Latest instalment in Auto-Destructive Art: Gustav Metzger in conversation with Mathieu Copeland, Clive Phillpot and myself. “Gustav Metzger was born in Nuremberg in 1926 and came to Britain in 1939 as a Polish citizen, but since the late forties has been stateless. During his involvement with the anti-nuclear campaign, he continued to develop Auto-Destructive Art and its subsequent manifestations in the 60s and 70s. Now thirty years on, Metzger still feels the need to address issues that put the human race on the edge of a precipice”. (Gustav Metzger ‘damaged nature, auto-destructive art’).
Category Archives: Wavelength
Wavelength – Destruction in Art part 5 with Nicky Hamlyn
Nicky Hamlyn, author of Film Art Phenomena, filmmaker and lecturer talks about cellulose nitrate film, the self-destructive character of film, Tony Conrad and film performances by Annabel Nicolson, Lis Rhodes, and Taka Iimura.
Wavelength – Destruction in Art part 4 with Michael Landy
Latest in the series devoted to auto-destructive art; guest Michael Landy talks about Jean Tinguely, his Breakdown installation on Oxford Street and other auto-destructive topics.
Wavelength – Destruction in Art part 3 with Mathieu Copeland
Mathieu Copeland, co-curator of the 2009 exhibition at the Pompidou Centre and Kunsthalle Bern: Voids, A Retrospective in the studio to talk about Voids and Yves Klein. Part 3 of the ongoing series about auto-destructive art.
Wavelength – Destruction in Art part 2 with David Toop
This week’s guest is David Toop, distinguished musician, curator and writer on music and sound art, author of The Rap Attack and Haunted Weather as well as numerous articles for The Wire, The New York Times and The Village Voice. In 2000 he curated Sonic Boom at the Hayward Gallery. (Sonic Doom, the conference scheduled for June 4th at UCLA was cancelled). David comes into the studio on the eve of an exhibition curated by himself and Tony Herrington of The Wire: Blow Up: Exploding Sound and Noise (London to Brighton 1959-1969) at The Flat Time House, South London, home and studio of the late John Latham. Part 2 of auto-destructive art series.
Wavelength – Destruction in Art part 1
Part one of a series on auto-destructive Art and Music coinciding with an exhibition curated by David Toop and Tony Herrington at The Flat Time House, South London called Blow Up: Exploding Sound and Noise, London/Brighton 1959-1969. David Toop will be along next week to talk about the exhibition. The July edition of The Wire includes an article called Brotherhood of the Bomb. By another coincidence a conference took place at UCLA called Sonic Doom: Decay, Disease and Destruction in Music on June 4th and 5th, sponsored by Echo; a music centered journal. Other guests lined up for July include artist Michael Landy to talk about his own auto-destructive art practice, Nicky Hamlyn will talk about film that destroys itself and curator Mathieu Copeland co-author of Voids will talk about Voids possibly. Today’s programme starts with 3 different versions of Anyhow, Anyway, Anywhere by The Who, played simultaneously, followed by a 4 minute extract of Guitar Drag by Christian Marclay and then Turntable Solo by Otomo Yoshihide.
Wavelength – James Tregaskis
Guest Rhonan O’Reilly aka James Tregaskis almost delivers a lecture on hydrogen and Gurdjieff but fate and a temperamental laptop force an anticipated change of direction. Chants of the Native American Church of North America featuring Alfred Armstrong and Ralph Turtle provide a backdrop to some information about Gurdjieff before the laptop sulks into silence. Carlo Gesualdo (1560-1613), Prince of Venosa, was also a composer of Madrigals. In 1590 he had his wife and her paramour murdered. His use of chromatic scale passages was, in those days, unheard of as were the effects he was able to extract from harmonies revolving around a pivotal note. The laptop is coaxed into action and James continues with a recording of Gurdjieff’s music for harmonium and a conversation about macaroni before briefly describing meetings in West London where Gurdjieff and Ouspensky apparently inspire social interaction in the Fourth Way. Who knows.
Wavelength – This was my birthday
Soliloquies by Gabriel Severin 2008. Another Sub Rosa release in their series of Outsider Music; Music in the Margins. Last track; She’s Alright by Muddy Waters from Electric Mud 1968. This was my birthday.
Wavelength – Maurice Seddon’s Injunction
Captain Maurice Seddon in telephonic conversation. He was faced with an injunction at the Royal Courts of Justice to silence his numberless pack of dogs but thanks in no small part to his Mackenzie friend (me) the case has been adjourned for 3 months. Interpretations of the music for two Adolf Wolfli paintings by Baudouin de Jaer.
Wavelength – Beatlemania
Klaus Beyer sings The Beatles (out of tune and in German), Rodney Graham’s version of Blue Jay Way, Those Were the Days (Mary Hopkin/Paul McCartney/Apple single) from Ground Zero plays Standards with Otomo Yoshihide and Vanilla Fudge’s rendition of Ticket to Ride.