shows of the past
this page is continually updated, but lists nothing before march 7, 2006.
Chen/Miller/Mills Trio
Patterns of Affect
Marina Peterson
Friday, July 16, 2010, 10PM
Heaven Gallery
1550 North Milwaukee 2nd Floor
Chicago
***
solo electronics, viola, and violin
(opening set)
Elastic
Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 9PM
2830 N. Milwaukee, 2nd Fl., Chicago IL 60618
1 block northwest of Diversey (2800 north) & Kimball (3400 west)
USA
773-772-3616
***
Due to unforeseen circumstances Tatsu Aoki will unfortunately not be able to perform tonight. Kempkers and Chen will play as a duo.
Jamie Kempkers’ Trio with Tatsu Aoki and Jonathan Chen
Jayve Montgomery
Lara Oppenheimer
July 8, 2010
Brown Rice (Located in the former Candlestick Maker space)
4432 N. Kedzie Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
***
Catching an Afterthought
multi-channel audio installation
Monday, May 3, 2010, 12PM
(through the end of May)
Gallery WH-111
West Hall, RPI
110 8th St
Troy, NY 12180
***
Tintinnabulate & Pauline Oliveros
Saturday, May 8, 2010
8:00pm – 9:30pm
Lotus Studio
109 West 27th 8th Floor
New York, NY
***
Collaboration with Ben Miller
Goodbye Blue Monday
Monday, March 29, 2010, 8 PM
1087 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY 11221-30131
***
Solo: electronics, viola & violin
(I’ll be opening for a trio: Vic Rawlings, Bryan Eubanks, Chris Cogburn)
Sunday, March 14, 2010, 8PM
Albany Sonic Arts Collective
Upstate Artists Guild
247 Lark St
Albany, NY
***
Tatsu Aoki, “Film and Music and Asian America”
Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 7:30PM
Wright Museum of Art
Beloit College
700 College Street
Beloit, Wisconsin
***
trio: Tatsu Aoki, bass; Jonathan Chen, violin; Jamie Kempkers, cello
Friday, February 19, 2010, 9:30 PM
Elastic (3030)
2830 N. Milwaukee, 2nd Fl., Chicago IL 60618
1 block northwest of Diversey (2800 north) & Kimball (3400 west)
USA
773-772-3616
***
solo set: violin & viola
Tuesday, January 19, 2010, 10PM
D-22, Beijing, China
Address: 242 Chengfu Lu, Haidian district
between peking (beijing) and tsinghua univ (just outside of the 4th ring)
***
solo set: violin & viola
Tuesday, January 19, 2010, 8PM
2 Kolegas (两个好朋友 liăng ge hăo péng yǒu), Beijing, China
Address: 21 Liangmaqiao Lu (Inside the drive-in movie theater park), Chaoyang District
亮马桥路21号汽车电影院内, 燕莎桥往东500米路北汽车电影院内
***
3 sets:
trio: Tatsu Aoki, bass; Jonathan Chen, violin; Jamie Kempkers, cello
solo: Julia Miller, Triple speaker MIDI guitar
solo: David Wang, noise guitar
+
Binary, 2009
an installation by Jonathan Chen
(after readymade; a pre-pair)
on view until January 1, 2010
Sunday, December 20, 2009, 8PM
Heaven Gallery
1550 North Milwaukee 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL
USA
773-342-4597
***
Live Interview
December 19, 2009 6PM Central Time
WNUR 89.3
Chicago’s Sound Experiment
***
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 3pm
Improvisations:
Ben Miller, multiphonic guitar, electronics
+
Nick Chase, laptop
Jonathan Chen, electronics
Doug Van Nort, laptop
Sam Sowyrda, percussion
West Hall Auditorium
RPI
110 8th St.
Troy, NY 12180
***
Sunday, November 8, 2009 3pm
Instruments of Your Dreams
Phyllis Chen
Judy Dunaway
Doug Van Nort
Elan Vytal (aka DJ Scientific)
Guest Moderator: Ralph Farris
(i’ll be playing in van nort’s work along with some others)
The Flea Theater
41 White Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 226-0051
Flea
***
Saturday, September 26, 2009 8PM & 9PM
Alvin Lucier’s Music for Solo Performer
Lucier’s piece uses the brain waves of a seated, still performer to create spatial percussion music of resonances, rattles, and crashes. A rarely produced, radical composition from the 1960s with special guest performers from the Rensselaer community.
