Record Release (12-inch) Video
(2012-2021)
Main page for the Record Release 12-inch project here.
Connected pages: Record Release 12-inch (books), Record Release 12-inch (grids).
The Record Release 12-inch project was completed in 2019 (6642 vinyl pellets, weighing a total of 180g, were released one at a time over the span of seven years).
The left screen foregrounds an image of the pellets arranged in a 12-inch circle, each time with one less pellet and strobed by an image of the corresponding pellet release; the right screen foregrounds the images of the pellets released into the world strobed by the corresponding image of the pellets in the 12-inch circle.
There were 6642 vinyl pellets to release, there are therefore 6642 images for each series: the minus one of the 12-inch circle that has one less pellet each time, and the plus one where the pellet is placed somewhere in the world. Total: 13284 images.
The video was produced with a Max/MSP patch that enables the image series to be played back over any desired duration. The one presented included here is the one earmarked for a gallery context, it last 120 minutes.
The durations I am primarily working with for a live context are 33, 45, and 78 minutes (referencing the three standard RPM (Revolutions per Minute) speeds found on turntables). But the patch enables it to be set to play back over any duration: one hour, one day, one week, length of an exhibition, etc.
The rate of playback is determined by the original timestamp of the images of the series that shows each pellet released into the world (on a hand, a ledge, a railing, somebody else’s artwork, etc.). In other words, the playback rate is proportional to the time it took me to release the 6642 pellets.
The audio on the videos consists of: a) the title of each image is spoken by a synthesized text-to-speech voice; b) a sine wave with a frequency determined by the image number, i.e. image no. 1909 = 1.909kHz tone; c) the amount of green and red in each image is analyzed and produces a modulation of the tone sound.
PRESENTATION HISTORY
The first complete version was presented as part of Press Record, a solo exhibition at Oboro in Montréal, February 13 – March 20, 2021. For that context they were presented on two synced screens and titled RR12 (Strobe L) and RR12 (Strobe R).
A partial version was shown as part of the exhibition Feedback #4 Marshall McLuhan and the Arts, Valade Family Gallery, College for Creative Studies (CCS), Detroit, February 16 – March 23, 2019.
Solo performance, part of the Solo Marathon, Irtijal Festival, at Zouzak Studio, Beirut, Lebanon, March 31, 2019.
Solo performance, Performance, evening curated by Apologies in Advance, also featuring Esther Venrooy, and Bobby Two, at DE PLAYER, Rotterdam, Netherlands, March 16, 2019.
