Christian Marclay

 

CM employs techniques to create his altered discs, but with more specific intention in terms of the resulting sounds. In his performances, CM spins up to 8 altered records simultaneously on individual turn-tables. He composes with several piles of recors that he prepares and sorts in advance, thus knowing from what pile to select a disc for a desired effect at any time during the performance. The individual records are notated with stickers that identify specific passages and are sometimes applied to create loops. He drops the needle on to the record after the first of two stickers and when it hits the second it jumps back to the first and repeats. Sometimes the records are played at non-standard speeds. Into other records, he drills additional centre holes (off-axis), creating a wobbly effect. His "Record Without a Cover" is a recording of one of these performances. The studio performance is pressed onto one side of the disc. On the other, embossed lettering instructs the owner not to store the record in a protective sleeve. The scratches that results from handling enhance the quality of the sound and make each copy unique. CM also makes unique objects. Cutting intricate patterns out of several records with a jeweller's saw, he then glues the differnt pieces back together to construct a collaged disc. His "Dialogue LP with Two Profiles", for example, fuse two profiles of faces cut from black vynil spoken word discs onto an orange musical disc. As the record spins, music plays until the needle pops at the splice and a voice speaks when the needle passesover the black vinyl figure. the cycle then repeats, resulting in a conversation between the two figures. Other pieces use geometric designs and discs with different contents. the splices in all these records create pops that become rhythmic elements of the total piece.

CM: CM, parallel to his sculptural work, has been experimenting, composing and performing with phonographs recors, since 1979. In performance he mixes a wide variety of "prepared" records on multiple turn-tables, fragmenting, repeating, altering speeds, playing the records backwards,etc. Ranging from the haunting to the humorous his theatre of sound has been performed in the wholo world. He frequently collaborates with John Zorn, Elliot Sharp, Shelly Hirsch, David Moss and Fred Frith.

CM: "La chute de la bobine" (sept 1989, New York). Le phénomène du chaos étant un phénomène essentiellement temporel, sa représentation semblerait exiger un élément temporel. Au son de ce qui pourrait être perçu comme l'eau d'une fontaine, un appareil posé en haut d'une échelle laisse se dérouler sans les rembobiner des mètres de bande magnétique qui s'accumulent au sol de façon chaotique et "s'organisent" en une sorte de monticule noir.

CM: "Echo and Narcisse" 1992, Rel-Aviv. CM met en escène la disparirion du son et l'apparition de la lumière; détournement, retournement de plusieurs CD collés à l'envers sur le sol.

CM: oeuvre? Los Angeles mai 1993: L'exposition de 33-tours que présentait CM à la galerie Margo Leavin ressemblait à un lendemain de cocktail: les invités sont repartis, les disques traînent en de joyeux empilements. Endless Column, référence à Brancusi, est une énorme tour de disques. Ily a des couvertures assemblées en configurations variées, dont beaucoup semblent jouer sur l'idée de l'hermaphrodite: longues jambes de femme juxtaposées à des bustes de chefs d'orchestre; et puis des couronnes de dents et de lèvres (Sans Titre (Grand Cercle"), peinture sur couvertures de disques); une série verticale de barrettes de guitare cernée de femmes à divers stades de l'extase; et une autre pièce verticale composée de mâts et de femmes.

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