Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds

Charest-Weinberg presents a work by Jay Hines at the Wynwood Art Fair - benefiting the Lotus House Shelter, taking place in Miami, October 21st through the 23rd.

Hines took his project's title from Charles Mackay's book by the same name. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds is a history of popular folly, first published in 1841.

"This landmark study of crowd psychology and mass mania throughout history includes accounts of classic scams, grand-scale madnesses and deceptions such as the Mississippi Scheme that swept France in 1720; the South Sea Bubble that ruined thousands in England at the same time; the Tulipmania of Holland, when fortunes were made and lost on single tulip bulbs. Other chapters deal with fads and delusions that often spring from valid ideas or causes."

- text quoted from the publisher on the book's inside cover jacket (...as Hines has yet to read anything by Mackay).

Charest-Weinberg invited Jay Hines to construct a project for their booth at the Wynwood Art Fair. Hines then gave total curatorial license to the independent record label Roofless Records. Roofless, in turn, invited FUN; a sound art collaborative from Philadelphia to occupy the booth.

Taking directives from a 'materials-needed list' supplied by FUN, Hines and others will gather a variety of objects for submission to FUN's eschatological performative ironies, by way of improvised prop constructions: all in the name of music or "post non-music" as they've become synonymous for. They will be documenting their actions onto audio cassette tape, and intermittently duplicating copies to be gifted at the booth. Additionally, FUN and Roofless Records have planned several satellite events and impromptu performances over the course of the weekend throughout the Miami area.

FUN began in 2008 and is the sound art / noise collaborative of Matthew Rademan and Jonny Wray based in Philadelphia. Notorious for their "post non-music" recordings and interactive live shows, FUN generate sound through mundane activities (like breathing or opening a bag of chips), gradually exaggerated until the banal action becomes a sonic and visual catastrophe. Rademan also performs under the moniker Newton and has been releasing noise-related music from his record label Breathmint and organizing live shows for more than 15 years.

Matt Preira and Dana Bassett are Roofless Records, a small DIY record label based in Miami which promotes the local experimental music culture via a catalog of cassette, CD and vinyl, as well as their respective contributions to local music journalism/criticism and the organization of live events.

Jay Hines is a visual artist based in Miami and owner/director of the non-profit Augurari, an editions project which publishes audio recordings by contemporary visual artists who incorporate sound in their practice. He also runs the record label Iki Jime Owen Meany.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Charest-Weinberg
• Art
• Wynwood
• Miami
• FUN
• Jay Hines
• Roofless Records
• Matt Preira and Dana Bassett