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April 2003
Strom Forty Three.
A late calendar update but having spent more hours in the air than on the ground recently that might seem excusable. Perhaps living at 33,000 feet in the air is arguably the safest place to be at the moment too!
I am currently exhibiting a rare sunshine tan from an intense month of jetting from Los Angeles to San Francisco, to Berlin to premiere a new Pierre Henry reconstruction commission, Nomadic Concrete, that I will upload to this site shortly for you to hear, then directly to New Zealand and Australia for more dates.
I spent time in New Plymouth in New Zealand, a town that I shared temporarily with Tom Cruise filming his new movie, though he refused to join me for chips at the local diner. It’s there that the most dramatic technical hitch of my recent travels occurred: my laptop caught fire!!
Not that I wished to become the mobile digital Jimi Hendrix but it’s an encounter that we can all learn from. I foolishly used the phone cable from a gallery I was working in to check my email. I connected the modem, hit connect, and then…nothing…until a strong burning smell, smoke began to slip out through the keyboard itself and flames licked around the rear of my computer. It was quite spectacular. I was lucky enough not to lose any data but herein lies the lesson. NEVER use a phone cable to check your email but more significantly NEVER use a powered phone system, commonly called a PBAX system. You’ll find these in hotels and offices, the phones generally have lights on them and in fact the cable offers too high a voltage for any devices other than the designated phone. It just burns out your modem. Goodness, if only this had happened on stage I would be celebrated!
Out this month is my live CD with celebrated NYC artist Stephen Vitiello on Sub Rosa, as part of their Audiosphere/ Invisible Architecture live CD series, recognizable for their deceptive DVD style packaging. The shows were recorded live at the Knitting Factory indoors and then on top of a skyscraper in the city last summer. It’s a limited edition release.
Other music news? My reconstruction of Frederic Rzewski’s work is now available with astounding recordings by Italian group Alter Ego on his Main Drag CD released by Stradivarius. Sound for Spaces and The Garden is Full of Metal, my Derek Jarman tribute CD, have both been re-issued by Sub Rosa and are available via the posteverything.com website too. Check out the Saul Williams material: "The Pledge to Resist.” With mixes by my colleagues in support, Paul D Miller aka Dj Spooky and Coldcut, it’s freely downloadable at:
http://www.synchronicrecords.com
So, it’s back to retracing emails before the great fire of New Zealand and continuing to collect rubber stamps in my passport.
Bon voyage
Robin / Scanner
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::: diary dates :::
April
12 La Raffinerie/ International Vjing Festival Brussels, Belgium with Dfuse
http://www.cimatics.com
May
6, 8 & 9 Nemesis with Random Dance Company: Het Muziektheater Amsterdam
http://www.gastprogrammering.nl
15-17 Warsaw Autumn Festival, Poland
http://www.warsaw-autumn.art.pl
22 World Wide Video Festival
29 Nemesis: The Exodos Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia
31 Le Mange.Mons with David Shea, Brussels, Belgium
June
6 Nemesis: Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb, Croatia
7 Sonic Recycler
http://www.watermans.org.uk/
27-29 Nemesis: Teatro Piccolo Arsenale, La Biennale, Venice
July
1 Nemesis: Istanbul, Turkey
6 Nemesis: Ankara, Turkey
::: exhibitions :::
"Echo Days" with Katarina Matiasek
Extended Play:art remixing music
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
New Plymouth, New Zealand
Feb 22 - April 26
http://www.govettbrewster.com
Art in Social Spaces
Museum of Contemporary Art
Roskilde, Denmark
March 22 - May 25
http://www.samtidskunst.dk/undercover
::: listen :::
Carl Stone: Nak Won (Sonore)
International Observer: Seen (Loaded Sounds)
Nurse With Wound: Salt Marie Celeste (United Diaries)
Tatu: 200 Kmh in the Wrong Lane (Interscope)
::: read :::
Christina Kubisch: Klangraumlichtzeit (Kehrer Verlag)
Marco Fusinato: Catalogue (Arts Victoria)
John Cage: Visual Art (Crown Point Press)
Drive: Power>Progress>Desire (Govett Brewster)
::: film :::
Welcome to Collinwood: Anthony Russo, USA
Whale Rider: Niki Caro, New Zealand
Adaptation: Spike Jonze, USA
Twin Peaks: Season One, USA
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