Opera singer Richard Scott explores opera through the prism of various themes – politics, power, greed, the abominable, magic, lust, comedy. Today: Richard talks to the creatives behind Secret Cinema about their new opera, The Ballad of Skinny Lattes and Vintage Clothing. He is also joined by the composer Llewelyn Ap Myrddin, to talk about his upcoming opera, The Crocodile.
For more information visit richardrmscott.tumblr.com
Originally broadcast on 18th July 2013
This week we continue the investigation into the liaison between the conceptual Art group “Art and Language” and The Red Krayola, naming the members of each outfit would take up the remaining 25 minutes of the programme. Previous programmes focussed on the Red Krayola and the Familiar Ugly up to 1976 when they combined with Art and Language to produce the LP Corrected Slogans. The following quote is by Charles Harrison, himself a one time member of Art and Language from the book Essays on Art and Language: “The artists who were to form Art and Language were among those who had an intuition of what a modern and non-provincial practice might be like, and who desired something of the kind. Yet to ask in the normal places what might be the price of achieving such a practice was to discover that one’s resources were in the wrong form of currency: that the prevailing medium of exchange was “pigges bones” (Chaucer). Though the supposedly magical significance of the objects in question was belied by the fraudulence of their provenance, this fraudulence was itself a function of the magic-authenticating system. As Benjamin said a propos the work of Brecht, the task was to get rid of the magic.” Today I’m leapfrogging a few decades to the latest release by The Red Krayola with Art and Language in association with Drag City Incorporated: “Five American Portraits” recorded in 2008, mixed in 2009 and released in 2010. Once again, I need a magnifying glass to read the ever diminishing texts on a CD cover unlike the easily legible LP covers of old. The personnel on this record are Gina Birch; vocals and bass, Alex Dower on drums, Jim O’Rourke, Tom Rogerson, Mayo Thompson, and Tom Watson. There is no explanation of why these five were chosen from all the Americans in the world: Wile E. Coyote; the cartoon character who never catches up with Road Runner, President George W. Bush, President Jimmy Carter, John Wayne and the artist Ad Reinhardt who started out as a political caricaturist and then turned to painting ever minimalist canvases of black on black squares. The lyrics of each portrait describe the details of each person’s face as though one were looking at the features whilst drawing them perhaps… for example the opening lines of Wile E. Coyote: “The lower region of the inner surface of the left ear. The iris of the left eye. A bit of fur at the extreme upper right of the cheek. A highlight on the nose. Of Wile E. Coyote.” This eccentric formula is repeated for each character. In each case, a bald presentation of the facial characteristics of each person is accompanied by music.
Christopher Townsend discusses the legacy of the Pictures Generation and MTV
The Pictures Generation artists of the early 1980s – Robert Longo, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman et al – who emerged just as MTV muscled up alongside the young field of video art, set about dissolving the boundaries between art and the techniques of mass culture. But by adopting forms that had been thoroughly co-opted by the engine of commercial production, was the space for critical subjectivity fatally compromised?
‘While Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, inter alia, provide critiques of the desubjectivising effects of modernity through the individual’s separation from both culture and history as far back as the 1840s, I suggest that these effects achieve a particular specificity in the historical time and geographical space of the Pictures Generation and MTV.’
The programme is hosted by Matt Hale who has worked at Art Monthly since 1991.
Previous episodes are available on Art Monthly’s website www.artmonthly.co.uk/events.htm
Art Monthly magazine offers an informed and comprehensive guide to the latest developments in contemporary art.Fiercely independent, Art Monthly’s news and opinion sections provide regular information and polemics on the international art scene. It also offers In-depth interviews and features; reviews of exhibitions, performances, films and books; art law; auction reports and exhibition listings
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Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Reinventing the portmanteau film
Alex Fitch talks to two directors of short films – Lee Hardcastle and Mitch Jenkins – about contributing to longer portmanteau works. Lee discusses his seminal short “Pingu’s The Thing” and “T is for Toilet”, his contribution to the new horror movie The ABCs of Death. Mitch talks about his collaborations with Alan Moore on the photo novella Unearthing and series of short films Jimmy’s End which he’s currently using a kickstarter campaign to fund its concluding chapter “His Heavy Heart”. (Originally broadcast 12th July 2013 on Resonance 104.4 FM)
The ABCs of Death is released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 22nd July / the His Heavy Heart fundraising campaign ends on 17th July
Stills from T is for Toilet and Jimmy’s End
Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download.
