Re: [microsound] Linzhoax etc.

[pita@xxxxxxx]

the 20' to 2000 night @ ars electronica was planned to be a presentation of
the series that won the golden nica in the category of digital musics.
seeing as the series is now out of print, it was thought as a good way of
letting some of the particpants of the festival who are not from music
scene to hear some of featured artists.

from the very start of organising this event it was evident that not all
particpants would be able to come to linz (not just elph, but pan sonic,
brinkmann all only confirmed their ability to show up just weeks before the
event).
this is why i stressed to ars electroinca organisation that not everyone
will be showing up, but were all invited, and it should not state 'live
performance' anywhere.
nowhere in the ars program/catalogue did it state anything about live
appearences, but a presentation of the series. we could have just played
the cds with light and video installations, like for ryoji ikeda (who was
actually present) and wolfgang voigt (who never performs live).
over the last few months i was contacted by numerous people (including
journalists for major publications here), and i told them the same story
that its a presentation and although most of the particpants are coming a
few are still tbc, including pan sonic and elph.

at last years 20' to 2000 night in berlin sleazy did in fact show up on the
day of the show and did a performance of walking slowly between 2 light
beams.
with his blessing we arranged a similar performance with hooded figure
carrying the golden nica presented by thomas brinkmann.

the who point of the series and its winning of the nica was a feeling a
group particpitation within the global electronic community and not fans
turning up to idolize their favourite band, as most of the coil fans did.
these people obviously got the wrong end of the stick, and big time.



best

p

btw, this is ivan pavlov's reply to coil mailing list txt:


> Was anyone else at the ARS electronic Rastermusic evening last night? What a
> joke!

I was! The joke was funny, indeed. Although I am not sure
everyone got it.

> The ARS electronica webpage had listed all 12 contributors to the 20' to
> 2000 series (including elph) as appearing live at the event.

ARSE has never been given information about the exact list of
participants to appear "live". Some of the live performances were
under question up until the last day. Although ARSE were ready to
provide accommodation etc for all the 12 artists.

> We got there and paid 250 ATS to get in, and saw a board with the times of
> each act. Elph were listed at playing last at 1:00pm

Despite the listed order of presentation, I believe anyone
familiar with the concept of ElpH  should not be:
a/ referring to it as "are"/"were"
b/ expecting "live" performances from it.

> Toward the end of the evening we'd heard from someone who had played earlier
> that Peter and John hadn't turned up, and instead of  letting people know
> that they weren't appearing, they planned to get stand ins to mime to the
> CD!

The programme of the ARSE festival (which I have no doubt you
have a copy of) does not say anything about live appearances. It
has never been stated that Peter and John will even come to Linz.
I am not sure where your information came from and whether the
source can be considered any reliable, therefore please would you
share with us/me some of your knowledge?

> So we waited, and lo and the final act appeared. A lone figure in a hooded
> sweater walked on stage and stood with his back to the audience, while the
> Elph CD played...

After the first presentation of elph.zwoelf last year at
Folksbuehne, Berlin, where in the end of the piece (also played
off a CD) Sleazy spontaneously decided to walk upon the stage,
this time it was suggested to humorously imitate the
"performance" with a similar one [I spoke to Sleazy the day
before to receive his permission]. Since it was the last act on
the 20To2000 list, the "performer" was carrying the Golden Nica
awarded to Carsten Nicolai.

> Many of the people there believed this was Sleazy

Let people believe what they wish. Speak for yourself.

> After about five minutes
> someone jumped up on stage and went up to the guy and pulled his hood off
> and tried to pull him towards the audience to show that this was just a
> stand in, the guy was promply removed, while the Sleazy impersonator
> remained on stage.

Indeed, there was one obnoxious reporter in the audience, who was
shouting something stupid in German. The same reporter went on
the stage in attempt to interfere with the "performance". I don't
remember people booing much after the performance, except for
that same idiot (was that you, by chance?).

> Talking to some of the other artists at the end of the evening, it seems
> that Pita Rehburg (the organizer of the evening) knew they wouldn't play,
> but didn't want to announce they weren't there. This would be bad enough,
> but to DELIBERATELY attempt to deceive the audience by using a hooded figure
> on stage during the performance is outrageous!

[Rehberg, not Rehburg]. The "hooded figure" has never been
introduced as Sleazy therefore your accusations are no less
outrageous.

> This might be his idea of a joke, but for the people who had driven for
> hours to Linz (not to mention the people who arrived from Germany and
> Hungary) especially for a chance to see them were not happy.

Idiots live all across the world and they are free to do/be as
they please. Why pity them? This was not announced as an ElpH
gig, but a presentation of 12 different works. Besides the one
from ElpH, two other pieces have also been presented from CD..
Generally speaking, *ALL* 12 pieces could as well have been
played off CDs, however some of the artists chose/had time to
prepare new sets for the evening in Linz and came there to
perform.

> Or are we just
> expected to be fobbed off, ripped off and then quietly go home........

Yes, as quietly as possible, please.

Ripped off? You paid 250AS, which is about $15 for being at a 6
hour long event with 9 live performances from 20' to 2000, "DJ"
sets from Russell Haswell, Thomas Brinkmann and Mika Vainio as
well as an improvised performance by Florian Hecker of mego...
However, I am willing to personally reimburse you the 250AS, in
case you think the cost was unjustified. For that - please write
offlist to: COH@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Otherwise, maybe you want to ask
John and Peter pay for your ticket, if you only went there to
contemplate on their physical appearance?

best,
ivan/COH






>hello
>
>Instead of presenting myself as a newcomer to the list, I'm sending coil
>mailing post...I know this is not really the topic of the list,
>but...What's your opinion of the (alleged) fact ? Sounds incredible, but
>confirms my worst fears of the electronic elitism (interactive vs.
>masturbatory) as embodied by new wired bureaucrats who try to establish
>themselves as big names of postmedia/experimental blah blah genre. Rather
>than going to Linz from my native Warsaw to see some Raster Music acts to
>be treated like a cattle by some perfumed DKNY-wearing media euro-yuppies,
>I'd prefer to waste time my own way.
>
>jacek staniszewski
>//neurobot//polycephal//