Artforum Critics’ Pick of André Masson retrospective at Centre Pompidou-Metz

“Benjamin Péret – Automatic Drawing” (circa 1925) 31.7 x 23.2 cm

My Artforum Critics’ Pick of the André Masson retrospective at the Centre Pompidou-Metz has dropped here: https://www.artforum.com/events/andre-masson-3-552671/

High Horse The Sea Withdraws

High Horse The Sea Withdraws ~ a-life animation for the High Horse The Sea Withdraws audio track on my upcoming LP: Power Trip 69

Erotic Scene / Power Trip 69

Erotic Scene ~ a-life animation for the Erotic Scene audio track on my upcoming LP: Power Trip 69

Review of the Robert Ryman: The Act of Looking at the Musée de l’Orangerie

Journal, 1988

My art review of the Robert Ryman: The Act of Looking painting exhibition at the Musée de l’Orangerie / Jardin des Tuileries at Whitehot Magazine can be read here:
https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/mus-e-de-l-orangerie/6326

~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even (novella) available world wide on Amazon

Happy to announce that ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even (my art novella) is now available world wide on Amazon.

Originally written in 1995 during my artist-in-residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even is a semi-autobiographical farce that, in parts, captures the birth of the internet, New York City cultural life in the late 1970s and 1980s, and the sex life of an American painter in Paris in 1995. Though an exaggerated cybersex farce novella, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even is semi-autobiographical in parts and reflects aspects from my love and sex life up to late-1996. It most likely will be as close as I will get to a recounting of the days of freedom in the 1970s and the 1980s downtown scene in New York City, where I moved in 1975 at the age of 24.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator stripped bare, even

Announcing Orbis Tertius Press, my made-in-heaven book publisher has just released an image-less, smaller, less-expensive version of my farcical art novella ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even called ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator stripped bare, even HERE: https://www.lulu.com/shop/joseph-nechvatal/venus%C3%B1vibrator-stripped-bare-even/paperback/product-w446kky.html This version, and the color e-book, make the tale even more accessible. All three options can be obtained online at Lulu (an alternative to Amazon) at the link above by clicking there on my name.

Originally written in 1995 during my artist-in-residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even is a semi-autobiographical farce that, in parts, captures the birth of the internet, New York City cultural life in the late 1970s and 1980s, and the sex life of an American painter in Paris in 1995. Though an exaggerated cybersex farce novella, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even is semi-autobiographical in parts and reflects aspects from my love and sex life up to late-1996. It most likely will be as close as I will get to a recounting of the days of freedom in the 1970s and the 1980s downtown scene in New York City, where I moved in 1975 at the age of 24. Though lugubriously and ludicrously dramatizing much of the erotic episodes in the text, I drew from real experiences encountered during intermittent sexual promiscuous periods I would throw myself into when not involved in a committed relationship—a state I was not in during the writing of the novella.

Radio Interview on Sound Works

The March 5 2024 radio interview ~ about my early and current audio art/sound work conducted by Nicolas Ballet of the Centre Pompidou at La Générale’s ∏Node Internet Radio Broadcast Series ~ is now online HERE. During the conversation Nicolas’s selection of my early sound tracks was played from my Selected Sound Works (1981-2021) cassette, as well as a sample excerpt from the new Le mariage d’Orlando et Artaud, même piece. This is all happening with the support of La Générale.

Orlando & Artaud wed bound at La Générale Nord-Est, even

The above photograph of the chairs bears witness to the devious minimalism and intricate simplicity of Le Mariage d’Orlando et Artaud, même, an audio installation proposed by Joseph Nechvatal during a one-week residency—March 1st to March 8th—in La Générale Nord-Est’s black box (aka the auditorium).

Visitors invited to come and experience Joseph’s work, in the early evening of Friday March 8th, could sit down on the chairs two at a time, as couples to be wed, each facing a black curtain, each exposed to the same sounds projected towards them by another couple, a pair of loudspeakers, posed on either side of La G’s auditorium as stern dark waiters: one at a distance of approximately two to three meters to their left, and its twin counterpart mirroring this placement on their right sides. One of the speakers played back, in an endless loop, the cOmplete OrlandO et la tempête viral symphOny redux suite (a sonic deconstruction of an annonymous reading of Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando”, the sequence of tracks on the first of Nechvatal’s double album set The Viral Tempest), and from the other sounded the complete pour finir avec le jugement de dieu viral symphOny plague (a take on “Pour en finir avec le jugement de dieu”, Antonin Artaud’s classic radio play from november 1947, which is the sequence of tracks on the second of these albums).

Note though that for a couple of listeners thus seated back-to-back, hearing is as if listening from opposite sides of a mirror. While one listener’s left ear is attuned to the sounds of the viral Orlando, it will be their partner’s right ear that opens up to Orlando. Conversely, if one’s right ear is engaged with the viral Artaud, it will be the other’s left ear doing so, thus fostering a shared yet distinct auditory engagement for both.

The result was impressive, in the utter simplicity of set-up, as well as in the resulting sounding and conceptual complexity.

Technically, realising this (double, mirrored) speculative deconstructive multiple sonic cut-up & overlay is easy indeed, and pretty much anyone will be able to re-live the experience proposed by Joseph in La Générale’s auditorium, at home or at any other chosen place.

So, yes, perform this marriage all by yourself, wed bind Orlando & Artaud, diy!

Invite your partner, lover, mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, neighbour, colleague, to come sit there with you, back to back. Dim the lights, and play the Viral Tempest‘s Artaud tracks on the one side, and its Orlando tracks on the other.

…

Then halt thinking. Just listen.