Links: Director websites – www.leehardcastle.com / www.mitchjenkins.com
His Heavy Heart fundraising campaign
The ABCs of Death website Continue reading
Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Reinventing the portmanteau film [ 28:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadPanel Borders: Small press gay comics and zines
Continuing a month of shows about gay and lesbian comics, Alex Fitch talks to cartoonists David Shenton and Sina Sparrow about their work. Shenton discusses his plans for new cartoon work and his current exhibition “Those Foolish Things”, on display at Space Station Sixty-Five gallery in Kennington, South London; and Sparrow talks about his zine Art Fag and contributing to the forthcoming anthology QU33R. Originally broadcast 15th July 2013 on Resonance 104.4 FM (London)
Photo of David Shenton: Those Foolish things exhibition at Space Station Sixty Five / Various comics by Sina Sparrow
For more info and a variety of different formats you can stream or download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org
Links: David Shenton’s website
Sina Sparrow’s website
Continue reading
Opera singer Richard Scott explores opera through the prism of various themes – politics, power, greed, the abominable, magic, lust, comedy.
Today: Richard travels to Glyndebourne in The South Downs to talk to the people who really put the operas together.
For more information visit richardrmscott.tumblr.com
Originally broadcast on 11th July 2013
Bob Parks and the Recreationals live in the studio performing a festive rendition of We Free Kings in the style of Roland Kirk (who I saw once at Ronnie Scott’s when he performed Blacknuss and had an acrimonious altercation with a white member of the audience about Black Power and the lyrics of Blacknuss causing aforementioned white person to walk out muttering about how it wasn’t jazz as he knew it…) followed by a diatribe by Bob and ending with a loud (and quiet) version of Silent Night.
Continuing from previous week, in this episode we also talk about the ‘Sounding the Body Electric’ exhibition at Calvert22 gallery, London.
This time we also get to hear more sounds and interview with Daniel Muzyczuk (in Polish).
Polish Deli 30 6 2013 'Sounding the Body Electric' special, part 2 [ 30:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadPanel Borders: Homogeneity in Gay educational comics
Continuing a month of shows about gay and lesbian comics, Panel Borders presents a lecture by post doctoral researcher Doctor Jordana Greenblatt on the similarity in content of gay comics about safe practices and HIV, concentrating on Safer Sex Comix (by Alexander and Gregg, publ. 1987 by Gay Men’s Health Crisis of New York) and Alex et la vie d’apres (by Thierry Robberecht and Fabrice Neaud, publ. 2008 by Ex Aequo), recorded at “Ethics under cover – the 4th international Conference on Comics and Medicine”, Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Jordana discusses the similarity of sexual expression found in graphic narratives published 20 years apart – one designed as an educational pamphlet and the other a modern graphic novella based on the experiences of young gay men in Belgium – and talks to Alex Fitch about how the talk fits into her ongoing research and interests. Originally broadcast Monday 8th July 2013 on Resonance 104.4 FM (London)
Panels from Safer Sex Comix and Alex et la vie d’apres
For more info and a variety of different formats you can stream or download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org
Links: Download Alex et la vie d’apres
More info about Jordana Greenblatt
Article on the demise of Safer Sex Comix
Article on Tony Kushner in Vanity Fair, including images from Safer Sex Comix
More info about Graphic Medicine
More info about Brighton and Sussex Medical School Continue reading
Well the cover says 30 Organ Skating Favourites, George Stone at the Organ but this has been roughly painted over with white, silver and red paint, three leaflet/prints attached with string and a cassette tied with red tinsel to the front. A strange Xmas compilation album just received. From the cassette; Xmas Medley by the New Acorns followed by Theme from Cannibal Holocaust by Cave Bears. From the LP; Santa Descending a Staircase by Bromp Treb and Deck the Halls by S.O.P.. Then 2 tracks by Morgan Fisher who I wrongly assumed to be the structural filmmaker who recently had a show at Raven Row but turns out to be another Morgan Fisher who apparently played with Mott the Hoople before pursuing a solo career in a bedroom studio in Notting Hill. The two tracks are Deck the Halls (again) and O Come All Ye Faithful (remix) from Hybrid Kids 2 (Claws) originally released in 1980 and now available again as a double CD. Finally; Ave Maria from Clara Rockmore’s Lost Theremin Album