I was just watching this…
…and wondered if this style of performance, especially with this mixture of acoustic objects and instruments has a name? Was the Cage water walk the first of these?
Also very interested in similar videos if you think of any, thanks!
Probably the video that finally pushed me into getting my own modular rack together:
Emily Sprague - '‘New Modular Landcape’
Mind you, if I ran any instrument from a floor-level seating spot, I’d probably never get up again!
Edit: How could I forget Hélène Vogelsinger?! She films a lot of her compositions while out on one of her many urbex adventures!
i know tarek atoui’s performances/installations sometimes are laid out like this, or with very low podiums for the instruments. can’t find a good video right now, but here’s a picture from organ within at guggenheim new york:
I thought that a lot of the esthetic in electronic music was seen with Klaus Schulze, who in turn was inspired by performances of Indian music.
I love this.
I’m not sure if it’s the kind of “equipment spread out on the floor” performance you’re referring to (I generally sit on a stool with my equipment spread quite tight), but for various reasons I perform exclusively offstage.
Great thread.
Stopped this style of performance years ago, moved to the table a bit more, but here’s a short bit of what my Horaflora performance used to be like - Frame drums with electric toothbrushes, trombone mouthpieces and balloons, transducers… Several tape machines spread around the room, and other apparatus.
Edit: a longer one, but better lighting.
The Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLORK) usually does their performances with performers seated on zabutons.
Thanks everyone for all the replies - super interesting!
The setup (cables, objects etc) being part of the space - as a designed thing, and more bespoke instruments is I think what I’m looking at specifically just now. Interesting how the gallery context changes that. All examples are great and welcome though.
I’d not encountered Tarek Atoui before, thanks @2197, some nice video here: Tarek Atoui - Yorkshire Sculpture International and here: Tarek Atoui, "The Whisperers", Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris (2021). - YouTube
It’s a variation on the subject maybe but it reminded me of this : Corps Mecaniques | Florent Colautti
By Florent Colautti, you can see a bit of video to here :
https://vimeo.com/412093516?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=1919601
I also remember some other works by him that used objects hanging from the wall, on the floor, and and lots of movement sensors using the people moving in between the objects to change to programmation of the mechanical excitation of the objects.
His work deserves some deep diving in general !
20 chars of #floorcore
20 chars of of course!
fun thread idea!
this classic grimes performance was the first thing i thought of
24 chairs of #chaircore!
Studio tour with Björk
I’ve performed with David & Rie a few times, love them both to bits & it’s always a magical meeting. From a personal perspective I find it a natural place to perform, maybe a life spent tending plants?
Rie studied sculpture at Chelsea and her stuff doesn’t make much sense on a table. So maybe the art/gallery is the aesthetic.
From what i understand John Cage & his crowd used audience/performer placement as much to shift the focus as to mess with those that expected a ‘traditional’ setup.
Here’s a performance of Daniel James Wolf’s piece Field & Stream I was a part of. The score for this is amazing.
It’s all great but I love the latter part with the cymbals especially.
