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HURSDAY DECEMBER 11, 2014, 8:00 PM, Admission by contribution ($10 suggested)
GEN KEN MONTGOMERY: The 8-Track Magic Orchestra
The Old Stone House
in Washington Park, 3rd Street & 5th Avenue
Park Slope, Brooklyn – Map
718-768-3195
Musical Ecologies continues Thursday December 11th with New York-based artist and composer Gen Ken Montgomery. The evening will feature a rare performance of his 1994 concept piece The 8-Track Magic Orchestra with performers Sean Julian, Kevin Beasley, Barry Weisblat, Lary Seven, Tommy Birchett, Nancy Hwang and Fabio Roberti. Conducted by Montgomery, the performers use vintage 8-track players to perform with decaying commercially released 8-track tapes originally designed for playback in Lear jets. In the resulting performance, Montgomery engages in a form of “Oxide decontructivism of popular culture stuck in time” and attempts "…to extract sonic magic using these gloriously fun, sexy, unstable tapes created for the Space Age.” The evening will also include an 8-track solo performance by the composer. About the origins of the 8-Track Magic Orchestra, Montgomery writes:
“In 1994 at a yard sale I saw a dilapidated Led Zeppelin IV 8-Track tape caked in mud in a box overflowing with 8-Track tapes under a table that had cassettes on it. The cassettes were selling for 10¢, but the Led Zeppelin 8-Track tape was 25¢. I knew there must be something special going on with this tape, but I didn’t know it would be Magic….When I got home I put the Zeppelin tape into the player and what came through the speakers was sonic Magic! Since then I have been collecting decaying 8-Track tapes hoping that Magic would strike again. The creation of The 8-Track Magic Orchestra is a continuation of my search for sonic Magic via 8-Track tapes.”
About the artist:
Gen Ken Montgomery is a New York-based artist whose involvement in the cassette-culture and mail-art movements of the late seventies led to the creation of Generator, New York’s first sound art gallery (1989). At Generator Montgomery amassed what is now a time capsule of internationally produced art in the form of cassettes, records, zines and ephemera from the days before the internet when artists collaborated and corresponded by post. In 2013 at Audio Visual Arts in New York City, Montgomery exhibited his collection from that era and re-created Generator by curating events with artists whose work was shown at Generator in the late 80s and early 90s. Generator will re-emerge as a popup in the ALLGOLD Printshop at PS1/MOMA from December 6 – December 21. Montgomery will curate concerts, installations and screenings of work by sound artists each weekend. Additionally, the Generations Unlimited label he started in 1987 with David Prescott and Conrad Schnitlzer will re-launch.
For the past 30 years he has used sound as the primary source material in his artwork and performances and has collaborated with many legends of the music/sound noise underground including G. X. Jupitter Larson, Scott Konzelmann (CHOP SHOP), David Lee Myers (Arcane Device), Al Margolis (If, Bwana), and Berlin composer Conrad Schnitzler. Montgomery has presented his sound work in Europe, Canada and the U.S. In New York his sound work has been heard at MOMA, The Whitney Museum, P.S. 1, AVA, The Stone, The Kitchen, White Columns, Experimental Intermedia, Issue Project Room, and many others. In May 2013 a retrospective of Montgomery’s immersive multi-channel concerts was presented at Harvestwork in New York City.
Upcoming: Connie Crothers (1/8/15); Laura Ortman (2/12); Chris Mannigan & Danny Tunick (3/12)…
Facebook event page: facebook.com/events/293654817498987