Sunday: PS1, Alan Vega, Sunn 0))), art

[uberdionysus]

SUNDAYP.S.1

A perfect Sunday. Agnes and Brady picked me up and we drove to PS1. PS1 is a contemporary art museum and Sunday was an opening for several new shows. One show was Music is a Better Noise which showcased artists who make music and musicians who make art, or artists whose work revolves around music. Alan Vega, part of the kick-ass dou Suicide (proto-punk-electro band from the 70s) both had work in the show and was performing.

Another show was roughly based in post-punk and political rebellion, and it included a late night outdoor performance by Sunn 0))) who played a live accompaniment to The K Foundation's film, Watch the K-Foundation Burn a Million Quid¹.

After all that, we climbed the outside architectual structure, went back to Williamsburg, and met Audrey for our friend Arthur's performance at Monkeytown, but more about that tomorrow. (Halloween, btw, sucked ass. I was too depressed to do anything and spent the day sleeping. The whole fucking day.)

Alan Vega of Suicide

Hopefully all of you know who Suicide is. They started in 1971 and prefigured punk, synth, techno, industrial and electroclash. They were two guys: Alan Vega and Martin Rev. Rev played synths and Vega shireked and growled in his very unique way. They were never popular, but deeply influential. Alan Vega also claims to have coined the term "punk."

Click HERE for Suicide playing "Dream Baby Dream."
Click HERE for Suicide playing "Ghost Rider."












James Turrell's "Meeting"

Turrell works with light and space. His work is deeply experiential and no amount of words, video or photographs will allow you to expereince his work's magic.

The piece pictured below, "Meeting," is a permenant exhibtion in PS1 and was installed in 1989. The room is only open a few hours a day and only for a few months out of the year.

The first thing you notice is that it's cold in the room. Our friend Claire asked if the air conditioner was on. There are benchs all around the room yet there are a lot of people lying on the floor staring at the celing. And then you look up.

In the middle of the ceiling is a video projection or a light box of a very rich blue. It shimers a little and seems slightly too rich; a little unreal.

If you stay, you eventually start to realize that you're looking at the sky. Eventually, you might see some black large thing zip across the screen - and then realize it's a bird. A plane becomes an odd dot. A passing cloud is an intense event. Turrell created the room so that you can't see the edge between the ceiling and the sky, and placed it in a location where you wouldn't see the sun and that is out of most flight paths (which is why it's only open for a few months out of the year).

But the biggest thing is watching the colors change. The room is only open right before dusk, and the placement of the room, and the placement of the hole in the ceiling create a very strange visual effect. The colors seem otherworldly and are different from what you see outside because of the juxtaposition of the color of the sky, and the color of the flourescent lights shining on the white wall. At first the room is white but it slowly becomes orange as the flourescent light spectrum becomes apparent. People stream in and out and they almost always start out talking. And they almost always get real silent, as if they're in a church.

Btw, Claire refused to believe that she was looking at the sky. She didn't believe us until she went outside and asked the guard.

I can't explain the power of the piece, but it works on everyone. The amazing thing about Turrell's work is that it's based on how we see, and how we experience light, and is the only art I've seen that might be able to claim universiality.













Goofing around at PS1

I couldn't take any pictures of the art at PS1 'cause they're fucking anal.

This is a poster by Kayrock and Wolfy.

(commentary in the photos)







After the Alan Vega show Agnes decided that we needed to make a human pyramid. This isn't the first time she's wanted to do this. I think it's a secret fetish!





Monkey bars

After the Sunn 0))) show, we decided to climb the architecture. It was night and dark, but light enough to be monkeys.

Below is a picture of what the structure looks like in daylight.











Sunn 0))); The K Foundation; Banks Violette

At the end of the night, PS1 projected the film The K Foundation made called Watch the K-Foundation Burn a Million Quid. It was projected on a new sculpture by Banks Violette, and Stephen O'Malley from Sunn 0))) played a blisteringly loud musical accompanyment.

Click HERE to see a snippet of the film on YouTube.
Click HERE to see a YouTube video of Sunn 0))).