Stereo-Monocal live set deconstructs a digital audio mixer in an analogical, live and experiential medium. Both audio channels are represented by two streets running along a canal in Amsterdam, now morphed into audio gangways, as if they were part of a timeline. Bridges act as crossfaders, linking the audio coming from tracks A and B, in turn embodied by music bands from the local scene. The work of art is therefore crystallized in a performance that gathers musicians and record producers in an orchestra-cum-DJ session set. In a moment of time when exhibition venues tend to schedule entertainment-aimed art -even though the criticisms this entails-, Stereo-Monocal live set puts forward an artwork honestly proud of being part of the 'entertainment' industry. The audience-active recipients-will enjoy a live performance where the figure of the record producer (now conceived as an artistic star) is functionally subjugated to a conceptual work of art. My project adopts the referential framework of the (music) 'clubbing culture' and reinterprets it from a relational point of view, a hackneyed strategy in contemporary art devoted to modulate pre-existing realities. The attendants to Stereo-Monocal live set will directly share those subjectivities that generate the perception within a community of a work of art that reinterprets the role of the individual in the 'society of walk-on actors' we live in, a society made up by 'extras', supporting actors of a show, a society derived from the one once described by Guy Debord. In Stereo-Monocal live set, the step-by-step communication follows the guidelines of a framework defined by the artist; the subtlety of the project lies in the assumption of the fact that the channelling of the social relationships within the imposed communication areas can be expanded in a transitive time, herein characterized by the work itself. The work proposes a physical dive into a musical timeline. The translation of a nightclub stage into a changing place and a progressive time reinstates the attendant his/her individual value, a value that has been stolen from him due to his/her conception as a mere consumer. It is a project imbued with a postmodernist attitude, an even situationist attitude to bestow a festive action with the meaning of a work of art, thus provoking a modulation of a reality that we have borrowed. The goal of the performance is to summon a wide cross section of people in the audience -in the most expanded dimension of the word- in order to open the possibility to subtle alternatives in terms of a possible interpersonal relationship. This work of art somehow acts as a social interstice that favours meetings, life experiences, reflections, and interactions both among individuals and with the work itself. Stereo-Monocal live set is consequently conceived as a tableau. 'It [the work of art] is henceforth presented as a period of time to be lived through, like an opening to unlimited discussion'. Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics.
This project puts forward a randomly relational device aimed at sparking encounters among individuals. Not aimed at giving rise to a dramatic change -given the current impossibility of being original-, Stereo-Monocal live set is an artwork in keeping with what Louis Althusser describes as 'materialism of the encounter' or random materialism. Within the bounds of this line of action of the relational work of art, Stereo-Monocal live set is 'formally' conceived as a work that gives rise to a 'lasting encounter', term used by the Situationists to describe 'form'* in constructed situations.
*'Form: Structural unity imitating a world. Artistic practice involves creating a form capable of "lasting", bringing heterogeneous units together on a coherent level, in order to create a relationship to the world'. Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics. Stereo-Monocal live set takes the notion of the remix as an additive item as a starting point, showing off a post-postmodern attitude, in an action that acts as a cover of 'reality'. Links to an orchestra perfectly fitted to this project, The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrOVaqdYxuM&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR8KGam3m9Q
The project also focus on the man-machine dialogue, in a celebration in which both share a leading role. Site-specific artwork conceived for Amsterdam city.
Infrastructure-technical equipment/human resources needed for executing the action:
2 vehicles (pick-up trucks), each of them transporting a band of musicians+record producer with their own sound system: amplifier, volume control, equalizer, effects and loudspeaker. Each vehicle will be boarded by a staff composed of: 1 sound technician with his/her own sound system (microphones) who will record the sound live; 1 cameraman who will record the video from this point of view; and 1 assistant to the sound manager who will be in charge of controlling the process of mixing the music throughout the action. 1 boat/ship that will sail the canal following the speed instructions given by the sound manager, a role that will be performed by me. The crew will be integrated by all assistants/audience participating in the action. The technical crew of the ship will be made up of: 1 captain, 1 sound technician who will record the sound from the ship, 1 cameraman who will also record the video from this position, and 1 assistant to the audio manager. 1 cameraman in the street will register in video pan shots of the performance. The action will be documented through aerial photos using a camera installed in a mini zeppelin. A sound recording for each channel will be used both for registering the audio and for its later virtual reproduction (once all mixes have been incorporated). The mapping of the recordings to GPS co-ordinates (the position of the ship and both groups) will enable to play the movements and the audio in streaming exactly as they were during the action via GoogleMaps. (Audio programming for reproduction in GoogleMaps by Alex Posada / Lab Hangar).
Marc Serra Barcelona, april 2011.
