late night live art at kraak 1
Yesterday was the first of three Late Night Live Art events at Kraak in Manchester.
The reason I'm hammering Kraak so much at the moment isn't because I'm involved in these events (although I am) it's because I think it's an endeavour worth supporting. And like The Other Room although the potential audience might seem to be limited the intention is to welcome everyone who's interested and to avoid cliques. And given the size of audience for Tina Darragh and P.Inman at The Other Room this year work being challenging obviously isn't a bar to getting people through the door.
That said there was a very limited audience yesterday. But given that the gallery is only recently established, that the event ran from 10pm-1am on the night before a work day, and that it was live art from people who are not big names in Manchester it's probably not that surprising. There are advantages and disadvantages to only having a small group of people attend. The advantage is that it's relaxed and easy to talk to people, the disadvantage is that it's harder to get the kind of dynamic atmosphere you can with a larger group.
Probably the biggest set-up on the night were the desks that Gary Fisher and Graham Dunning were playing from. They played in collaboration, Graham mainly using decks and Gary using a variety of hand-made instruments played through a delay pedal. They played a couple of sets, although earlier in the night I was playing with my installation so wasn't able to concentrate as I would have liked. Later on they played two extended improvisations that combined pre-recorded sounds (tape, vinyl) with sounds generated live by either physical objects or electronic noise-makers. The effects were very restrained and subtle, sometimes even funny, and ranged from accumulated washes and throbs of tone through to harsh percussive sounds. Although Gary had more recognisable instruments on his desk, Graham's were perhaps the more traditionally musical contributions.
The later set was recorded on audio, and I think some photos were taken. I also have a few shots from the night but I haven't yet figured out how to get them from my phone to the blog*. I'll let you know when they go online. The music/sounds were more abstract than recognisably melodic, and each artist seemed to be echoing the other in some way, as well as responding to the physical environment of the gallery. Graham had some interesting recordings of speech that occupied an uncertain space between reassuringly quotidian and disturbing depending on how they were framed.
Gary as usual mainly incorporated his sounds into the overall picture almost invisibly, but such that it would change completely were his contribution removed. Although some actions, such as using the end of a jack-plug, or adding in hand-built scrap guitar and thumb piano were unavoidably present. Later on, before Lou's set, there was a brief riff for loop and delay pedals and multispeed drill.
There are things that can be achieved with music that are impossible to do with poetry. This has been a longstanding frustration. The levels of abstraction, non-meaning, layering and textural self-reference that are available remain a constant challenge.
Lou's performance piece was very different, much quieter and more reflective than the rest of the night. She sat at a table arranged for a meal with books to one side of her. A video camera behind her shoulder focussed closely on the plate in front of her, and the image was projected on a screen behind. Lou would read from one of the books, then pull out a page, place it on the plate and cut out a word or set of words using a knife and fork, then eat them. She then took a drink and started the process again.
The books included The Bible, one of Lewis Carroll's Alice books (possibly both in a single edition), Camus and a couple of others. Appropriately enough (and unsurprisingly given that Bible paper is made for opacity and strength despite its thinness) The Bible was apparently hardest to swallow.
In its leisurely pace, quietness, integrity of performance and apparent conceptual simplicity the piece was utterly absorbing. Because it is about things which make us - physically in the case of food, mentally in the case of books - the piece will have resonances for most people. For me the resonances were primarily to do with childhood - food in particular can become a battleground between parents and children (though never for me).
Both food and reading are areas where a child can begin to mark a difference between themselves and their parents, and where they have some control, but where much remains out of reach. Adult foods and adult books can be tantalising present but forbidden. Yet despite this frustration both activities, reading and eating, are pleasureable. Each feels like something you could carry on doing forever. But wherever you take pleasure in something as a child there's always an adult nearby using it to define you. So you don't just like reading, rather you're 'a bookworm', or you 'read science fiction'. With food it's a territory of allergies, accusations of 'faddy' eating, unpleasant food that's supposedly good for you, pleasant food that's bad for you, and a whole etiquette around eating - often different in public than at home.
And of course the analogy between some books and the restrictions around food is irresistable. In religious families the holy books are good for you - while normally dull in the extreme. Which of course brings us back to the indigestible Bible and Leviticus with its comic dietary restrictions. Books and food are both sites of pleasure and control. To summarise neatly what I've been trying rather awkwardly to say previously.
Some audio, video and photographs of the performance were recorded. Again I'll link to those when they come available. Likewise my own pictures of the night as already mentioned.
Prior to both the above my installation piece managed to get people involved as a more participatory project. It's something I'd done before in the flat when I put a mic in a cupboard and generated differing feedback by opening either the cupboard door or adjacent doors. On this occasion I had a set of plastic drawers standing in for kitchen units. The plastic was less effective than wood at preventing feedback, but effective enough for the piece to work. The way it worked had less to do with the manipulation of adjoining drawers and more to do with the location of people in the room in relation to walls, the open space of the door, and the positions of mic and amp.
Rather than something relatively static where you just closed and opened doors it became an interactive, performative piece, and one where the audience were performers. This is something I really enjoy. Moving, making floorboards creak (noises were obviously picked up by the mic), stepping between amp and mic, standing behind the plastic drawers, placing a hand over the amp all altered the sound.
As mentioned previously there are two more Late Night Live Art events, on 10 December and 17 December. I strongly encourage you to come along to them.
*Don't tell me tumblr or blogger mobile, I know and I'm looking into it. I'm just not sure if I can email from my phone at present, I also haven't checked out resizing images.
