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Disinformation vs Strange Attractor "National Grid" 1

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JHLKJHLKHLK
December 18, 2006

Disinformation and Strange Attractor perform "National Grid" with live mains and static electricity, Corsica Studios, London, 19 Nov 04 - at the launch of "Techgnosis" by Erik Davis (the event also featured writers Mike Jay, Julian Vayne and Kodwo Eshun). "National Grid" was first performed at Blast First's club Disobey on 10 Oct 1996, exhibited at The Museum of Installation, London July 1997 (where Disinformation performed alongside Martin Creed) and published on LP and CD by Ash International in 1996 and 1997.

"Pulsing sub-bass audio suggests associations with the most primal anthropomorphic element in music - the rhythms of the human heart, with foetal and infant hypnagogic sense memories, with seismic activity, the rumble of thunder (Jimi Hendrix claimed that his earliest childhood memory was of a thunderstorm), and even with war. Disinformation's National Grid is a sub-bass installation sourced either from the ambient VLF field radiated by electricity pylons and mains circuits, or, more recently, directly from the output cables of mains transformers. National Grid offers live physical evidence of environmental electromagnetic pollution, a demonstration of the intrinsic musical properties of alternating current, beat-frequency effects, the architectural acoustics of its own exhibition space, a formula for the realisation and suppression of Futurist sound art, a cathartic response to the pressures of urban life, a monolithic soundtrack for the creative genius of electrification and for the bitter conflicts between government and organised labour for political control over supplies to the nation's electrical infrastructure" - "National Grid" / "Stargate" / "Theophany" Ash 3.2 LP copyright 1996.

The Strange Attractor vs. Disinformation version of "National Grid" was first performed live at The Royal Institution on 22 May 2004, on the same desk on which Michael Faraday demonstrated some of the most important electrical discoveries in history (in an event curated by writer Tom McCarthy); at Corsica Studios, The Asylum, Cargo, Westbourne Studios (all London), Hull Art Lab, The Junction (Cambridge) and at The Centre for Life (Newcastle) as part of the AV Festival.

"National Grid" appears on the Galerie fur Zeitgennossische Kunst (Leipzig) "New Forms" and on The Hayward Gallery "Sonic Boom" exhibition catalogue double CDs, curated by Carsten Nicolai and David Toop. Two remixes of "National Grid" by Wire guitarist Bruce Gilbert appear on the "Antiphony" 2xCD, and a version recorded with Evan Parker appears as "London's Overthrow" on the "Al Jabr" remix CD.

"National Grid" has been exhibited and performed at ZKM (Karlsruhe), the Volksbuhne (Berlin), Fabrica (Brighton), The Royal College of Art, The Lux, the strong rooms 2 stories below The Foundry (all London), the engine room of the trawler Arctic Corsair in Hull, the 13th century chapel at Kettle's Yard and at The Junction (both Cambridge), The Dom (Moscow), and in an underground nuclear warfare command centre near Troywood (Anstruther, Fife).

The Volksbuhne and ZKM presentations were organised by sound artist Christina Kubisch's husband and manager Dieter Scheyhing, with the "National Grid" installations since having a massive (and totally unacknowledged) influence on Christina Kubisch's much later "Electrical Walks". An "Immerse" magazine interview with artist CM von Hausswolff included Disinformation's Disobey concert in a list of events organised by Hausswolff, when Disinformation has never had anything to do with him, although Hausswolff went on to exhibit virtually identical work. Contrary to the impression given by their leaflet, "National Grid" was never a Camden Arts Centre "special commission", and contrary to the impression given by their "Sound Practice" CD, South London Gallery NEVER owned the copyright to ANY version of "National Grid".

Sleevenotes for the Disinformation CD "R&D" (1996) describe ideas that evolved into "National Grid" - "Tuning down into the lowest reaches of the radio spectrum, particularly in night's shadow of the solar wind, the listener enters a world of diverse phenomena, opening an acoustic window on a world alive with electrical activity. VLF whistlers from lightning and thermonuclear EMP ricochet along field lines of the magnetosphere, bouncing between hemispheres of the globe; storms crackle: biostatics whisper, hiss and sigh: televisions scream: pylons and power loops drone and roar: military signals, the musical pulses of navigation systems, timecodes, and coded data broadcast deep beneath the sea. Time and space divided, live 'vivisection' of particle physics, voices, map lines, weapons, mirrors hidden by the illusion of quiet." Ash 2.9 CD copyright 1996.

"R&D2" (1997) also featured VLF radio and electrical noise from the sun, industrial motors, arc welding, photographic flash systems and metro / trains.

http://www.strangeattractor.co.uk/sho...

Category: Music

Tags:

Disinformation Kinetic Art Static Electricity Electromagnetism Synaesthesia Carsten Nicolai Alva Noto Tesla Strange Attractor Experimental VLF Christina Kubisch CM von Hausswolff Ray Lee Invisible Forces Oxford Contemporary Music OCM South London Gallery Camden Arts Centre National Grid Pansonic Project DARK Martin Creed Extreme Noise Ambient Drone Disobey Michael Faraday GZK Leipzig AV Festival AV08 Newcastle RI Royal Institution Sam Pearson Parachutes and Puzzles Bexhill

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punkrose91792 (1 year ago) Show Hide

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wow..i didnt know whats its was at 1st but i got it know!its was cool!

gyrus (1 year ago) Show Hide

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Great stuff!

UserNameAlpha (1 year ago) Show Hide

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more kodwo eshun .. less spark brothers.
but really, cool performance. be acreful and good luck

eqillow (1 year ago) Show Hide

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Yeah, but Kodwo was boring :)

only1duk (2 years ago) Show Hide

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i've never seen anything like this

THANETWEBTV (2 years ago) Show Hide

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The edginess of playing with live electrics really comes through on this film. Sounds bloody dangerous. Nice one!

SatoriSoul (2 years ago) Show Hide

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Nicholi Tesla would have enjoyed that as well.

Aroldo2k6 (2 years ago) Show Hide

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LOVE!

alanstarkie2001 (2 years ago) Show Hide

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Science class just aint what it used to be.

tall32guy (3 years ago) Show Hide

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Out of the 3 performances of this art-piece on YouTube, I think this is the best one: sounds and looks the best, and the recording is very smooth (no jumpiness).

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Disinformation vs Strange Attractor "National Grid" 1

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