2008
sound: @c (www.at-c.org)
length: 5’53” – format: 4:3
Curated and produced by
Text
o68 was created by LIA and @c (Miguel Carvalhais and Pedro Tudela). Originally produced for the Beck’s Fusion exhibition, curated by the ICA and Forma, o68 was then re-edited to a single video channel audiovisual piece.
o68 was composed under direct influence from Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman (for Massenet)”, originally using both Laurie Anderson’s words and vocal recordings. The current version retains most of the original audiovisuals created for the multi video channel exhibition version, but detaches itself from the source of inspiration by eliminating both Laurie Anderson’s original words, voice and sounds, presenting itself as somewhat of a distant version of Laurie Anderson’s theme, not a cover or a reinterpretation but rather perhaps a mutation.
In an also evolutional step in @c and LIA’s usual collaborations, o68 features recordings of LIA playing the piano, crossing over from the strictly visual field of operations and stepping back into the musical front. Musically, the composition approaches “O Superman” not by directly incorporating its sound or music, but rather by embracing its roots and influences, searching a proximity to 20th century minimalism, both in tonal as in formal aspects. This conceptual approach led to the reduced palette of both colors and forms, syncing all the development of the composition to the ticking of a metronome that beats along the duration of o68.
// Text: Miguel Carvalhais
Screenings
The video o/68 was shown as part of the touring programme “A Secret Understanding”
Balaklava Odyssey, Mykhailivska Battery, Crimea, Sevastopol, Ukraine
2010/08/12-2010/08/13
MediaDepot, Str. Hnatiuka 11, Lviv, Ukraine
2010/08/27-2010/08/29
Exhibitions
A Secret Understanding
Produced by Forma
Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria
2009/05/08-2009/05/24
http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/a-secret-understanding
A Secret Understanding, Kunsthaus Graz, Austria, 2009
List of Artists: A Secret Understanding
Graham Dolphin, Doug Fishbone , Nick Jordan, Clare Langan, Oliver Laric, Torsten Lauschmann, Lia, Erik van Lieshout, Jane and Louise Wilson, Young-Hae Chang.