continuation of the first Mail Art Interview with Olbrich
Rafa: I think that, at the same time that you started doing Mail Art, you also started your activities within the field of Copy Art and Performance. Do you think there is a link between these three artistic "disciplines" or did you want to explore several artistic fields? I have noticed that several of the Mail Artists that started their activities in the 70's were also involved in Performance Art. Do you think there is an explanation for this? Jürgen: Yes, when I shared Copy Art, Performance, etc. around 1974 there were common ideas behind it all: Direct contacts, immediate expression, new media + expansion of artistic limits + social interaction. Some critic called it “Expanded Performance” what I did.
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In 2010, after a long period of sound inactivity, I was surfing the internet looking for information on what was being done in the field of experimental music, electronic music, sound art, etc., and I found a net label called Thrmnphone (Madrid, Spain). I was struck by the aesthetics they showed and after taking a few listens to what they offered, I became completely enthusiastic about the sound concept they offered, very different from what I was used to listening to. Live performance, 2008 One of the projects that captivated me the most was its Línea Beta/Betaphone, where there was a series of works called Prueba Thrmnphone (Thrmnphone test), It's about six tests containing what I think it's about, sound test, of which I have made a mix for Electronic Cottage in homage to these works that once again encouraged me to experiment again with the sounds. Well, although it really is not a conventional mix, I believe. I have exclusively used the sounds of the Thrmnphone editions without adding any other sound or effect, but I have taken certain liberties. ![]()
I got in contact with the people who were behind Thrmnphone, and they offered me the possibility to release some of my works (IQCM para Thrmnphone - Días Sonoros) on their label, collaborating later in other projects. But who are these people? Antonio B. Sánchez and Hertz Volta, who apart from their personal projects, form the duo Equipo Elevador, an active project since the 90's of electroacoustic music, concrete music, radio art, installations and performance. Live performance, 1999 A few months ago they sent me the CD edition made by Alina Records (Madrid, Spain) of their work "Maximum Electroacustic", which can also be downloaded and listened for free online. The Maximum Electroacoustic CD received ![]() How they themselves say of their work: "Maximum electroacoustic" is a work of the Equipo Elevador composed during the summer of 2014 and premiered live in Madrid in a first version with electronic devices and instrumentation on September 20 of the same year for the opening of the season 2014 of the Alina Cycle. Subsequently, in the recording, different studio shots were used following the classical pattern -principle, node and outcome-. The composition, completed in its definitive electroacoustic form, was re-released on June 11, 2016 in Zaragoza during the Radical Festival dB. This work is not created with a specific intention, but rather, with a free intention, in which the listener should interpret what he sees fit, this does not mean that the work contains a message, which, we allow ourselves not to disclose. visual intervention of the Equipo Elevador visual intervention of the Equipo Elevador
Continuing with my usual praxis of doing interviews on Mail Art to my regular contacts, today I present the last epistolary exchanges with Jürgen O. Olbrich. Wikipedia Rafa - How did you start in Mail Art? What was your first contact with this movement? Jürgen - I started Mail Art in 1972. My first contacts were: Arno Arts (some postcards-collaborations in this post), Vittore Baroni, Chuck Stake and Anna Banana. I’m still in contact with them, only Arno died this year. Rafa -
Do you think it still makes sense? Jürgen - Always: Mail Art makes sense, because it opens heart + mind! I don’t have words I don’t Have Have words Words Have words I I don’t have words Have words Words Have words I don’t Hal McGee Ken Montgomery Nicolas Malevitsis Dylan Houser
"1 minute autohypnosis sex war noise faith white truth light europe death seed red net Jung dollar neo time love-in city twenty new Cage zen self LSD dose Tesla sea place breaking-up father x-ray future loud blood sweat tears hope hero endless Pilar". The release is framed within the series "1 minute autohypnosis ..." a sound project of the aforementioned artist, which can be accessed here: http://www.mutesound.org/1_minute_project/ Pedro Bericat (www.mutesound.org) is a Spanish artist (sound art, performance, mail art, ...) who has been developing his activities since the 80's, at least that I have knowledge. My first contact with his work was in the middle of that time through the magazine Particular Motors, published by the S.T.I. (Zaragoza, Spain) and since then I have been a great admirer of his work, having the luck and pleasure of collaborating with Pedro on several occasions, as is the case on this CD.
On the website where it is possible to listen to and download this CD, Pedro Bericat has kindly uploaded the cassette that I sent him and from which the extract included in the CD was obtained. I remember that for the cassette I used, apart from my own material (especially anti-records and cassette manipulation), sound material sent by Pedro Bericat and EC member Nicolas Malevitsis.
I had the privilege of listening, before its official release, to the album "Slide To Glide" by Wolfgang Dorninger, which left me deeply impressed by the immensity of its sound and its strong power of evocation of images, with beautiful moments of introspection.
On Saturday, December 22, I listened to it three times in a row; on Sunday the 23rd three times again; and today, Wednesday, December 26th, while I went to the post office, once again. In all these listens I got a great aesthetic pleasure and many ideas have come to me about the album, but surely these are totally subjective, which is also important, but I would like to have knowledge of what was inside the mind of Wolfgang Dorninger while creating his work. For this reason I have done the small interview that follows, hoping that the questions are useful to provide some information about "Slide To Glide".
Rafael González:
After listening to "Slide To Glide", I had the feeling that it is a very consistent and coherent album, that everything is very well-integrated and that everything is related, although the dates of the compositions are different, from the themes to the graphic material. Is it a conceptual album, or at least is there a connection between the tracks that make up the album? Wolfgang Dorninger: There is a connection between all five tracks. But less by the conceptual than by the kind of production. I never used a rhythm or beat, nor a song structure, nor a flow like in techno on this album. These are pieces that are supposed to tell a complex story together, with few instruments but powerful sound architecture through drones and layers. I took from ten pieces those five that sounded best with and to each other.
