind Up was also perfromed at Common Bar in The Northern Quarter, Manchester.

Forthcoming performances

Central Library, Manchester, 26th October 8pm
Fuel, Withington, 11th November, 8pm

My recollection snagged on the stapled receipt

Images

Smudgy black pigment on blank manuscript paper with the absence of musical notation and clefs challenge musical composition and interpretation. The drawings/scores are the remains of a performance but also a catalyst for one. The piano is transformed into a drawing instrument.

The manuscript paper is placed behind the piano hammers and in front of the piano strings. When the keys are played, a visual resonance impacts on the paper and disrupts the sound to produce percussive qualities. The titles are from snippets of text taken out of context from The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker. Baker’s fictional account of one man’s lunch break full of the wonders of everyday used objects resonates with the conceptual foundations of my work and contrasts with the obsolete.

The marks in the drawing are echoed in the sound recording. The patterns and process of drawing resonate. Other tracks are more percussive and the familiar sound of the piano becomes unfamiliar. The whole process is ambiguous and evocative, but is suggested by the medium.

Stamping down on the landing.

Images

Chaotic pen marks at the edge of manuscript paper invoke frantic noise. Manuscript paper is placed on top of the piano strings and marks are drawn on the stave with a pen. The sound created echoes the process of drawing. The sound created through the process of drawing is ambiguous and uses the piano strings in an unintended way.

The physical imprint of the pen’s pressure resonates through the paper. The sound of the drawn line and the piano string notes are simultaneous. This highlights the pen’s sound and movement throughout the process.

Typewriter Duet

TYPEWRITER DUET

Typewriters devoid of their signature ribbons and typing paper become conventionally functionless. A text titled Typewriter Duet lies at the side of each typewriter on separate tables. A performance begins. A drummer and piano player enter the room and sit in front of the typewriters. Silence. The typing commences. The score is composed of text. The click-clack- clack click of the keys produces rhythmic mechanical sounds that relate to the performers typing rhythm. The text draws to an end. Click-click-…..clack….silence. The musicians leave the room.


Percussionists perform Typewriter Duet. The ribbons and paper are removed to eliminate a visual resonance and to highlight the musical/sonic experience of the rhythmic, mechanical sounds. The typewriters are transformed into percussive instruments. The text for the score is composed of translated Japanese idiomatic example sentences to form a fictional narrative. Typewriter 1 is the essential translation of the idioms. Typewriter 2 is the literal interpretation; visually evocative, surreal and profoundly humorous. The texts are composed of non-everyday language, but appear to be a personal account. The narrative is the score and the letters are the notes. The function of the typewriters is transformed beyond its prescribed use. The translation between the literal and essential meanings of the idioms is echoed in the transformation of language into music and the typewriter into a percussion instrument.

Transforming the utilitarian and conceptual function of obsolete technology is central to my practice. By exploring the typewriters potentiality, they move beyond their previous function that is now replaced by more advanced technologies.

(Typewriter Duet perfromed at Apartment, Manchester, June 2005 (see link). Photos taken in Holden Gallery, Manchester)

TYPEWRITER DUET SCORE

Typewriter 1

“No matter what happens, I’ll carry out the plan.” I knew all along that the plan would hit a snag. I had a tough time with the project, because it was outside my speciality. When the shower started, people started running in all directions. Fortunately, a taxi came by when it started to rain. “We can’t trust someone so inexperienced with this project. Because he’s inflexible, it doesn’t matter how much you explain it to him. We can’t ask him to do anything important because he’s slow.” Because I couldn’t say what I wanted to, I got frustrated. Although he’s just a greenhorn, he says such arrogant things. He has a bad habit of always nitpicking. No matter what we do, he’s always a drag. Because I’ve been getting help from him constantly, I feel deeply indebted.