Concert Hall
Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center
110 8th Street
Troy, NY 12180
EMPAC
***
Miyumi Project
Saturday, May 30, 2009 9PM
Velvet Lounge
67 E. Cermak
Chicago, IL
USA
312-791-9050
***
Solos and duets
March 12, 2009 8PM $5
Eyedrum
Suite 8, 290 MLK Jr. Drive SE
Atlanta, GA
Andrew Raffo Dewar, saxophone, and Jonathan Chen, violin will perform
three 20 minute sets. One set will be performed together as a duo and two
sets will be performed solo. In their solo sets they will perform
improvised works informed by generative idioms that have been developed
compositionally. As a duo, Chen and Dewar will improvise freely.
***
Platform
Saturday, January 10, 2009, 3PM to 7PM (opening between 5-7)
Sunday, January 11, 2009, 1PM to 4PM
Union Arts
15 W. Union St. 101B
Athens, OH
Description of installation:
Platform is a platform made from wood and other materials measuring 4 ft. by 4 ft. in length/width and 10 inches high. The platform moves slowly across the floor and is meant to be an actual platform. This is the first in a set of moving platforms that I plan to construct. Each platform will move in a different fashion, but all will be called Platform. The platforms can exist in a space together or in separate spaces.
I would ask the audience to frame the work with the following thoughts in mind: Platform is related to my past work Bicycle Wheel Muse Sick and on its Final Delay (described below*). A platform could be thought of as a position or a starting point. In that way a platform defines what can happen within its own parameters. The details of what is happening can change, but only within the rules that the platform governs. Science and religion are such platforms, as is the metaphysical thinking that predetermines their possibility. Platform can also be thought of as a link between the philosophies of Marcel Duchamp and Friedrich Nietzsche.
*Bicycle Wheel Muse Sick and on its Final Delay is based upon Marcel Duchamp’s first readymade Bicycle Wheel (1913) and other works. The original (though unoriginal) idea for my work was to have a bicycle wheel placed perpendicular to the ground with a white pole extending from the center towards the ceiling and a black pole extending from the center towards the ground. Various emotional sounds from both male and female voices were to emanate from speakers attached to the rim of the wheel. Instead of following through with this initial idea, I decided I wanted to represent what I consider to be a single moment of a transformation from Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel, which as exhibited at MOMA, employs a black bicycle fork, a white stool, and a white plinth all connected or touching one another. I am still using black and white, but they are placed differently.
The platform, which happens to be an old conductor’s podium, sits on the floor. The bicycle wheel hangs from a wire attached to the ceiling. Another wire hanging from the ceiling supplies power to a low rpm motor turning the wheel slowly. The whole apparatus could be thought of as a reluctant conductor of sorts, dangling from its plinth on the ceiling, preferring to rest above the podium than to stand on it; like someone resisting the gradual dipping into cold water. The sounds of crying emanate from one speaker while sounds of motors emanate from the other.
Aside from what is perhaps a more complex relationship to Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even, there is a connection to his Monte Carlo Bond, in which his head is displayed in the center of a roulette wheel. Duchamp explained “I believe I have eliminated the word chance. I would like to force the roulette to become a game of chess.” The Monte Carlo Bond is reminiscent of a medieval wheel of fortune or chain of being: the view to those on the outer part of the wheel is one of unpredictable, and perhaps meaningless, chance, while those in the center can predict or act as the first cause (i.e. primum mobile) of events. Those in the center of the wheel act upon those on the outer part while remaining unaffected or at rest themselves.
[1]Arturo Schwarz, The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp. (New York: Delano Greenidge, 2000), 703.