Rafael González:
I understand that it is often difficult or annoying to talk about our influences, but I am sure that many of us (for me I assure you) would like to know which are the ones that can currently exert a strong inspiration, especially at the time of create this album I mean all kinds of influences, not just musical. Anton Bruckner? Wolfgang Dorninger: I have a lot of influences, I easily start to burn when listening to music by György Ligeti, Jimi Hendrix, Underground Resistance, Maybe Mental, Scott Walker or Anton Bruckner. I have no difficulty to talk about my influences, because I do not believe in the artist as a genius myth, but only in artists who have had the best possible preconditions and have made them even better in order to create groundbreaking art. Every time and society has the cultural output it deserves. Some artistic movements or trends are also dependent on luck, because a few artists at the right time in the right place crossed each other's path. But basically I'm interested in music and art, where I can find the artist behind his work, also between the notes, words and brushstrokes. Where I can discover multiple layers that only emerge when listening carefully and repeatedly. Radio music has always bored me, even music that is only formal and also music that is a copy of the copy.
Rafael:
In a general way (I know it would be impossible to do otherwise) could you tell us what kind of synthesizers or other electronic and acoustic media you used to make the album? Did these technical means chosen by you condition the result or did you already have the ideas in mind and the ideas instead conditioned the choice of the gear array? Wolfgang: The tools always determine the result. Also the modifications of these tools and work processes change the artistic output. The Bruckner remix was created by a kind of reverse engineering process. I took three excerpts or scenes out of the Fourth Symphony ("The Romantic") of Anton Bruckner, transformed the notes into MIDI files, then re-composed them with sampled instruments or soundscapes. Parts of them were extremely filtered. I changed the tempo of these segments and changed the sound surface with heavy granular synthesis to get the desired color of sound. I developed the piece for the exhibition "Mein Bruckner" (My Bruckner). The group exhibition was about works of all art fields related to Anton Bruckner, as personal as possible. Each piece on "Slide To Glide" has a similarly complicated history. For me the studio is the instrument, no longer individual instruments.
RG:
Personally I love the cover and I think it is also a very important element of your work, which harmonizes perfectly with the sound material of the album. Am I right that you consider graphic art as an important part in the creation of an album? WD: Yes, the photo is very important for "Slide To Glide". I made it during a rehearsal at the theatre (Kammerspiele, Landestheater Linz). Music and visuals are very close. Both media reach us through waves. Some people even hear colors, so close are this quite different types of perception. With Monochrome Bleu, we have already performed with videos on stage in the 1980s. Leo Schatzl, the video artist, was part of the band. The painting "Monochrome Bleu" by Yves Klein was not only an eponym for the band, but also outlined quite clearly the intention of the band's sound in the early days. The visual aspect is still very important for me when it comes to music. I came to music at a very young age singing in a choir from sheet music. Later I wanted to become a painter, but ended up at music again. Some of my paintings from these days are in my studio and in the stairwell.
RG:
Several pieces included in "Slide To Glide" were made for other artistic and visual projects (perhaps this is the internal connection of the album) Do you regularly collaborate with other visual artists? To what extent do the images influence your sound work? WD: I composed music (including sound design) for more than 40 theatre plays by William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen or Joël Pommerat in the last 25 years. Working in a big team with different art forms has changed my music a lot. "The sound should come out of the pores of the walls" is a statement of mine to describe my way of composing music for the theater. I want to get the silence out of the theater to create through sound different layers of environments for a play. And I love the work process a lot. Everything is worked out during the rehearsals and grows through the interaction of the whole team working on a play. I also like the workflow of dancers and performers. Working for film is rather lonely, because a lot of work processes are broken up into small sections and there is hardly any interaction between the participants. The track "Unused Film Score" is a remix of unused soundscapes and music pieces for a movie. The communication was so bad that no useful result came about. After two years of distance, I made the remix for "Slide To Glide", because I liked some scapes and tunes too much.
RG:
The first track of the album is "Cause & Effect" Is it a tribute to the past or the beginning of something? The last track is titled "Utopia Around The Corner" ... WD: I made this piece for an "Electronic Cottage Add-And-Pass Cassette". Hal McGee opened the tape with his piece "Transmission # 237". The tape got lost after the fourth music contribution by the Austrian post company on the way from Linz to Vienna. I called the piece "Cause & Effect" later on, because that was the only way to calm my anger. I appreciate what Hal is doing with his tape, network and media projects and was really angry that such a nice project was destroyed by a carrier company.
"Utopia Around The Corner" should give us courage for small solutions. I believe in the power of change by the individual and in the small. And Utopia is not so far away, does not need a super solution, no magicians or ego shooters like Donald!
Wolfgang Dorninger:
1000 thanks Hal for Electronic Cottage and muchas gracias Rafael for your questions. If you, dear Electronic Cottage member, are interested in "Slide To Glide", just send me your email address and I will send you a download link with uncompressed files. And hopefully my English is not as shitty as I think it is! For about seven years I have maintained a constant postal and telematic relationship with Picasso Gaglione. It's curious that we had not been in contact previously (although I'm sure we had participated in many of the same Mail Art Calls) ... This may possibly be due to different interests ... I had been more involved in the culture of the cassettes: the same channel but with a different frequency.
Now I must confess that every time I receive an mail from Picasso Gaglione it makes me very happy, since it is a great inspiration for me and a stimulus to continue spending money on envelopes and stamps. His attitude towards art and the projects he carries out with his wife Darling Darlene (or Darlene Domel) are very inspiring and stimulating for me. For this reason I wanted to ask some questions of Picasso Gaglione, using postal mail course, and this is what I received: |
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