David Schafer artist talk: "A Brief History of Sound" (in art) at Five Car Garage
Saturday, February 27th, 4:00 pm at Five Car Garage
Feb. 23, 2016
David Schafer will be dispensing soundbites with his talk "A Brief History Of Sound" (in art) this Saturday, February 27th at 4:00 pm. at Five Car Garage as part of the "Siren."
The artist's talk is by reservation only:
rsvp: info@emmagrayhq.com. Please email for address and parking.
Schafer's sound and sculpture work, Two One of a Kind, is based on a cassette tape recording of the author Umberto Eco lecturing at Stanford University in 1987 on "Fakes and Originals". For this project the cassette tape was digitized and is emitted in full length as an mp3. One side A of the tape recording, a sound sample of ‘garage-rock’ drumming was added to the spoken word and looped for the duration of the side. On the side B of the cassette, a ‘garage-rock’ guitar sample was added and looped for the duration. As an mp3, the recording is heard continuously as there are no sides. The shift from drums to guitar, signify the change in sides of the cassette, but the lecture continues uninterrupted. The sound samples are anonymous and are from a sound design program, they are not specific to any pre-existing song. These kinds of samples are generally intended to be used to create an authentic or original song. But the samples isolated, perform as fake or a synthetic product. Paired with the spoken work of Eco talking, they create the idea of music or a song.
The PA speaker and play back apparatus is mounted on a free standing shelf-like structure fabricated from aluminum. In addition to the sculpture/sound work, there is an accompanying poster that is inspired by an ad for Jim Beam bourbon from the mid 1970’s featuring the actor Sean Connery endorsing the product. The line in the ad says, “You can’t improve on the original”. The ad presents both Sean Connery and Jim Beam as two one-of-a-kind originals. For the poster Connery is an actor playing Umberto Eco as well as endorsing him. Both Connery the actor and Eco the author are roughly the same age and have similar appearances. The actor is playing the author.
"Siren" is on view through March 18, 2016.
David Schafer (USA, b. 1955) has exhibited extensively in the United States and Europe, including The Sculpture Center, New York (2004), Contemporary Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and The Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA. His works on paper have been shown at The Drawing Center, New York and Mass MOCA, North Adams, Mass, among others. Schafer performs as “DSE”, a platform for the production of and dissemination of electronic noise and live signal manipulation. This includes live improvisational and composed sound performances, collaborations, events, and sound transmission sculptures and installations. He is a published writer and recent publications include “Separated United Forms” by Charta Press, Milan, and “Site of Sound #2: Of Architecture and the Ear” edited by Brandon LaBelle, Errant Bodies Press, Berlin. His sound performance in conjunction with the 2010 Whitney Biennial was recently included in “Noise Channels: Glitch and Error in Digital Culture”, by Peter Krapp, Minnesota Press. Mr. Schafer is on the faculty of Art Center College of Art and Design, Pasadena, CA. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Two One of a Kind, 2016
92 x 12 x 24 inches
Fabricated aluminum, PA speaker, MP3 player, poster, audio: 50:06