***
Improvisations
Friday, January 9, 2009 7:30PM
Marina Peterson’s House Concert Series
106 Grosvenor St.
Athens, OH
***
Feedback workshop
Friday, January 9, 2009, 1-4PM
@LAB
Putnam Hall 235
Ohio University
Athens, OH
***
JASC Tsukasa Taiko
(guest musician on vln & elect)
Saturday, December 13, 2008, 7:30 PM
Sunday, December 14, 3pm
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL
***
My installation Platform will be a part of continuity
Saturday, December 6, 2008, 9PM (doors open 8:30)
Monkeytown
58 N 3rd St
(btw. Kent & Wythe)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211
L Train (Bedford stop)
A platform defines what is possible within its definition of what is possible. A platform is a kind of mask, a mask amidst innumerable possibilities. A platform is a power and a fiction. There are many different sizes and types of platforms and there are platforms within platforms. Each platform has a direction and as a result each platform is moving. Watch out!
***
Rensselaer Contemporary Music Ensemble
Performing Spiral Mandala, Pauline Oliveros;
For 12 Strings (Rising), James Tenney
and other works
Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 7:30PM
EMPAC, Studio 2
***
Guest on Death Jewel Radio
Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 12 – 2PM
WRPI 91.5
***
FLUX
Thurs, Oct 16 – Sat, Oct 18, 2008 8PM
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
701 Mission St (at 3rd)
San Francisco, CA
***
Dohee Lee’s project with Tatsu Aoki, bass; Francis Wong, saxophone
July 23, 2008
Brown Rice (Located in the former Candlestick Maker space)
4432 N. Kedzie Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
312-543-7027
***
Experimental Video/Sound Event: Rick Silva + others
Friday, May 23, 2008, 7:30PM
145 1/2 Mell St. F (in the back)
FREE
BYOB!
The opening set will feature Cornelius Cardew’s School Time Special, George Brecht’s Two Exercises, and Rob Peterson (solo)
The closing set will feature a screening of new works by video artist Rick Silva.
Come around the main house to the building in back. Parking is available on the street.
***
Striking Mechanism CD Release Event: Quartet Solo Series
Featuring the experimental work of Jonathan Chen, solo electronics; Andrew Dewar, solo saxophone; Marina Peterson, solo cello; & Phillip Schulze, solo electronics
Saturday, May 17, 2008, 8PM
ATHICA
160 Tracy St. in the Chase Street Warehouses, Unit 4
Athens, GA
Funded in part through Meet The Composer’s MetLife Creative Connections program.
***
Meet The Striking Mechanism Composers
Composition demonstration & collaborative performance by Jonathan Chen, Andrew Dewar, Marina Peterson, & Phillip Schulze
Sunday, May 18, 2008, 2PM
ATHICA
160 Tracy St. in the Chase Street Warehouses, Unit 4
Athens, GA
Funded in part through Meet The Composer’s MetLife Creative Connections program.
***
Live Interview
Thursday, May 15, 2008, 4PM EST
WUGA 91.7 & 97.9
National Public Radio for Athens and Northeast Georgia
***
Steppenwolf’s 2008 Traffic Series: Tatsu Aoki’s Miyumi Project: East Meets the Rest
When: May 9 : 7:30 p.m.
Price: $40. Tickets: steppenwolf.org
Event Phone Number: 312-335-1650
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Neighborhood: Sheffield/De Paul
1650 N. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60614
312-335-1650
***
Patterns of Affect, Jonathan Chen (solo electronics), Jamie Kempkers (solo cello)
2 SHOWS
Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 9PM
Elastic (3030)
2830 N. Milwaukee, 2nd Fl., Chicago IL 60618
1 block northwest of Diversey (2800 north) & Kimball (3400 west)
USA
773-772-3616
Wednesday, May 7, 2008, 9PM
Heaven Gallery
1550 North Milwaukee 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL
USA
773-342-4597
$5 donation
more info:
Patterns of Affect consists of Jonathan Chen, Jamie Kempkers, Joe Mills, and Peter Rosenbloom. The group will perform two works: Patterns of Affect & To Be Continued. Plus opening sets by Jonathan Chen (solo electronics) and Jamie Kempkers (solo cello).
The piece Patterns of Affect (after which the group is named) is inspired by early Minimalist works. Many of the early Minimalist works involved gradual processes of change, however, in this work nothing happens. In composing Patterns of Affect Chen was attempting to sustain a particular mood in two sections, but the changes in timbre and tempo may create a more ambivalent feeling. The first section performed on the banjo and eventually accompanying electronics, consists of the same pitch material as the second section performed on cello, electronics, hurdy-gurdy, & violin*.
