Audio kalligraphy
A] four acoustic laptops set up in the gallery space
they will remain plugged during the exhibition hours
so the café visitors can pluck and play
(and during evening concerts with other projects?)
B] from sound source to musical instrument
video documentary and live concert
solo duo trio quartet
When my long time friend and a great inspiration – Tore Bøe, founder of the Origami-network – asked me to do a video piece for an upcoming exhibition of his acoustic laptops, I of course said yes.
Drawing in free air
It gave me the opportunity to finally work with Tore, whom I’ve known for many years and is one of the artists interviewed in my Nor Noise. And it gave me the opportunity to escape the Norwegian winter for a week in January to sunny and warm Gran Canary; a place I otherwise would never have visited but which turned out to be a very exciting and peculiar experience.
Gran Canary is one of those places that both confirms and disconfirms your prejudices at the same time. I never understood why Tore – of all people – would move with his wife Elisabeth and then two children to one of the touristified places in the world, but after staying with them for a week I get it. Tore lives in sleepy San Fernando, a city of some 12 000 people, with charming corner cafes and small neighborhood restaurants serving great tapas. On the other side of the road – literally! – lives some 150 000 tourists in a world of excess. To experience the contrast alone was worth the trip.
«The fact that they look quite good in their merz-nostalgic way, and that they are a sweet ironic comment on current stage formatting should not interfere too much with the pure, beautiful and edgy sounds they produce.»
«Wow! Laptops that can actually make themselves!!! Incredible! Will they be touring on their own, unaccompanied?? (or with Carers? Nurses? Engineers? Servants?)» – A209
The material for the video piece consisted of footage shot at Tore’s home and in the Dunas de Maspalomas, on the south of the island, still images of his laptops and two short concert video pieces.
The challenge was to find a form that would integrate the material in a rewarding way for the public. And I had to find an expression that would serve both she screening at Sound Of Mu – as a video art slash installation video piece – and as a regular documentary for later purposes. Added to that the film had to work both with and without sound. A problem solved with using much text.
The film has no beginning and no end. The DVD is made to play in a loop; the viewer can jump into it anytime, the film goes through several stages and bites itself in the tail.
Read more about the laptops here
SOUND OF MU PAGE DOWN; VENUE NO LONGER OPERATING
Active interaction with the random sounds
«Though I have personally witnessed Boe on his laptop (a wooden box with piezo elements, pieces of metal, wood, strings and other odd stuff attached to it), I have never seen him play slapstring tapas, so what these are must remain a mystery for the time being.» – Roel Meelkop
Go to the Origami Republica site here
Download the catalogue and MP3-album from Ambolthue here
See excerpts from the video here: Part 1 and Part 2
Technical information
The video was screened at Sound of Mu in March 2008, for the duration of Tore Bøe’s exhibition.
18 min. Looped DVD. Video material, stills and text.
This is Pastiche Films production no PP014
© 2008 Pastiche Films
Tom Løberg 