In place of catastrophe: we begin again. Throughout this podcast series the cast of In place of catastrophe, a clear night sky explores transgenerational resilience within a disability justice framework. Over the course of 7 episodes, we’ll share some of our research into creating poetic audio description for dance and multi-sensory performance for blind and partially sighted audiences. 

In Episode 1, Part 1 the cast of In place of catastrophe asks “How do we begin together?” and “What makes a space feel welcoming?” Together we unpack the phenomenon of introductions and self-descriptions. This episode is our effort to “begin again” and introduce ourselves to our listeners. 

Co-produced by iele paloumpis and Monica Rodriguez

Featuring Marielys Burgos-Meléndez, Seta Morton, Alejandra Ospina, iele paloumpis, Monica Rodriguez, Ogemdi Ude, Krishna Washburn, Adrien Weibgen, and Marýa Wethers

Music by Khatchadour Khatchadourian, khatchmusic.com 

Sound design by Monica Rodriguez 

Mentions during this episode include devynnemory.com and thelenapecenter.com 

For more information, including a transcript of this episode, please visit inplaceofcatastrophe.com

[Image Description of podcast logo: Line drawing of an open hand with outstretched fingertips that point upward. A large eye, known as Mati, Nazar, or Khamsa, is in the center of the palm and drawn in neon green with a dark indigo iris. A wash of watercolor sweeps across the image in soft blues and purples.]

This project has been made possible, in part, by the Danspace Project Commissioning Initiative and Production Residency Program funded by the Lambent Foundation Fund of the Tides Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; with additional support through a 2019 Movement Research Residency, funded by the Scherman Foundation’s Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund; and is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC); as well as Dance/NYC's Disability. Dance. Artistry. Dance and Social Justice Fellowship Program, made possible by the generous support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs CreateNYC Disability Forward Fund and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, and with additional support from the New York Community Trust. Creative developmental residencies at The Chocolate Factory Theater, Queer|Art Pride at Abrons Arts Center, AUNTS Residency at Mount Tremper Arts, and the Zil Culture Center in Moscow through the GPS/Global Practice Sharing program of Movement Research with funding from the Trust for Mutual Understanding, have also contributed to this ongoing research.

In place of catastrophe: we begin again

Annea Lockwood - Tiger Balm (excerpt)

Over the course of a nearly 50 year romantic and creative partnership sound artist Annea Lockwood and the late pioneering electronic composer Ruth Anderson shared space on a number of significant releases of early electronic and tape music, including Charles Amirkhanian’s trailblazing 1977 anthology of women electronic composers New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media, a 1981 split LP on Opus One, a 1997 CD for Phill Niblock’s XI imprint, and 1998’s Lesbian American Composers compilation on CRI. The couple also taught a course on the history of women’s music-making, at Hunter College, called Living Women, Living Music. They co-authored a number of Hearing Studies which were published as a book in 2021 by Open Space Music. Although Ruth passed away in 2019, the composers’ dialogue continues today with Tête-à-tête, a collection of unreleased archival and new material spread across an LP and a single-sided 10” record.Over the course of a nearly 50 year romantic and creative partnership sound artist Annea Lockwood and the late pioneering electronic composer Ruth Anderson have shared space on a number of significant releases of early electronic and tape music, including Charles Amirkhanian’s trailblazing 1977 anthology of women electronic composers New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media, a 1981 split LP on Opus One, a 1997 CD for Phill Niblock’s XI imprint, and 1998’s Lesbian American Composers compilation on CRI. The couple additionally taught a course on the history of women’s music-making, at Hunter College, called Living Women, Living Music. Throughout their time together, they co-authored a number of Hearing Studies designed for people with no formal musical training, which were collected for a 2021 book publication by Open Space Music. They spent most of their private life between Crompond, NY and the house they built themselves at Flathead Lake, Montana. Although Ruth passed away in 2019, the composers’ dialogue continues today with Tête-à-tête, a collection of unreleased archival and new material spread across an LP and a single-sided 10” record.

It all began with a telephone call. In 1973, Ruth Anderson was seeking a substitute to cover a yearlong sabbatical from her position as the director of the Electronic Music Studio she had founded at Hunter College in New York City. Her friend Pauline Oliveros too was on sabbatical, but recommended Ruth call Annea Lockwood—then living in London—about the post. Already drawn to America by the work of the visionary composers with whom she would soon be labelmates on Lovely Music, Annea jumped at the opportunity and within days of meeting in person the pair were, in her words, “joyously entangled.”