Typewriter 2

“Even if it rains, I’ll carry out the plan.” I knew all along that the plan would run aground on a submerged reef. I had a tough time with the project, because a farm is different. When the shower started, people started running like baby spiders. With good salt and plums, a taxi came by when it started to rain. “ We can’t trust someone who smells so green with this project. Because he’s a stone head, it doesn’t matter how much you explain it to him. We can’t ask him to do anything important because his wisdom is shallow.” Because I couldn’t say what I wanted to say, my belly ballooned. Although he is a green two year old, he says such arrogant things. He has a bad habit of grabbing someone’s raised leg. No matter what we do, he’s always clinging to my legs and hands. Because I’ve been getting help from him constantly, my head doesn’t go up.

Holepunches in A Minor

Images

1. Holepunches in A minor 1
2. Holepunches in A minor 2
3. Holepunches in A minor 3

Paperworks: Paper Art in the 21st Century Exhibition

This exhibition explores paper as a medium of expression. Traditionally paper has been used as a support for something else, a drawing or a painting. The show focuses our attention on the characteristics of paper and challenges our notion of what constitutes an artwork and questions art's boundaries. The low intrinsic value of paper and the use of recylced or found material, has allowed artists a greater freedom of expression than might be expected from almost any other material. By exploiting paper's diverse properties in a variety of ways and combining it with other materials, Paperworks demonstrates the extraorindary qualities of this flexible medium.

(Bury Art Gallery)

(Work shown in Paperworks: Paper Art in the 21st Century Exhibition: Holepunches in C major 1/2/3

Drawing in C Major

Images

1/2 Drawing in C Major 1
3/4 Drawing in C Major 2

Bang (repeat)

Using a music composition software programme, Print Music, a personal code was devised to correlate musical notes with letters of the alphabet (formulated using the pattern/structure of piano keys).

Repetition spells the word in notes. Other musical elements are integrated to accentuate repetition. The italic, repetizione, the treble and bass clef, the repetition of ffff (fortissimo) and the musical repeat sign show this. The computer plays the piece infinitely without change. Human emotion and gesture are removed.

Print Music, was used to challenge the conventions and boundaries of analytic notation. Manipulating and challenging a conventional structure explored onomatopoeia. The dramatic, complex and unconventional note for Bang, contrasts with the computer’s comic sonic interpretation of the note. Both works challenge the software’s capability, potentiality and its unintended use.

Exhibition photos

NATIONWIDE MERCURY ART PRIZE 2005 EXHIBITION AT AIR GALLERY, LONDON (10TH-28TH MAY)

MA EXHIBITION 2005, HOLDEN GALLERY, MANCHESTER (OCTOBER 2005)

FROM MANCHESTER WITH LOVE, KUVATAIDEAKATEMIAN GALLERIA, HELSINKI (8TH-20TH NOVEMBER)

DUET, SOUTHWELL ARTSPACE (BRITISH ART SHOW SIDESHOW 2006), NOTTINGHAM (26TH APRIL-4TH JUNE)

NOTIONS OF DRAWING, CIP HOUSE EXHIBITION SPACE, LONDON (9TH JNE-2ND JULY)

VICTORIA BATHS: NO RUNNING, NO PETTING, NO BOMBING (SONIC ARTS NETWORK EXPO 2006), MANCHESTER (24TH-27TH JUNE)

Publications/Press releases

DRAWING NOW: BETWEEN THE LINES OF CONTEMPORARY ART, I.B. Tauris. To be published 2007

MERCURY ART PRIZE NOMINEE WILL BE SPINNING CLASSIC 78RPM RECORDS IN CENTRAL LIBRARY
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/news/2006/sept/mercury.htm

DUET- NAOMI KASHIWAGI by ROBYN GOODMAN 2006
SIDESHOW ISSUE 1

http://www.sideshowonline.org/multiplefeedsubpage.php?id_record=9&startNo=0

LAMPORT COURT 6







Images

1. Lamport Court 6 (Front cover)
2. Piano Drawings/Typewriter Duet/ This question compressed into a blip of familiar curiosity
3. Uprighting itself just in time for landing/It seemed to take about as long as the wires in a toaster take to turn orange