Created on the occasion of 13th Annual ReVIEWING Black Mountain College conference and the exhibition Leo Amino at Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville, NC.

The work uses sound as representation of Leo Amino’s sculptures. As some of his works may already resemble musical instruments in their form, like those made with wood and wire (he often also titled them as numbered “Compositions”), or scores – in general his “refractional” sculptures made with light, color, and transparent materials bring to mind the quality similar to music. Thus the piece focuses on the idea of transforming this lucidity of color and form into another medium and re-materializing Amino’s art works in sound. On one hand it can give the opportunity for the audience to discern some other aspect of Japanese-American artist’s work than the visual ones, on the other – it could be a chance for people who are not able to see his work to experience it in some way. Playing with the idea of invisibility, created “soundscapes” (with the help of professional musicians) act more like mirrors than copies.

The piece was created with musicians and composers: AnimaeNoctis, Wayne DeFrehr, Chelidon Frame, Kristaps Freimanis, Sylwia Gorak, Luis Guita, Roland Kuit, Eileen McLoughin, Tim Reed, and shan-uh-kees.

This is an excerpt of a 13:38 min recording.

Untitled (Leo Amino)_ excerpt

It is a reflection and substantiation of both the qualities of voice/speech and artistic practice and persona of Elaine Sturtevant. It originates from her concept of repetition as conceptual idea. I’ve been learning Sturtevant’s voice - adapting it to my own - not to only to mimic but understand and reproduce its qualities.

Study For Sturtevant Voice (Cover Version) Side A Sample

Study For Sturtevant Voice (Cover Version) Side B Sample

“When you go to an artist’s studio I think is best to keep your mouth shut,” said art dealer Richard Bellamy (the owner and director of the Green Gallery 1960-1965).The idea of silence appears today especially significant when it is almost impossible to make others pay attention without raising an outcry. Therefore, I have dedicated “Conversation Piece (for Richard Bellamy)” to learning the attitude of Dick –silence—and to seeing what impact “Bellamy’s behavior” could have on the contemporary art world. What could we gain from silence? Can it influence the way we see artworks? How could this experience benefit other artists and me? Can I learn to be silent like someone else? How can this evoke personality? To do so, I conducted studio visits with contemporary artists in the downtown area of Manhattan, trying to follow Bellamy’s approach, and see whether silence can be an artwork…

Conversation Piece (for Richard Bellamy)_Iliana_excerpt

“Fluxus was a joke!” – said George Maciunas in one of his last interviews. He had a very unusual sense of irony in him, which was also a quality of the nature of many of the Fluxus works that he cultivated and fashioned. Based primarily on the Charles Dreyfus recording I went to Vilnius to learn the manner he was laughing, as a way to evoke his and mine personality. As one of its evidences this process took form of a self-reflexive conversation (recorded in a historical spot at the Emily Harvey Foundation in New York City) about Maciunas laughter with Jeffrey Perkins - who is the author of the documentary film about Maciunas. Excerpts of the recording* of the performance appear in one of the scenes in the movie.

Laughter Kit (Maciunas Edition) excerpt

Laughter Kit (Maciunas Edition) excerpt 2

In 1969 American composer, one of the key figures of experimental music, Alvin Lucier first recorded his groundbreaking composition “I am sitting in a room” (conceived for voice and electromagnetic tape), in which he tells the audience what he is doing and what they will hear. As he explains, recorded voice is played back several times until the resonant frequencies of the room start to dominate the speech, erasing at the end the human component towards dominance of the pure, environmental sound. What would happen if the focus was only on the spoken words, the voice and the resonance and acoustic of the performer’s own body (throat, chest and diaphragm)? How the idiosyncratic and uncontrollable activities and sounds it produces can be transformed into music? Thinking of “I am sitting in a room” as a song or a choreography, “any irregularities […] speech might have” become notations or gestures, the integral part of its score.

Weronika T

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