Philip Jeck / Hayley Newman and Aleks Kolkowski
Barbican Art Gallery during the Christian Marclay Exhibition, London
23 February - 27 April 2005
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Influenced by the anarchic freedom of punk rock and experimental music, Christian Marclay pioneered the use of records and turntables as media for performance and improvisation. A similar emphasis on sampling informs his work where vinyl records, record covers, magnetic tape and musical instruments are transformed into arresting and highly entertaining collages, sculptures and video installations. In addition to his work as an artist, Marclay is also a prolific musician (and one of the pioneers of turntablism), who has performed internationally with collaborators such as John Zorn, Kronos Quartet and Sonic Youth.
Electra curated three Wednesday Evening Events during the exhibition. All events took place in the
gallery on Wednesday evenings and were free to same day exhibition ticket holders.
23 February
The Wire Sound System
DJ duo, The Wire Sound System, affiliated with British music magazine The Wire, played music from the outer edges of sound
though a selection of plunderphonic sounds by artists such as John Oswald, People Like Us, Negativland, Shame 69, Richard X,
Jim O'Rourke, John Zorn and, of course, Christian Marclay.
30 March
Philip Jeck
Experimental turntablist breathed life into his extraordinary orchestra of ageing Dansette phonographs. British sound artist
Philip Jeck is best known for his installation work Vinyl Requiem, a performance for 180 Dansette record players, 12 slide
projectors and 2 film projectors. He has also worked extensively with the choreographer Laurie Booth, and has released numerous
solo albums on the record label Touch. Using primarily aging vinyl and vintage vinyl players, Jeck's methods leave much to
chance; nothing is pre-planned or calculated.
20 April
Hayley Newman & Aleks Kolkowski
Hayley Newman, Aleks Kolkowski invited the public to an evening of live record cutting karaoke. Audience members who wanted
to partake, chose a song from a large selection of popular hits, and had live backing from acclaimed pianist Pete Beresford.
The public's interpretation of a song was be recorded and cut with a vinyl lathe. They left the gallery with a true collectors
item: a unique 7" of their own performance.
London based Hayley Newman is an artist with a diverse practice. She has worked with performance, sound, video, text and
photography. Her solo exhibitions include The Daily Hayley at Matt's Gallery in London, the IKON Gallery in Birmingham and
the Centre d'arte Contemporain, Geneva (2001-3). Publications include Performancemania (Matts 2001), Daily Hayley, Shanghai
Week and Chicagoland (all 2004) and Le Notti di Roma (2005). Audio recordings include: Rude Mechanic (1996), Pointy Stunt
(2000) and Roundabouts (2002). She is a Senior Lecturer at Chelsea College of Art and Design and recently held the Arts
Council of England Helen Chadwick Fellowship at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford.
Aleks Kolkowski lives and works in London. Over the past 20 years he has worked internationally as a violinist solo
performer and composer appearing in major festivals worldwide, collaborating with leading musicians, composers, choreographers
and filmmakers. His latest work combines instruments and machines from the pioneering era of sound recording and reproduction
(horned violins, wind-up gramophones, shellac discs and wax-cylinder phonographs) to make mechanical-acoustic music. In 2002
he initiated Recording Angels, a series of work that examines our relationships to recorded sound using antiquated home-
recording devices such as phonographs and acetate record cutters in performances and installations.
