"The Cat Lady" photo-montage by S.Higgins, 98-99
cont. from page 1
on June 20th, as part of his week-long solo exhibition presented by Pleasure Dome, and on June 21st as part of his inclusion in the "Splice This! Super-8 Film Festival".
In addition to these works, U.R.G. has produced a number of studio recordings, has made live radio appearances, and has received airplay in Canada, the U.S., and Europe.
As was mentioned previously, the second Urban Refuse Group cassette entitled "U.R.G. 2 (Transmission)" was released in early '98 on the Mutant Cactus label (for info on how to obtain copies, contact Kevin Paisley c/o Mutant Cactus Recordings, 51 Sholto Dr., Unit 130, London, Ontario, N6E 2H9, Canada) and U.R.G. is currently discussing possibilities for their third release which will probably appear in the recordable CD format sometime in '99. There is also an Urban Refuse Group website in the works which will exist as a seperate entity but will be linked to the Bureau's website (since U.R.G. functions somewhat independently from the Bureau).
~O~
As always, there are plenty of activities we are engaged in which do not fall under the umbrella of the Bureau but are of interest to it, not the least of which is our involvement in the Neoist Conspiracy and the work of Neoist founder Istvan Kantor (a.k.a. Monty Cantsin) and the Neoist industrial noise band Phycus. Much of this work is covered in recent issues of the Musicus Phycus newsletter and at their website (http://www.cyberus.ca/~phycus) so we will only give brief mention to these activities here.
Over the past year, W.A.Davison's Neoist alter-ego Bill Satan has appeared in a number of Phycus performances, including Phycus' prelude to the Brian Damage lecture "Neoism In Theory And Practice" delivered at the Ontario College of Art and Design, and both Bill Satan and Virginia Blood (Bureau member S.Higgins) contributed material to the recently released Phycus triple-LP set "X".
Davison and Higgins also travelled to Quebec City with Istvan Kantor and seven other Neoist conspirators to take part in a large-scale colloquium and performance event entitled "Art Action 1958 - 1998". The event was presented by Le Lieu, Centre En Art Actuel and ran from Oct. 20 - 25, 1998.
More recently Davison/Satan has been involved in the production of Istvan Kantor's latest video project "Brothers and Sisters" as well as the ongoing work on Kantor's musical arrangements for the works of Hungarian poet Endre Ady.
I.B.R.I. would like to welcome several new additions to the growing Recordist network:
Detroit-based audio project Hearing Trumpet (yes, they take their name from the Leonora Carrington book) are enthusiastic Surrealists who produce Surrealist audio works of uncompromising intensity. They also have an excellent radio program called "Misanthropy 961" which is broadcast every Sunday night from midnight to 2am on CJAM 91.5 FM Windsor, Ontario (the show is also available on the WWW via real audio at the same time, check that out at http://www.uwindsor.ca/cjam/live.htm, and it appears monthly on Radio Marabu in Belm, Germany and 13 other European stations, direct your browsers to http://www.mediaDD.de/radiomarabu for more info on that). They've been very helpful in promoting the work of Urban Refuse Group and Songs of the New Erotics and are currently organizing a Hearing Trumpet/Songs of the New Erotics performance evening to take place somewhere in Detroit, sometime in '99 (we'll keep you informed). You can order their recordings or get more info about Hearing Trumpet at P.O. Box 23093, Detroit, MI 48223, U.S.A. or via e-mail at misant@ic.net.
Over the past year, Christian DeBoeck has done much to keep the Bureau informed of recent news in the world of Fantastic and Visionary Art and is continually helping to expand our knowledge of and contacts in this area. Mr. DeBoeck has done extensive research in this field and is currently working on a book which promises to be an exhaustive and, we think, much needed reference to the work of Fantastic Artists past and present. He also runs the Fantastic Art Centre which is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Check out their fantastic website at http://members.tripod.com/~fantasticart/index.html.
Bruce Barber is a multimedia artist, theoretician and critical writer, and teacher of multi-disciplinary art at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design where, many years ago, he taught W.A.Davison and S.Higgins of the International Bureau of Recordist Investigation. Davison and Higgins met up with him last Oct. at the aforementioned "Art Action" event in Quebec City and since then Mr. Barber has taken an interest in the Bureau and in the work of Songs of the New Erotics in particular and has decided to make room in his most recent paper on current trends in performance art to include the work of S.O.T.N.E.
