One of the criteria for an event to make it onto this blog (as opposed to my personal hopelessly prejudiced gig guide) is that it looks to be rather strange and unique. This, sent in by Nic Bullen of Monium, just about fits that bill.
Experimental image meets live sound in an exploration of representation and abstraction as the Black Galaxy ensemble perform live improvised sound responses to poet Ira Cohen‘s maximalist ritual hallucination ‘The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda’ (USA 1968, clip here) and the alchemical animations of artist Harry Smith‘s ‘Early Abstractions: 1 – 5, 7, 10’ (USA 1939/1956).
The musicians (joined by sound artist Helena Gough) combine composed and improvised approaches, and analogue and electronic sounds from a range of instrumentation (including laptops, electronics, guitar, sound generators, percussion and amplified objects) in order to create dialogues with the images onscreen.
The live performances are complemented by screenings of Carolee Schneemann‘s multi-layered diary ‘Plumb Line’ (USA 1968/1972), Stan Brakhage‘s sexualized psychodrama ‘Reflections on Black’ (USA 1955), and the Brothers Quay‘s dark exploration of a collection of medical artifacts in ‘The Phantom Museum’ (UK 2003).
This Sunday at The MAC, 8pm, £5.25