Bergen Kjøtt October 11-17 2010
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REGNSKOG: a Collaborative Workshop/Performance/Installation in the Spirit of David Tudor
INTRODUCTION: HANDS DIRTY ART
Over the past few years, a strong reaction against the sterile world of laptop sound and video has inspired a new interest in analog processes, or “hands dirty” art in the words of practitioner John Richards. With this renewed analog interest comes a fresh exploration of the pioneers of the electronic arts during the pre-digital era of the 1960s and 1970s. Artists and inventors such as Nam June Paik, Steina & Woody Vasulka, Don Buchla, Serge Tcherepnin, Dan Sandin and David Tudor all constructed their own unique instruments long before similar tools became commercially available or freely downloadable–and often through a long, rigorous process of self-education in electronics.
DAVID TUDOR’S RAINFOREST
David Tudor, in particular, has become the focus of intense interest (c.f. Leonardo Music Journal 14, 2004). His transformation from John Cage’s concert pianist to an electronic performer and autodidact engineer in his own right is archetypal for the contemporary media artist, who also must oscillate between the creative and the learning processes. His work “Rainforest” also stands out as an exemplary model of the collaborative process within a technically defined, yet socially open system. (continue reading…)