The reason I'm hammering Kraak so much at the moment isn't because I'm involved in these events (although I am) it's because I think it's an endeavour worth supporting. And like The Other Room although the potential audience might seem to be limited the intention is to welcome everyone who's interested and to avoid cliques. And given the size of audience for Tina Darragh and P.Inman at The Other Room this year work being challenging obviously isn't a bar to getting people through the door.
That said there was a very limited audience yesterday. But given that the gallery is only recently established, that the event ran from 10pm-1am on the night before a work day, and that it was live art from people who are not big names in Manchester it's probably not that surprising. There are advantages and disadvantages to only having a small group of people attend. The advantage is that it's relaxed and easy to talk to people, the disadvantage is that it's harder to get the kind of dynamic atmosphere you can with a larger group.
Probably the biggest set-up on the night were the desks that Gary Fisher and Graham Dunning were playing from. They played in collaboration, Graham mainly using decks and Gary using a variety of hand-made instruments played through a delay pedal. They played a couple of sets, although earlier in the night I was playing with my installation so wasn't able to concentrate as I would have liked. Later on they played two extended improvisations that combined pre-recorded sounds (tape, vinyl) with sounds generated live by either physical objects or electronic noise-makers. The effects were very restrained and subtle, sometimes even funny, and ranged from accumulated washes and throbs of tone through to harsh percussive sounds. Although Gary had more recognisable instruments on his desk, Graham's were perhaps the more traditionally musical contributions.
The later set was recorded on audio, and I think some photos were taken. I also have a few shots from the night but I haven't yet figured out how to get them from my phone to the blog*. I'll let you know when they go online. The music/sounds were more abstract than recognisably melodic, and each artist seemed to be echoing the other in some way, as well as responding to the physical environment of the gallery. Graham had some interesting recordings of speech that occupied an uncertain space between reassuringly quotidian and disturbing depending on how they were framed.
Gary as usual mainly incorporated his sounds into the overall picture almost invisibly, but such that it would change completely were his contribution removed. Although some actions, such as using the end of a jack-plug, or adding in hand-built scrap guitar and thumb piano were unavoidably present. Later on, before Lou's set, there was a brief riff for loop and delay pedals and multispeed drill.
There are things that can be achieved with music that are impossible to do with poetry. This has been a longstanding frustration. The levels of abstraction, non-meaning, layering and textural self-reference that are available remain a constant challenge.
Lou's performance piece was very different, much quieter and more reflective than the rest of the night. She sat at a table arranged for a meal with books to one side of her. A video camera behind her shoulder focussed closely on the plate in front of her, and the image was projected on a screen behind. Lou would read from one of the books, then pull out a page, place it on the plate and cut out a word or set of words using a knife and fork, then eat them. She then took a drink and started the process again.
The books included The Bible, one of Lewis Carroll's Alice books (possibly both in a single edition), Camus and a couple of others. Appropriately enough (and unsurprisingly given that Bible paper is made for opacity and strength despite its thinness) The Bible was apparently hardest to swallow.
In its leisurely pace, quietness, integrity of performance and apparent conceptual simplicity the piece was utterly absorbing. Because it is about things which make us - physically in the case of food, mentally in the case of books - the piece will have resonances for most people. For me the resonances were primarily to do with childhood - food in particular can become a battleground between parents and children (though never for me).
Both food and reading are areas where a child can begin to mark a difference between themselves and their parents, and where they have some control, but where much remains out of reach. Adult foods and adult books can be tantalising present but forbidden. Yet despite this frustration both activities, reading and eating, are pleasureable. Each feels like something you could carry on doing forever. But wherever you take pleasure in something as a child there's always an adult nearby using it to define you. So you don't just like reading, rather you're 'a bookworm', or you 'read science fiction'. With food it's a territory of allergies, accusations of 'faddy' eating, unpleasant food that's supposedly good for you, pleasant food that's bad for you, and a whole etiquette around eating - often different in public than at home.
And of course the analogy between some books and the restrictions around food is irresistable. In religious families the holy books are good for you - while normally dull in the extreme. Which of course brings us back to the indigestible Bible and Leviticus with its comic dietary restrictions. Books and food are both sites of pleasure and control. To summarise neatly what I've been trying rather awkwardly to say previously.
Some audio, video and photographs of the performance were recorded. Again I'll link to those when they come available. Likewise my own pictures of the night as already mentioned.
Prior to both the above my installation piece managed to get people involved as a more participatory project. It's something I'd done before in the flat when I put a mic in a cupboard and generated differing feedback by opening either the cupboard door or adjacent doors. On this occasion I had a set of plastic drawers standing in for kitchen units. The plastic was less effective than wood at preventing feedback, but effective enough for the piece to work. The way it worked had less to do with the manipulation of adjoining drawers and more to do with the location of people in the room in relation to walls, the open space of the door, and the positions of mic and amp.
Rather than something relatively static where you just closed and opened doors it became an interactive, performative piece, and one where the audience were performers. This is something I really enjoy. Moving, making floorboards creak (noises were obviously picked up by the mic), stepping between amp and mic, standing behind the plastic drawers, placing a hand over the amp all altered the sound.
As mentioned previously there are two more Late Night Live Art events, on 10 December and 17 December. I strongly encourage you to come along to them.
*Don't tell me tumblr or blogger mobile, I know and I'm looking into it. I'm just not sure if I can email from my phone at present, I also haven't checked out resizing images.
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