*Chen played the violin on the recording, but Rosenbloom will play it during the performance.
In To Be Continued, after playing a brief intro, Chen repeats the same chords on the guitar for as long as he can make them meaningful (to himself) while being accompanied by a music box. This subjectively established time frame changes with each performance. The music box, whose melody is constantly changing, employs player piano-like paper that spills onto the floor endlessly, continuing after the guitar part ends for an indeterminate amount of time. On the recording, both the guitar and music box parts have been shortened.
Both works recorded in Chicago by Todd Carter in 2007.
In Chen’s opening solo set he will perform Three Switch-Hitters, an electronic work that involves creating feedback through the computer program Supercollider. Feedback is created at variously dissonant or consonant frequencies, filling the space with a somewhat aggressive collage of overtones. Three Switch-Hitters has recently been released on Interval as a part of the compilation album Nothing Works as Planned.
***
Live Interview
Thursday, May 6, 2008, 11:30 AM Central Time
WNUR 89.3
Chicago’s Sound Experiment
***
Experimental Sound Event: La Monte Young’s Composition 1960 #7
Sunday, April 27, 2008, 2PM
Outdoors, Tanner Building Courtyard
(UGA building number 0123, at the intersection of Fulton and Spring Streets)
Athens, GA
performers TBA
Free
La Monte Young’s score consists of a perfect fifth (B below middle C and
F# above middle C) and the text instruction “to be held for a long time”.
Although the performance will begin at 2PM, the length is indeterminate.
Please feel free to come by and listen during any part of the performance.
This is the second event in an Experimental Sound Series instigated by
the label Striking Mechanism.
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER
***
Experimental Sound Event
Friday, March 28, 2008, 7:30PM
145 1/2 Mell St. F (in the back)
FREE
BYOB!
This free event presented by Striking Mechanism will be the first in a series showcasing experimental music, sound art, improvisation, and video.
The opening set will feature John Cage’s 4′33”, Steve Reich’s Pendulum Music, George Brecht’s Comb Music*, and Alvin Lucier’s Opera with Objects.
The closing set will feature the work of Athens’ Rob Peterson (Dan Hole Pond).
Performers include Jonathan Chen, Rob Peterson, and others TBA.
*audience can participate in George Brecht’s Comb Music (comb’s provided!)
Come around the main house to the building in back. Parking is available on the street.
***
Empty Cage Quartet, Chen/Hess Duo, m, Marina Peterson, & Joe Mills
Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 9pm
Heaven Gallery
1550 North Milwaukee 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL
USA
773-342-4597
$10 donation
additional info:
Empty Cage Quartet is: Jason Mears, woodwinds; Kris Tiner, trumpets; Ivan Johnson, bass; Paul Kikuchi, drumset/electronics.
Chen/Hess duo (Jonathan Chen, violin; and Steven Hess, drums & electronics) will perform a set of free improvisation joined on occasion by special guests (tba).
composer Jonathan Chen’s newest project. set will consist of two of his latest compositions: Patterns of Affect & To Be Continued. Instrumentation consists of Chen on banjo, electronics, guitar, & violin; Jamie Kempkers on cello; Joe Mills on hurdy-gurdy; and Music Box playing itself. While the music in this project is experimental, it is not improvised (although there are indeterminate elements). The compositional material usually involves pointillism rather than traditional melody and is often repetitive with either slight or no variation. m is currently working on a recording for later release.
Marina Peterson presents improvised sonic explorations on the cello; sometimes acoustic, sometimes amplified.
Joe Mills’ set will involve layering and manipulating feedback generated with tape recorders, a telephone, and a hearing aid; shaping it with electronics and a phonograph horn.
