CONCERTO FOR VOICE & MACHINERY, ICA 1984 – ICA Re-enactment Commission
– Scheduled for 20th February 2007
Concerto for Voice & Machinery first took place at the ICA, London in January 1984 in the era of post-punk Britain against a back-drop of conservatism and could be seen as already a reaction against music as an easily and readily commodifiable package and industry. As part of New Year “Big Brother”, Rock Week it was commissioned then (has not been performed since) and first billed as an Einsturzende Neubauten gig (playing Concerto…..) but by the time the night arrived, it had already evaded easy categorisation by adopting other performers such as Genesis P Orridge, Stevo and Frank Tovey and crucially lacking EN frontman – Blixa Bargeld (this is still a contentious point although apparently he did appear on stage towards the end). Written by Marc Chung and Mufti, it is a piece composed purely around the use of industrial machinery such as cement mixers, road drills, chainsaw and angle-grinder etc and although in ’84 this was not a completely unique form of performance and instrumentation with the likes of SPK and Test Department also exploring such avenues; in 2007 it clearly takes on a different identity and operates within a very different context.
For the revellers and journalists back then in ’84 waiting outside the confusion was increased by conflicting posters, one set advertising the conventional gig and the other reporting “This is not an EN gig but Concerto…….” the dilemma and debate around what actually did happen that night being reported and proliferated through the press and hearsay. Once inside the audience were subjected to 25mins of cacophonous noise and destruction. Industrial machinery and raw materials being the tools and instruments of choice at once creating sound, atmosphere and raw energy and instigating the stuff of urban myth and legend as attention was turned to drilling through the stage to get to tunnels and bunkers beneath the ICA.
I am particularly interested in the re-staging of an iconographic event that took place in the same venue where the re-enactment would happen – history was made then and so the dialogue continues between past and present questioning notions of expectation, consensus and the conventions of the (different) times. Although now the boundaries are shifted and the narrative has been extended to accommodate and explore the chaos, myth, anticipation and antagonism that surrounded the musical event. The original performance was approx 25mins which now in the re-enactment becomes approx 40 in order to account for the part members of the audience played in creating this mythical event as disputes arose with the ICA officials and instruments and tools were fought over. What was the encore then is now part of the whole, legitimate event.
The gig in a way was a perfect example of the somewhat impossible and contradictory nature of organizing a staged event around and because of the notions of experimentation, anti-music or performance and the ideals of a group proposing a visionary and actionist future through Dadaist motives of energy, chaos and spontaneity. This contradictory nature and the extended narrative presents the conceptual motive for my project but it is the music, the ethos of the band and the experimentation of that time that reflects my personal interest now.
This re-enactment as an artwork attempts to explore the natural and spontaneous energy, improvisation and nihilism of that night through a highly structured narrative based on 7 months of research, as a completely referential but unique construct re-presented at another time and for a largely, new audience. The project is to deconstruct and reconstruct the layers of sounds, musical and audience vocals from a 21min bootleg recording, into a fully orchestrated and choreographed performance at the same time as constructing the actions and movements around this music from a variety of sources such as archives (personal and public), interviews, memories and available footage. Crucial to the dynamic involved is the relationship and possible conflict between the set of visuals that a re-enactment requires and the importance the band placed on actions and not particularly, visual iconography in performing their “theatre of destruction”.
Jo Mitchell 2007
– Scheduled for 20th February 2007
Concerto for Voice & Machinery first took place at the ICA, London in January 1984 in the era of post-punk Britain against a back-drop of conservatism and could be seen as already a reaction against music as an easily and readily commodifiable package and industry. As part of New Year “Big Brother”, Rock Week it was commissioned then (has not been performed since) and first billed as an Einsturzende Neubauten gig (playing Concerto…..) but by the time the night arrived, it had already evaded easy categorisation by adopting other performers such as Genesis P Orridge, Stevo and Frank Tovey and crucially lacking EN frontman – Blixa Bargeld (this is still a contentious point although apparently he did appear on stage towards the end). Written by Marc Chung and Mufti, it is a piece composed purely around the use of industrial machinery such as cement mixers, road drills, chainsaw and angle-grinder etc and although in ’84 this was not a completely unique form of performance and instrumentation with the likes of SPK and Test Department also exploring such avenues; in 2007 it clearly takes on a different identity and operates within a very different context.
For the revellers and journalists back then in ’84 waiting outside the confusion was increased by conflicting posters, one set advertising the conventional gig and the other reporting “This is not an EN gig but Concerto…….” the dilemma and debate around what actually did happen that night being reported and proliferated through the press and hearsay. Once inside the audience were subjected to 25mins of cacophonous noise and destruction. Industrial machinery and raw materials being the tools and instruments of choice at once creating sound, atmosphere and raw energy and instigating the stuff of urban myth and legend as attention was turned to drilling through the stage to get to tunnels and bunkers beneath the ICA.
I am particularly interested in the re-staging of an iconographic event that took place in the same venue where the re-enactment would happen – history was made then and so the dialogue continues between past and present questioning notions of expectation, consensus and the conventions of the (different) times. Although now the boundaries are shifted and the narrative has been extended to accommodate and explore the chaos, myth, anticipation and antagonism that surrounded the musical event. The original performance was approx 25mins which now in the re-enactment becomes approx 40 in order to account for the part members of the audience played in creating this mythical event as disputes arose with the ICA officials and instruments and tools were fought over. What was the encore then is now part of the whole, legitimate event.
The gig in a way was a perfect example of the somewhat impossible and contradictory nature of organizing a staged event around and because of the notions of experimentation, anti-music or performance and the ideals of a group proposing a visionary and actionist future through Dadaist motives of energy, chaos and spontaneity. This contradictory nature and the extended narrative presents the conceptual motive for my project but it is the music, the ethos of the band and the experimentation of that time that reflects my personal interest now.
This re-enactment as an artwork attempts to explore the natural and spontaneous energy, improvisation and nihilism of that night through a highly structured narrative based on 7 months of research, as a completely referential but unique construct re-presented at another time and for a largely, new audience. The project is to deconstruct and reconstruct the layers of sounds, musical and audience vocals from a 21min bootleg recording, into a fully orchestrated and choreographed performance at the same time as constructing the actions and movements around this music from a variety of sources such as archives (personal and public), interviews, memories and available footage. Crucial to the dynamic involved is the relationship and possible conflict between the set of visuals that a re-enactment requires and the importance the band placed on actions and not particularly, visual iconography in performing their “theatre of destruction”.
Jo Mitchell 2007
CVM II YouTube clip below (unofficial)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RcGxi2Z7J0&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RcGxi2Z7J0&t=2s