SoundBlog ♫ 

Orlando & Artaud wed bound at La Générale Nord-Est, even

SoundBlog March 09, 2024 by Harold Schellinx

http://www.harsmedia.com/SoundBlog/Archief/00898.php

Le mariage d’Orlando et Artaud, même

On Friday March 8th, Le mariage d’Orlando et Artaud, même ~ an audio art installation of my The Viral Tempest LP ~ was presented at La Générale Nord-Est: Laboratoire artistique politique et social at 39 Rue Gassendi, 75014 Paris. https://www.lagenerale.fr/fr/projet/le-mariage-dorlando-et-artaud-meme

A recorded interview/discussion between myself and Nicolas Ballet took place March 5^th at 7:30 and was internet radio broadcast live here: https://p-node.org/

There was a semi-public presentation on March 8^th from 5-9pm.

Le mariage d’Orlando et Artaud, même is an audio art remix installation by transdisciplinary artist Joseph Nechvatal based on his double vinyl record The Viral Tempest which uses sonic material that includes an anonymous reading of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and Pour finir avec le jugement de dieu, Antonin Artaud’s controversial radio play.

Physical Description: Two speakers are set upon two tripods placed at opposite ends of La Générale’s black box listening gallery. One plays OrlandO et la tempête viral symphOny redux suite and the other Pour finir avec le jugement de dieu viral symphOny plague. The gallery audience may sit or circulate in the center of the space to receive a balanced mix of the two compositions.

Joseph Nechvatal (né à Chicago en 1951) est un artiste post conceptuel vivant à Paris. Il crée des tableaux et des animations à l’aide d’une simulation de vie artificielle de virus modélisés par ordinateur. Les thèmes abordés dans son œuvre incluent l’apocalypse, les excès de la communication, les virus, la fluidité de genre. En 1975, Nechvatal déménage de Chicago pour s’installer à New York (Tribeca). Il entame des études à l’université de Columbia avec le philosophe Arthur Danto tout en travaillant pour la Dia Art Foundation comme archiviste pour le compositeur de musique minimale La Monte Young. En 1980, il quitte Tribeca pour le Lower East Side où il trouve une camaraderie artistique et une énergie créatrice contre-culturelle. Il devient étroitement lié au groupe Collaborative Projects (Colab), collectif influent d’artistes post-punk, incluant notamment Kiki Smith et Jenny Holzer. Ce sont les jours de gloire des célèbres projets du groupe Colab : « Just Another Asshole », « The Real Estate Show », « The Times Square Show »… Il contribue également à mettre en place dans le Lower East Side l’espace culturel à but non lucratif ABC No Rio, où ont lieu des expositions pensées autour de thèmes politiques. Durant cette période, son œuvre se compose de dessins post-minimalistes à la mine de plomb (parfois issus d’agrandissements photographiques), de sculptures, de photographies et de morceaux de musique concrète composés de collages audio. En 1983, il est l’un des co-fondateurs du célèbre projet musical et sonore d’avant-garde, Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine. En 1984, il travaille avec le compositeur no wave Rhys Chatham sur un opéra intituléXS: The Opera Opus. Cet opéra a été présenté entre 1984-1986 à New York et Boston. En 1986, Nechvatal commence à utiliser l’informatique et la robotique pour créer des peintures conceptuelles dont certaines ont été exposées à la Documenta VIII. En 1992, il devient artiste en résidence à l’atelier Louis Pasteur et à la Saline Royale d’Arc-et-Senans où il développe des programmes de virus informatiques qu’il utilise comme outil artistique. Ce travail traduit ses réflexions sur l’épidémie du SIDA. En 1995, encouragé vivement par Pierre Restany, il s’installe à Paris. Il partage alors sa vie entre Paris et New York. En 1999, il obtient en Angleterre son doctorat en philosophie. Il écrit deux ouvrages sur la théorie de l’art : Towards an Immersive Intelligence et Immersion Into Noise. Depuis 2001, il étend ses expérimentations sur le virus en tant qu’instrument artistique et pictural dans une série de travaux sur la vie artificielle. Ces œuvres comprennent plusieurs séries de peintures, des animations, et une composition audio : « viral symphOny ». Il continue actuellement d’explorer la fragilité et la fluidité du corps humain. [ www.nechvatal.net ]

Nicolas Ballet est docteur en histoire de l’art et attaché de conservation au Centre Pompidou. Il consacre ses recherches aux cultures visuelles alternatives, à l’art expérimental, aux sound studies et aux avant-gardes artistiques. Il enseigne l’histoire de l’art contemporain à l’université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne et a écrit de nombreux textes explorant les apports visuels et sonores des contre-cultures et des pratiques artistiques expérimentales. Il est l’auteur de deux livres sur Genesis P-Orridge et a notamment publié dans Les Cahiers du Musée national d’art moderne, Octopus Notes, Marges, Optical Sound, Volume !, Revue & Corrigée, Klima, dans lesCahiers du CAP et Histo.art aux Éditions de la Sorbonne, ainsi que dans des ouvrages consacrés aux œuvres de Nigel Ayers et de Zoe Dewitt. En 2023, il a été le commissaire de l’exposition «Who You Staring At? Culture visuelle de la scène no wave des années 1970 et 1980 » au Centre Pompidou. [ www.nicolasballet.com ]

Review(s) of the Alberto Giacometti / Ali Cherri exhibition Envisagement at l’Institut Giacometti

My Critics Pick of the Alberto Giacometti / Ali Cherri exhibition Envisagement at l’Institut Giacometti has been published at Artforum here: https://www.artforum.com/events/alberto-giacometti-ali-cherri-envisagement-549461/

My longer review of Envisagement has been published at Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art here: https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/envisagement-at-l-institut-giacometti/6233