In Conversation with Ron Athey
(2015)
author(s): Andrea Pagnes
published in: Research Catalogue
This recent conversation I have had with Ron Athey, one of the most outstanding ground-breaking performance artists of our times, has been made exclusively for LADA (Live Art Development Agency, UK) on early 2015. The agency, on behalf of its director Lois Keidan, is pleased to make it available for Research Catalogue members and readers.
The dialogue includes a discussion around the issues and concerns of contemporary Performance Art as well as an in-depth focus on the work of Ron Athey, past and present. With additional notes by Lisa Newman, a photo selection from the archive of the artist and Manuel Vason's, and Athey's "Devine's Funeral" monologue, originated from Jean Genet's novel "Our Lady of the Flowers".
Ron Athey is an iconic figure in contemporary art and performance. In his frequently bloody portrayals of life, death, crisis, and fortitude in the time of AIDS, Athey provides insights and calls into question the limits of artistic practice and research. These limits enable Athey to explore key themes including gender, sexuality, radical sex, queer activism, post-punk and industrial culture, tattooing and body modification, ritual, philosophy, literature, creative-automatic writings, spirituality and religion. The first monograph on his work, "Pleading in the Blood", edited by Dominic Johnson, is published by LADA and Intellect Books in their Intellect Live series.
Free Improvisation - Method an Genre
(2015)
author(s): Michael Duch
connected to: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme
published in: Research Catalogue
“Free Improvisation – Method and Genre” was a research-fellow project from November 2007 until November 2010 at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) on Free Improvisation and the use of Improvisation in Experimental Music.
Drawing the Trans-body
(2015)
author(s): Michael Schwab
published in: Research Catalogue
This text introduces and contextualises my use of 'figure' and 'second-order artefact' in order to explain the visual operations at play in much of my research. Following both Merleau-Ponty and Lyotard, it argues that notions of 'Gestalt' need to be complicated and that what we consider to be a 'body' needs to be challenged. With reference to Didi-Huberman and Ranciere, an alternative way is sought that can explain how a shape may think.
Collision
(2015)
author(s): gilda mautone
published in: Research Catalogue
COLLISION exhibition Enzo Giordano - Gilda Mautone
The project COLLISION brings together artworks by artists Gilda Mautone and Enzo Giordano.Based in Berlin, Mautone and Giordano have been working together for 5 years and consider their works as a whole.The artists explore psychological situations starting from their personal experiences as well as observing and responding to external circumstances. The impact between the intimate and public spheres translates in a conflict evoked by the title of the exhibition.Their practices, although different, share similarities in themes and approaches.Collision aims to activate a reflection on the psychological dynamics involved in the artist’s works, asking for the participation of the public.
COLLISION was exposed at the Italian Embassy of Copenhagen in March and consecutively in September in Milan at Officina Temporanea.Will also be presented at the Italian Embassy of Prague in November.
From: Wednesday 22 April 2015 at 18:00h
To: Sunday 5 May 2015 at 18:00h
Location:
Italian Culture Institute, Italian Embassy , Hiroshimastraße, 1 Berlin 10785
Music is not a Language
(2014)
author(s): Julian Klein
published in: Research Catalogue
The emergence of local expectations in listeners of music has been occasionally explained by assuming a sort of musical syntax or grammar. While sharing some superficial qualities, music and language structures are working differently: language syntax is organized in a hierarchical system, working only context-sensitively (the applicability of syntactical rules is influenced by the context), whereas musical structures, especially harmonic progressions, emerge mainly out of constructive, context-dependent processes (the context is able to establish completely new structural principles). Collected examples from musical literature of western tonal music across styles and epochs show five main principles of musical structure-building that distinguish musical models from syntactical rules: Constructivity, mappability, contextuality, individuality and contingence. The main influence of frame and context on musical expectations can be especially demonstrated by means of a harmonic progression frequently used in empirical studies as assumed syntactical violation: the neapolitan sixth chord succeeding the dominant. As a consequence, a re-interpretation of the empirical data should consider the specific context of the observed effects: they might be more a result of the introduction of the listener to a redundant stylistic model instead of the application of syntactical rules proper. According to the provided examples, structural expectations of listeners appear to be rather combinations of general familiarity to styles and composition principles, individual preferences and local framing. Based on these historical and systematic arguments, the structure of music seems to be flexible and integrative, and not bound to a syntax system.