***
Miyumi Project
Saturday, December 1, 2007 9PM
Velvet Lounge
67 E. Cermak
Chicago, IL
USA
312-791-9050
***
Miyumi Project
Friday, August 17, 2007 9PM
Velvet Lounge
67 E. Cermak
Chicago, IL
USA
312-791-9050
***
CD Release Show
Tatsu Aoki, double bass
Jonathan Chen, violin
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 9PM
Elastic
2830 N. Milwaukee Ave, 2nd Fl, 60618
1 block northwest of Diversey (2800 north) & Kimball (3400 west)
Chicago, IL
USA
773-772-3616
***
Performing with Miyumi Project
INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIWAL MALTA 2007
POLAND, POZNAN
Malta lake – open air concert
June 27, 2007 10:30 PM
June Scena na Pitrze (tickets)
June 29, 2007 8 PM
plus workshops
more info at: Malta
***
Solo works for electronics, violin/stroh violin, and projected video
double bill with:
Ute Wassermann (Berlin) – vocals, bird calls
Aleks Kolkowski (London) – stroh viola, stroh cello, lame sonore (fr. musical saw)
Saturday, June 23, 2007 7PM
Goldsmiths College
The Council Chamber,
Deptford Town Hall
New Cross Road, SE14 (opp. Iceland)
Nearest Staion: New Cross Gate
London
***
New Sound Installation
Hidden Sounds of Silence
Monday, June 11, 2007, 7PM through Thursday, June 21, 2007, 7PM
Lichthof, Hochschule fur Gestaltung
Karlsruhe, Germany
This sound installation is located somewhere (more or less) on the ground floor of HfG, where it may be heard best.
Materials: low rpm motor, music box element, nails, plastic ties, power cable, rubber tubing, wire, wood.
Thanks to Yun-Jun for help with installing.
Additional info: This work acknowledges and mildly refers to the Marclay photo “The Sound of Silence” and the Duchamp sculpture “With Hidden Noise”.
Here is a 12′48” sound clip: Hidden Sounds of Silence The occasional chime is from the installation. Because the lichthof is a public space, there are also many other ambient sounds on this recording.
Here is a 32′40” sound clip: Hidden Sounds of Silence Recorded in the evening when less people were around.
***
Solo works for sound and projected video
Monday, June 4, 2007 10PM
Labor Sonar
KuLe e.V. Auguststrasse 10
10117 Berlin, Germany
***
Solo works and collaboration with Aleks Kolkowski
Friday, June 1, 2007 12PM
Resonance 104.4fm
London
Saturday, June 2, 2007 7PM free
The Foundry
86 Great Eastern Street
London EC2A 3JL
tube: Old Street
***
Solo works for electronics & violin/stroh violin
Monday, April 30, 2007, 8PM
Musikfestwochen
im Novilon an der L’delistrasse 6
Luzern, Switzerland
***
Listening Point Vol. 2
Sergio Coto Blanko (guitar) [Costa Rica/Germany]
Jonathan Chen (viloin, electronics) [USA/Germany]
Frank Halbig (electronics) [Germany]
Shingo Inao (piano, original instrument Tosso, electronics) [Japan/Germany]
Ailing Sai (13-strings harp) [Japan]
Rie Watanabe (percussions) [Japan/Germany]
Saturday, March 24, 2007, 17:30
Lichthof, Hochschule fur Gestaltung
Karlsruhe, Germany
***
Ghost Notes: improvisations to the film Onibaba
Marina Peterson, cello; Gene Coleman, bass clarinet;
Jonathan Chen, electronics & violins
Thursday, March 15, 2007, 9PM
Badischer Kunstverein
Waldstrasse 3
76133 Karlsruhe
Germany
6 Euros (students, 4 Euros)
***
Duets
Paul Modler, piano & electronics; Jonathan Chen, violin & electronics
Hochschule fur Gestaltung
Karlsruhe, Germany
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 9PM
***
Sonic Circuits International Festival of Electronic Music and Art
Works by Chen, Keren-Huss, Miller, Leonard, Shapira, Wolman
Fenway Recital Hall
Berklee College of Music
22 Fenway Road
Boston, Mass
Sunday, December 3rd 2006, 7:30pm
Free Admission
***
Sonic Circuits International Festival of Electronic Music and Art
Works by Chen, Keren-Huss, Leonard, Shapira, Wolman
Issue Project Room
400 Carroll Street (between Bond and Nevins)
Brooklyn, NY
Tuesday, December 5th 2006, 8pm
$10 Admission
***
Non-Event
sQuareone studio
49 Melcher Street, 2nd Floor
Fort Point Channel
Boston, MA
Saturday, December 9th 2006, 8pm
cover
***
Works and improvisations by
Bertrand Russell’s Capital T, Andrew Dewar,
Derek Hoffend, & Katie Young
Wesleyan University, Chapel
Middletown CT
Monday, December 11 2006, 8pm
Free
***
October 15, 2006
Asian American Jazz Festival at Hothouse 31 E. Balbo, Chicago, IL
Tatsu Aoki’s Miyumi Project
***
live Konzert
mit elektronics
ab 20 Uhr
am 5.Aug.