Over the next nine months, while Ruth was living in Hancock, New Hampshire, the couple would speak daily by phone in between visits. Ruth recorded these phone calls and, in 1974, surprised Annea with a cassette containing “Conversations,” a private piece she composed by dexterously collaging fragments of their conversations alongside slowed and throwed snatches of old popular songs: “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby”; “Oh, You Beautiful Doll”; and “Bill Bailey.” The centerpiece of Tête-à-tête, this side of intimate musique concrète extends to its listeners a rare invitation to eavesdrop on the halcyon phenomenon of two people falling in love. Tender and playful throughout, “Conversations” comes to its zenith with a cut-up of relentless laughter of a contagious beauty that is, for once, properly convulsive.

Tête-à-tête is out April 28, 2023. Pre-order at https://ergotrecords.bandcamp.com/album/t-te-t-te

Ruth Anderson - Conversations

The Medium Is The Massage Raw

If you could come back as a ghost, would you?

With thanks to Wolfgang Georgsdorf http://georgsdorf.com/ for answering the question.

Full episode here:
https://soundcloud.com/fallingtreeproductions/s4-short-cuts-the-fear-66

Welcome To The Inn (feat. Wolfgang Georgsdorf) [BBC Radio 4, 2013-10-29]

01 The Night Is Quite Advancing

From street vendors to "lucha libre" wrestlers, the cries of Mexico City. Carefully recorded and mixed like urban music by the great Félix Blume. This piece received Prix Phonurgia/Pierre-Schaeffer 2015. 
Réalisation & mix : Félix Blume - Download : http://bit.ly/1wfd5Gs
Le micro de Félix Blume parcourt les rues, les salles de catch et les manifs de Mexico. Il s'attarde avec tendresse sur le monde des vendeurs ambulants et les multiples cris de la rue. Cette pièce radiophonique les recompose en choeur polyphonique. Prix Phonurgia/Pierre Schaeffer 2015. 

Los gritos de Mexico

Feature-makers from different parts of the world re-imagine Henri Matisse's Snail, one of Tate Modern's most iconic images, in an audio equivalent of the artist's cut-out collage.

With contributions from Dinah Bird, Chris Brookes, Sherre DeLys, Kari Hesthamar and Pejk Malinovski.

The five micro-features shared an alluring, brief intensity and brought to radio the same mix of unthreatening delight and rather more complex responses that the Matisse seems to invite." - The Guardian, 13.12.10

First broadcast 11th December 2010 BBC Radio 3
Producer Alan Hall

On The Trail Of The Snail

I’ve noticed a mounting trend in both web content and documentary, whereby makers contextualize their traumatic experiences in terms of traditional narrative arcs, emphasizing suspense, climax, and resolution. Often, this results in the positioning and commodification of ‘story’ as trauma, with no mention of the systems and power structures that enabled it to occur. While I believe that sharing details of trauma is valuable and important, retelling them in broadcast environments or on entertainment platforms is different from recounting them to a loved one or a therapist.

For this piece, I explored the resonance of stories told in this way by assembling segments of confessional YouTube videos so as to emphasize the disconnect between people relaying their trauma with sincerity, while simultaneously using devices of suspense and release to entice listeners to lean in closer.

Thanks to Phoebe Wang for editorial support.

The Juicy Part

This audio piece documents my journey growing up multi-racial and my attempts at becoming more in touch with my Latin, specifically Mexican, heritage. My journey starts when I accept a job at a salsa studio in Queens. This experience made me just aware of how out of touch I really was despite a lifelong attempt at being ‘Latina enough’. From there, my mother discusses her experience raising a child who is a part of a culture that she is not. As a conclusion, I vow to take my journey into my own hands and continue to learn and create what it means to be Mexican.

All Mixed Up

#2 - Why Sound? What might heightened listening offer?

Last week (#1) I introduced Pauline Oliveros and Deep Listening practices
and R. Murray Schafer and ear cleaning practices. This week we will further explore what focussing on sound and listening might offer that our other senses might not. I’ll start by making some connections between two main rationales for Oliveros’ and Schafer’s attention to sound.
1. Sound was the medium of their musical practice as composers (still is).
2. They felt that our soundscapes were changing; both disappearing and getting too loud (still are?)
I then want to explore the suggestion that we, along with our institutions, have become ocularcentric: The idea that sight is atop a Western imposed hierarchy of senses.

The Sound Museum Project (July 20th) Podcast #2

More work / more recent work on my website ~~ www.jessshane.com
Co-creator of Constellations Audio www.constellationsaudio.com

The Juicy Part

Jess Shane

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