eye+ear
THE AUSTIN EYE+EAR PERFORMANCE SERIES
[SEPTEMBER 14-23, 2001]
In a short two years the Austin Eye+Ear has become one of the most anticipated annual forums for avant music and performance activities in the Southwest. Past performers include the trio collaboration of Thurston Moore, Jim O'Rourke, and Ikue Mori, the premiere Texas appearance of legendary noise-collagist Merzbow, and the ALLY Trio. This year's events include the Austin premieres of Amsterdam's The Ex, dancer Katerina
Bakatsaki, Lithops, and Miranda July's multimedia performance, Swan Tool.
AUSTIN PREMIERE of The Ex (Amsterdam)
Opening acts: SubOslo and Rhythm of Black Lines
September 15th
The Mercury
THIS SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED
REFUNDS AVAILABLE.
For many people, evolution is a continual discarding of the past, with a corresponding disdain for its attitudes and expressions . . . this is a trap of trends that The Ex have avoided by not serially embracing ludicrious positions-which they would then feel obliged to disregard and disown-and not mistaking their past inspiration for delusion. No pirate outfits, no drum 'n' bass, no heavy-metal apologies, no "unplugged."
—Steve Albini
From the irreverent humor, the free improvisation, the driving polyrhythms, and the incisive social commentary of G.W. Sok's lyrics to their utter refusal to be cornered into any sort of category, The Ex are one amongst only a handful of bands able to convincingly set themselves apart from and against a pervasively stagnant musical landscape and the hyper-capitalist ideology that perpetuates it.
Born out of a squat back in 1979, the members- who go only by their first names- originally drew straws to determine their roles in the band. Vocalist G.W. Sok and guitarist Terrie remain from the original line-up. Bassist Luc and drummer Katrin joined in '84, guitarist Andy in '94. Their career spans fifteen albums, nine-hundred concerts and a slew of collaborative projects, all of which have seen the band go all over the place, both musically and geographically, but never before to Austin! They have inspired, an entire generation of musicians, some as mighty as Sonic Youth.
Dancer Katerina Bakatsaki / Andy Moore of The Ex on guitar
September 16 at 6 pm
Center Studio (a.k.a. KOOP Radio Bldg/304 E. 5th St. Room 104)
September 17 at 6 pm
Ancient Gallery
Individual tickets $5
Individual tickets will go on sale for all events 15 minutes prior to start times.
There are no advance sales of individual tickets.
Katerina Bakatsaki, in collaboration with long-time collaborator Andy Moor of The Ex on guitar, will present an amplified improvisation of sound and body. Her deeply personal dance language has evolved from her studies in Butoh, a diverse modern Japanese dance/performance form based upon the traditions of Noh and filtered through the apocalypse of World War II. The duos' fabled spontaneous interplay involves the barest of elements for a world sensitized to digital complexity, yet they achieve a level of interactive unity between audience and artist that few artisans in the new media school have approached.
Bakatsaki, of Greek descent, currently works out of Amsterdam, performing frequently and running the Body Weather Workshop with Frank van de Ven. BWW continues in the tradition of its founder, Min Tanaka, the reknowned Japanese Butoh artist who has long maintained similar musical relationships with legendary figures Cecil Taylor and Derek Bailey.
Miranda July's SWAN TOOL / Lithops
(Jan Werner of Mouse on Mars)
September 20th at 9 pm
Center for Mexican American Cultural Arts
Individual tickets $10
Individual tickets will go on sale for all events 15 minutes prior to start times. There are no advance sales of individual tickets.
LITHOPS Known mostly through his group Mouse on Mars, Jan St. Werner's work can be seen as the culmination of over 40 years of electronic evolution, building upon the explorations of such 20th century aesthetic demigods as Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Schaeffer, and Pauline Oliveros. Werner takes those initial analog burbles/bleeps and pops and infuses them with a life well acquainted with the beauty of the first popular electronic music of all-rock 'n roll. Jim O'Rourke's label Moikai has released Jan St. Werner's first solo effort, Lithops, under the moniker Uni Umit.
THE SWAN TOOL This breath-taking new multi-me
dia performance by video artist Miranda July can best be described as a "live movie". THE SWAN TOOL combines video, performance, live music and new digital architecture to tell the story of a woman working in an insurance company. Lisa (played by July) cannot decide whether to live or die. Rather than choose, she digs a hole in her backyard and buries herself. Following the self-burial she attempts to continue living and working, but the thing in the hole will not die and she is unable to forget about it.
Standing in the narrow catwalk between two screens (one in front of her, the other behind, meeting at waist-level) July is literally inside a movie of her creation. As with her previous single-channel works (THE AMATEURIST, NEST OF TENS) and performances (LOVE DIAMOND), THE SWAN TOOL is a narrative that unites the mundane and bizarre
with a deadpan face, surprising humor and rare eloquence. The world that July has created in video is groundbreaking, not only in its use of digital / human interactivity, but with its reinvention of space. Zac Love's haunting live score draws out the subtle poignancy in July's performance. His expert mixing and sampling is the crucial third dimension in this complex story of one woman waiting for life on earth to begin.
CLOSING DANCE PARTY
with Jan St. Werner, Zac Love, and
Array Gun
September 22nd
11pm - 2 am
Blue Theater on Springdale
Individual ticket $10
Individual tickets will go on sale for all events 15 minutes prior to start times. There are no advance sales of individual tickets.
