American composer Morton Feldman (1926-1987) described the ways his music was influenced by antique Turkish carpets. The carpets have patterns that repeat, but with irregularity, in an imprecise, handmade manner. A similarly unsystematic repetition is a trademark of Feldman’s music.
Feldman’s Triadic Memories, a 75 minute work for solo piano, is performed live by a pianist (Stephane Ginsburgh (2014-present), Michael Schumacher (2008), Michael Century (2006)). A 2-channel video of time-manipulated images derived from antique Turkish carpets is projected during the performance, creating imprecise parallels between sound and image.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), an major figure in 20th century music, composed the solo piano work For Bunita Marcus in 1985. This video was created for a live performance of Feldman works by pianist Stephane Ginsburgh, in Brussels, Belgium, in May 2014.
The complete video contains (in some form) over a quarter of a million images of faces, all extracted from silent films from the 1920s. The video, which drifts between representation and abstraction, specificity and generality, was partly inspired by the phenomenon of “spirit photography” that was practiced in the late 1800s.
A performance by actor/artist James Franco
Real-Time Video by Kurt Ralske
Six camerapersons were onstage as part of the action,
which included theater, dance, and live music
November 11-15, 2011
at HB Theater, New York
Video/lighting by Kurt Ralske
December 17, 2015, De Singel, Antwerp, Belgium
Documentation of a poetry-video-music performance, presented in 2013 and 2014 in NYC.
Text: Miriam Atkin
Image: Kurt Ralske
Sound: Todd Capp, Michael A. Holmes, Gao Jiafeng, Kurt Ralske
at NYC’s legendary CBGBs punk club.
Daniel Carter (alto sax) + Kurt Ralske (guitar)
Kurt Ralske 