(KAMUNA ABEND)
im Raum 1A20 HfG Karlsruhe
p. schulze
s.inao
p. modler
y. lee
h. herold
a. gates
f. meyer
e. fachmin
j. chen (USA)
[ Programm ]
1, “10 Sek, 10 Sek” Improvisation fuer Sensorinstrument “Tosso” und Electronics
(Electronics : Phillip Schulze, Tosso : Shingo Inao)
2, Improvisaiton
(Geige : Jonathan Chen)
3, “Etude for Alt-saxophon and two vases” fuer Tonband
(S.Inao)
4, Improvisation fuer Band
(Schragzeug : Hannes Herald, Cello : Elmar Farchmin, Alto-Klarinette : P.Schulze)
5, Improvisation
(Turn table : Florian Meyer)
Pause
6, Improvisation fuer Geige und Electronics
(Electronics : P.Schulze, Electronics/Geige : J.Chen)
7, ‘handlang’ – wer beobachtet mich ?
(Electronics : Paul Modler)
8, Improvisation fuer Band
(Alto-Saxophon : S.Inao, Alto-Klarinette : P.Schulze, Cello : E.Farchmin
Schragzeug : H.Herald, Geige : J.Chen)
9, Improvisation fuer Band
(Tosso ohne Electronics : S.Inao, Alto-Klarinette : P.Schulze, Cello : E.Farchmin
Schragzeug : H.Herald, Geige : J.Chen, Turn table oder Electronics : F.Meyer)
***
heaven gallery
saturday, july 22, 2006
9pm
$5
three sets
set 1: nathan butler, electronics/laptop
set 2: jonathan chen: new works
solo violin improvisation
four cases: open, closed
amy cimini, viola; jamie kempkers, cello; marina peterson, cello; peter rosenbloom, violin; jc, feedback
preface
steven hess, drums; toru hironaka, saxophone; ed reardon, accordion; jc, stroh violin/electronics
set 3: a group
with joshua convey, bass/electronics; steven hess, drums/vibes brian labycz, electronics/computer;
jason soliday guitar/electronics
heaven gallery
1550 N. Milwaukee 2nd Floor
Chicago Illinois 60622
773-342-4597
http://www.heavengallery.com/
***
Elastic (formerly known as 3030)
July 24, 2006
9PM
$6
set 4: Mike Hagedorn/Paul Velat/Rotten Milk/Dylan Posa
set 3: Architeuthus Walks on Land
set 2: Steven Hess/Jim Baker/Jason Roebke
set 1: Jonathan Chen/Marina Peterson
Elastic
2830 N. Milwaukee Ave, 2nd Fl, 60618
1 block northwest of Diversey (2800 north) & Kimball (3400 west)
773-772-3616
http://www.elasticrevolution.com/
***
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Tatsu Aoki’s Miyumi Project
Millennium Park, Chicago
6:30PM
FREE
***
Sounds Before the Lamp: four sound installations for headphones and small speakers
Olin Library lobby
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT
Thursday, May 18 & Friday, May 19, 2006
12PM-8PM
featuring work by:
Olivia Block
Jonathan Chen
Jessica Feldman
David Jensenius
***
Composition Seminar Concert
Saturday, May 6, 2006
1:30PM
Memorial Chapel, 221 High Street
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
***
8PM
Friday, April 28, 2006
Memorial Chapel, 221 High Street
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Set I
Paul Giallorenzo (Chicago) – piano
Carl Testa – bass
Aaron Siegel (NYC) – percussion
Set II
Jonathan Chen, violin
Andrew Dewar – reeds
Paul Giallorenzo – synthesizer
Aaron Siegel – percussion
Jonathan Zorn – electronics
***
Wednesday March 29 at 8 PM
Amnon Wolman and friends, Jonathan Chen, Andy Graydon, David Grubbs, John Jannone, Jessica Pavone, and Zach Seldess, will present a new work.