"The Cat Lady" photo-montage
by S.Higgins, 98-99
Buy our art! Yes, we do make art objects of various kinds - sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs, photomontages, etc., etc. - and in fact we have an entire department devoted to it, the Dept. Of Recordist Objects. Many hours we have spent debating with friends the value, or lack thereof, of bringing more commodities into an already over-commodified world. We understand all the arguments... and yet, these things still have power! These objects still contain magic! And so long as they do, we will continue to facillitate their entry into this world. And then we'll sell them! Oh, it's a complex and problematic issue, we know, and maybe we'll set aside some space in a future issue of this newsletter to discuss the troubled role of art and artists in 21st Century global capitalism, but for now... we're makin' this stuff and we're sellin' it! Buy now! Buy, buy, buy!
Speaking of commodities, Disembraining Songs would like to announce the release of a new (sort of) compilation cassette entitled "The Quiet Space". We say "sort of" because the tape was actually put together a couple of years ago and was intended to be released in conjunction with a series of live concerts, also called "The Quiet Space", which eventually fell through. The whole project was shelved indefinitely but, in a recent dig through the archives, the tape turned up and after giving it a good listen or two, Disembraining Songs said (always talking to themselves) "What the hell...let's put it out!". And so they did. The tape features the work of four Toronto-based experimental audio projects - The Proposed Frequency, Organism, Dust That Collects, and Songs of the New Erotics - and is available for $7 postage paid from Disembraining Songs, 253 College St., Unit 149, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1R5, Canada.
~O~
Our final announcement will be short and simple. The Dept. Of Recordist Games is finally getting around to organizing regular meetings for the playing of Recordist and Surrealist games. Although a specific date has not been set, the meetings will likely begin in mid - late January '99. If you live in the Toronto area (or are visiting) and would like to participate, don't hesitate to give us a call at (416) 588-7539 and we'll give you the exact whens and wheres and, if you like, keep you informed of future meetings.
Well, thanks awfully much for bearing with us to the end of this newsletter. We apologize for the fact that the entire issue was taken up with "news" but we wanted to make sure some of these activities were documented in a semi-public forum (yum, the delicious validation of our self-generated media!). Please accept our gaurantee that the next issue will contain at least 80 to 82.5% more fun!
In conclusion, we'd like to thank the following individuals for their support and encouragement: 7a11d, Art Metropole, Robert Atwood, Louise Bak, Dominique Banoun, Bruce Barber, Zsolt Bede, Alan Bloor (Knurl), BMZ, Jubal Brown, Etta Cetera, CIUT, CKLN, Shannon Cochrane, tENTATIVELY a. cONVENIENCE, Paul Couillard, Brian Damage, Christian DeBoeck, Jim DeJong (DDT), Nick Fraser, Greg Hallock, S.Higgins, Johanna Householder, Luis Jacob, Karl Jirgens, David Johnston (Jhave), Istvan Kantor, Dr. Prof. Armino Kink, Marc LeMyre, Scott MacKay, Keith Manship, Stefanie Marshall, John McCullough, Sandy McFadden, Ron McFarlen, Mind Skelp-Cher, The Music Gallery, Musicus Phycus, Judith Norris, Robert Olver, Orphyx, Kevin Paisley, Pleasure Dome, Jonathon Pollard, John Porter, Stephen Rife, Ronda Rindoni, U.R.G., Dave Warmbier, Charles Watson, Neil Wiernik, and Timothy X. Oh, and if you didn't see your name on this list, don't get your panties in a knot, we'll be continuing it next issue!
(a note on the title: The Organ Grinder's Gazette, like all things Recordist, was arrived at through the workings of "magick automatism". Do not look for any literal, logical significance to it. If you don't care for it, you'll be happy to learn that it will be changed next issue and, in fact, in each subsequent issue. This change will occur through a game process, probably some sort of loose anagramatical or associational system (rearrangements of the letters and/or substitions of the letters or words with other letters or words of some surrational similarity or connection), or something like that, we haven't decided yet.)
- William A. Davison, Jan. 3, 1999
Contact us at:
I.B.R.I.
253 College St., Unit 149
Toronto, Ontario
M5T 1R5
Canada
Ph: (416)588-7539
E-mail: ibri@interlog.com
Copyright for all material is retained by the contributors. Published by Emunctory of Dreams Press, 1999