Saturdays
May 28, June 4 & 11
6 PM - Midnight
Tony Conrad
Conversation I
(July 2002, video with surround sound)
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Bernhard Gal
Hinaus:: in den, Wald.
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In Conversation I Tony Conrad has constructed a space-narrative in surround sound. Beaming like the Great Oz from one wall, he weaves a community of discourse that envelops the visitor as the narrative quickly submerges itself. Finally, in a way reminiscent of many-times-repeated words, meaning surrenders to music, to the rhythm of space, and to the geometry of the pentagram.
Here's the scenario; here's how it went. The five of them were all quite revealing of themselves in different ways. Henry had something special to tell Jean, about Frank; but Jean then told Carol something completely different about Henry. Carol also told Frank about Jean. Meanwhile, Frank began talking to Henry about Carol, and Henry was going on and on to Don about Jean. Moreover, Don, it seems, had a lot to add to Frank about Henry. Shortly Frank got himself busy speaking with Jean about Don, if you can believe it, while Jean at almost the same time was telling Don about Carol. And then, of course, Don told Carol about Frank, and Carol immediately related what she had learned about Don to Henry. Group identity seemed to be a foregone conclusion among them; but a community can only form when it recirculates its identity to itself, and that really seemed to be in question here.
Hinaus:: In den, Wald. ("Out:: Into the, Forest.") is based on texts by the schizophrenic Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli (1864Š1930). Its starting point is Wölfli's megalomanic autobiography "Von der Wiege bis zum Graab" ("From the Cradle to the Grave"); in its various language constructions (lists, poems, songs, testaments, etc.) the sound and rhythm of the voice emancipate themselves and the text can be appreciated only on an acoustic-abstract level. In his compositional work, Bernhard Gal translates excerpts from Wölfli's transformations and abstractions into his own sound language. The selected texts are spoken by a 9-year-old Taiwanese girl who has no knowledge of German and by Gal himself. Wölfli's constant drive to create is underscored with a binaural sound recording of walking, running, and breathing "out in the forest". This layer also provides the emotional-dynamic background for the structural interweaving of the various text fragments. Hinaus:: In den, Wald. is conceived for a completely darkened room. The disquieting spatial situation can also be understood as a spatialization of WlfliÕs subconscious.
Hinaus:: In den, Wald. has been presented in concerts and installations in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the USA. A stereo adaptation (audio CD) was published by the Austrian record label Klanggalerie in April 2004. A DVD-surround mix of Hinaus:: In den, Wald. was featured in Aspect - Biannual DVD Magazine of New Media Art, Boston in October 2004.
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Tony Conrad has worked in music composition, video, film, and performance since the early 1960s, when he was associated with the founding of both "minimal" music and the "underground" cinema. His film "The Flicker" is one of the key early works of the "structural" film movement, and his video work has been shown internationally. He has composed more than a dozen works using special tunings and scales derived from the harmonic series, primarily for amplified strings, and he performs regularly in the US and internationally. He teaches video in the University at Buffalo, where in the early 1990s he worked with several collectives producing programs for public access cable television.
The composer and artist Bernhard Gal creates electro-acoustic music as well as compositions for acoustic instruments. In his intermedia art projects and sound installations, Gal combines sound, light, objects, video projections and spatial concepts. Born in Vienna, Austria in 1971, Gal began to nurture his interest in music and (sound) art around 1985. After studies at Vienna's University of Music (Sound engineering) and the University of Vienna (Musicology), and a year-long residency in New York City in 1997-98, he has focused on his compositional and artistic activities. Since 1998, Gl has worked as a freelance composer and artist.
Gal's work has been presented in concerts, sound installations and exhibitions in Europe, Asia and the Americas and performed by ensembles such as the China Found Music Workshop Taiwan, the NewTon-Ensemble Vienna, the Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, and the Ensemble Noamnesia Chicago. He has been invited to international music and art festivals and frequently gives lectures and workshops. As a (laptop) musician, Gal performs in solo concerts and has worked together with musicians such as Tung Chao-Ming and Kai Fagaschinski.
For his music and art projects he has received various awards and grants, including the Karl Hofer Prize Berlin 2001, an Annual Grant from SKE-Fonds Vienna 2002, a fellowship from the DAAD Artists in Berlin Programme 2003, and the Austrian State Scholarship for Composition 2004. Bernhard GalÕs music has been published by labels such as Bremsstrahlung, Durian, Gromoga, Intransitive, Klanggalerie and Plate Lunch.
For additional information visit: http://www.bernhardgal.com
With additional support by the Austrian Cultural Forum New York.
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