Info also at: http://www.marcserra.net/81/stereo-monocanal-concept/en
Stereo-Monocal live set deconstructs a digital audio mixer in an analogical, live and experiential medium. Both audio channels are represented by two streets running along a canal in Amsterdam, now morphed into audio gangways, as if they were part of a timeline. Bridges act as crossfaders, linking the audio coming from tracks A and B, in turn embodied by music bands from the local scene. The work of art is therefore crystallized in a performance that gathers musicians and record producers in an orchestra-cum-DJ session set. In a moment of time when exhibition venues tend to schedule entertainment-aimed art -even though the criticisms this entails-, Stereo-Monocal live set puts forward an artwork honestly proud of being part of the 'entertainment' industry. The audience-active recipients-will enjoy a live performance where the figure of the record producer (now conceived as an artistic star) is functionally subjugated to a conceptual work of art. My project adopts the referential framework of the (music) 'clubbing culture' and reinterprets it from a relational point of view, a hackneyed strategy in contemporary art devoted to modulate pre-existing realities. The attendants to Stereo-Monocal live set will directly share those subjectivities that generate the perception within a community of a work of art that reinterprets the role of the individual in the 'society of walk-on actors' we live in, a society made up by 'extras', supporting actors of a show, a society derived from the one once described by Guy Debord. In Stereo-Monocal live set, the step-by-step communication follows the guidelines of a framework defined by the artist; the subtlety of the project lies in the assumption of the fact that the channelling of the social relationships within the imposed communication areas can be expanded in a transitive time, herein characterized by the work itself. The work proposes a physical dive into a musical timeline. The translation of a nightclub stage into a changing place and a progressive time reinstates the attendant his/her individual value, a value that has been stolen from him due to his/her conception as a mere consumer. It is a project imbued with a postmodernist attitude, an even situationist attitude to bestow a festive action with the meaning of a work of art, thus provoking a modulation of a reality that we have borrowed. The goal of the performance is to summon a wide cross section of people in the audience -in the most expanded dimension of the word- in order to open the possibility to subtle alternatives in terms of a possible interpersonal relationship. This work of art somehow acts as a social interstice that favours meetings, life experiences, reflections, and interactions both among individuals and with the work itself. Stereo-Monocal live set is consequently conceived as a tableau. 'It [the work of art] is henceforth presented as a period of time to be lived through, like an opening to unlimited discussion'. Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics.
This project puts forward a randomly relational device aimed at sparking encounters among individuals. Not aimed at giving rise to a dramatic change -given the current impossibility of being original-, Stereo-Monocal live set is an artwork in keeping with what Louis Althusser describes as 'materialism of the encounter' or random materialism. Within the bounds of this line of action of the relational work of art, Stereo-Monocal live set is 'formally' conceived as a work that gives rise to a 'lasting encounter', term used by the Situationists to describe 'form'* in constructed situations.
*'Form: Structural unity imitating a world. Artistic practice involves creating a form capable of "lasting", bringing heterogeneous units together on a coherent level, in order to create a relationship to the world'. Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics. Stereo-Monocal live set takes the notion of the remix as an additive item as a starting point, showing off a post-postmodern attitude, in an action that acts as a cover of 'reality'. Links to an orchestra perfectly fitted to this project, The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrOVaqdYxuM&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR8KGam3m9Q
The project also focus on the man-machine dialogue, in a celebration in which both share a leading role. Site-specific artwork conceived for Amsterdam city.
Infrastructure-technical equipment/human resources needed for executing the action:
2 vehicles (pick-up trucks), each of them transporting a band of musicians+record producer with their own sound system: amplifier, volume control, equalizer, effects and loudspeaker. Each vehicle will be boarded by a staff composed of: 1 sound technician with his/her own sound system (microphones) who will record the sound live; 1 cameraman who will record the video from this point of view; and 1 assistant to the sound manager who will be in charge of controlling the process of mixing the music throughout the action. 1 boat/ship that will sail the canal following the speed instructions given by the sound manager, a role that will be performed by me. The crew will be integrated by all assistants/audience participating in the action. The technical crew of the ship will be made up of: 1 captain, 1 sound technician who will record the sound from the ship, 1 cameraman who will also record the video from this position, and 1 assistant to the audio manager. 1 cameraman in the street will register in video pan shots of the performance. The action will be documented through aerial photos using a camera installed in a mini zeppelin. A sound recording for each channel will be used both for registering the audio and for its later virtual reproduction (once all mixes have been incorporated). The mapping of the recordings to GPS co-ordinates (the position of the ship and both groups) will enable to play the movements and the audio in streaming exactly as they were during the action via GoogleMaps. (Audio programming for reproduction in GoogleMaps by Alex Posada / Lab Hangar).
Marc Serra Barcelona, april 2011.
Info also at: http://www.marcserra.net/81/stereo-monocanal-concept/en