[SEPTEMBER 14-23, 2001]
In a short two years the Austin Eye+Ear has become one of the most anticipated annual forums for avant music and performance activities in the Southwest. Past performers include the trio collaboration of Thurston Moore, Jim O'Rourke, and Ikue Mori, the premiere Texas appearance of legendary noise-collagist Merzbow, and the ALLY Trio. This year's events include the Austin premieres of Amsterdam's The Ex, dancer Katerina
Bakatsaki, Lithops, and Miranda July's multimedia performance, Swan Tool.
AUSTIN PREMIERE of The Ex (Amsterdam)
Opening acts: SubOslo and Rhythm of Black Lines
September 15th
The Mercury
THIS SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED
REFUNDS AVAILABLE.
For many people, evolution is a continual discarding of the past, with a corresponding disdain for its attitudes and expressions . . . this is a trap of trends that The Ex have avoided by not serially embracing ludicrious positions-which they would then feel obliged to disregard and disown-and not mistaking their past inspiration for delusion. No pirate outfits, no drum 'n' bass, no heavy-metal apologies, no "unplugged."
From the irreverent humor, the free improvisation, the driving polyrhythms, and the incisive social commentary of G.W. Sok's lyrics to their utter refusal to be cornered into any sort of category, The Ex are one amongst only a handful of bands able to convincingly set themselves apart from and against a pervasively stagnant musical landscape and the hyper-capitalist ideology that perpetuates it.Born out of a squat back in 1979, the members- who go only by their first names- originally drew straws to determine their roles in the band. Vocalist G.W. Sok and guitarist Terrie remain from the original line-up. Bassist Luc and drummer Katrin joined in '84, guitarist Andy in '94. Their career spans fifteen albums, nine-hundred concerts and a slew of collaborative projects, all of which have seen the band go all over the place, both musically and geographically, but never before to Austin! They have inspired, an entire generation of musicians, some as mighty as Sonic Youth.
Dancer Katerina Bakatsaki / Andy Moore of The Ex on guitar
September 16 at 6 pm
Center Studio (a.k.a. KOOP Radio Bldg/304 E. 5th St. Room 104)
September 17 at 6 pm
Ancient Gallery
Individual tickets $5
Individual tickets will go on sale for all events 15 minutes prior to start times.
There are no advance sales of individual tickets.
Katerina Bakatsaki, in collaboration with long-time collaborator Andy Moor of The Ex on guitar, will present an amplified improvisation of sound and body. Her deeply personal dance language has evolved from her studies in Butoh, a diverse modern Japanese dance/performance form based upon the traditions of Noh and filtered through the apocalypse of World War II. The duos' fabled spontaneous interplay involves the barest of elements for a world sensitized to digital complexity, yet they achieve a level of interactive unity between audience and artist that few artisans in the new media school have approached.Bakatsaki, of Greek descent, currently works out of Amsterdam, performing frequently and running the Body Weather Workshop with Frank van de Ven. BWW continues in the tradition of its founder, Min Tanaka, the reknowned Japanese Butoh artist who has long maintained similar musical relationships with legendary figures Cecil Taylor and Derek Bailey. |
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JAN ST. WERNER |
(Jan Werner of Mouse on Mars)
September 20th at 9 pm
Center for Mexican American Cultural Arts
Individual tickets $10
Individual tickets will go on sale for all events 15 minutes prior to start times. There are no advance sales of individual tickets.
LITHOPS Known mostly through his group Mouse on Mars, Jan St. Werner's work can be seen as the culmination of over 40 years of electronic evolution, building upon the explorations of such 20th century aesthetic demigods as Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Schaeffer, and Pauline Oliveros. Werner takes those initial analog burbles/bleeps and pops and infuses them with a life well acquainted with the beauty of the first popular electronic music of all-rock 'n roll. Jim O'Rourke's label Moikai has released Jan St. Werner's first solo effort, Lithops, under the moniker Uni Umit.
THE SWAN TOOL This breath-taking new multi-me
dia performance by video artist Miranda July can best be described as a "live movie". THE SWAN TOOL combines video, performance, live music and new digital architecture to tell the story of a woman working in an insurance company. Lisa (played by July) cannot decide whether to live or die. Rather than choose, she digs a hole in her backyard and buries herself. Following the self-burial she attempts to continue living and working, but the thing in the hole will not die and she is unable to forget about it.Standing in the narrow catwalk between two screens (one in front of her, the other behind, meeting at waist-level) July is literally inside a movie of her creation. As with her previous single-channel works (THE AMATEURIST, NEST OF TENS) and performances (LOVE DIAMOND), THE SWAN TOOL is a narrative that unites the mundane and bizarre
with a deadpan face, surprising humor and rare eloquence. The world that July has created in video is groundbreaking, not only in its use of digital / human interactivity, but with its reinvention of space. Zac Love's haunting live score draws out the subtle poignancy in July's performance. His expert mixing and sampling is the crucial third dimension in this complex story of one woman waiting for life on earth to begin.CLOSING DANCE PARTY
with Jan St. Werner, Zac Love, and
Array Gun
September 22nd
11pm - 2 am
Blue Theater on Springdale
Individual ticket $10
Individual tickets will go on sale for all events 15 minutes prior to start times. There are no advance sales of individual tickets.