70 North 6th Street
(between Kent and Wythe)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211
718 782-5188
http://www.galapagosartspace.com/
***
Sunday, March 19, 8:30pm
Nicolas Collins & Peter Cusack
Sunday, March 19, 8:30pm
Roulette www.roulette.org
Location One 26 Greene Street
(between Canal and Grand Streets)
New York, NY 10013-2507
“Music on the Original Instruments”
Longtime musical collaborators Nic Collins (trombone-propelled electronics) and Peter Cusack (guitar, bouzouki and live electronics) present “Music on the Original Instruments,” a happy mashup of buzzing strings and blipping electronics, featuring a bionic bouzouki, bizarrely extended acoustic guitar and rev. 3.1 of trombone-propelled signal processing with a special guest appearance by Jonathan Chen on Stroh violin.
***
Program Notes for Recent Exhibition at Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University
JONATHAN CHEN
GRADUATE SOUND INSTALLATIONS AND SCULPTURE
Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Tuesday, March 7 though Wednesday, March 8, 2006
12-5pm
Preface to a Showdown: 3 Music Boxes, 2006
Materials: 20 Note Paper Strip Musical Movements, cd & minidisk players for automation, clappers, glue, motors, nails, paper, pine, plastic, plywood, power supplies, rubber, & wire
Bicycle Wheel Muse Sick and on its Final Delay, 2006
Materials: balsa wood, bolts, conductor’s podium, epoxy, iPod Shuffle, metal rod, motor, plastic, plastic gears, power supply, rubber tubing, Schwinn Sun Tour rear 10-speed bicycle wheel, speakers, threaded rod, & wire
Craps, 2006
Materials: black and white dice with paint removed
***
Optional Anecdote
Bicycle Wheel Muse Sick and on its Final Delay, 2006
Normally I refrain from programmatic explanations of my work, but since this particular piece is based upon another artist work, I thought an anecdote might be helpful.
Bicycle Wheel Muse Sick and on its Final Delay is based upon Marcel Duchamp’s first readymade Bicycle Wheel (1913) and other works. The original (though unoriginal) idea for my work was to have a bicycle wheel placed perpendicular to the ground with a white pole extending from the center towards the ceiling and a black pole extending from the center towards the ground. Various emotional sounds from both male and female voices were to emanate from speakers attached to the rim of the wheel. Instead of following through with this initial idea, I decided I wanted to represent what I consider to be a single moment of a transformation from Duchamp?????s Bicycle Wheel, which as exhibited at MOMA, employs a black bicycle fork, a white stool, and a white plinth all connected or touching one another. I am still using black and white, but they are placed differently.
The platform, which happens to be an old conductor?????s podium, sits on the floor. The bicycle wheel hangs from a wire attached to the ceiling. Another wire hanging from the ceiling supplies power to a low rpm motor turning the wheel slowly. The whole apparatus could be thought of as a reluctant conductor of sorts, dangling from its plinth on the ceiling, preferring to rest above the podium than to stand on it; like someone resisting the gradual dipping into cold water. The sounds of crying emanate from one speaker while sounds of motors emanate from the other.
Aside from what is perhaps a more complex relationship to Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even (sometimes referred to by Duchamp as delay in glass), there is a connection to his Monte Carlo Bond, in which his head is displayed in the center of a roulette wheel. Duchamp explained “I believe I have eliminated the word chance. I would like to force the roulette to become a game of chess”. The Monte Carlo Bond is reminiscent of a medieval wheel of fortune or chain of being: the view to those on the outer part of the wheel is one of unpredictable, and perhaps meaningless, chance, while those in the center can predict or act as the first cause (i.e. primum mobile) of events. Those in the center of the wheel act upon those on the outer part while remaining unaffected or at rest themselves.
1 Arturo Schwarz, The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp. (New York: Delano Greenidge, 2000), 703.