The Redux Conversations_rough cut, The Metropolitan Complex, 2008
A limited edition CD printed on the occasion of Our Day Will Come, a project by Paul O'Neill for NEKROMANTIC at Zoo Art Fair, 13-15 October 2006, presented by temporarycontemporary.
Peter Lewis, Elizabeth Price, Craig Smith, Maria Fusco, Jason Coburn.
Between 17 and 20 May 2005, a series of one-to-one conversations took place in Redux, London. Sarah Pierce invited each participant to have an informal discussion in the context of the exhibition Coalesce/Remix, curated by Paul O'Neill. There was no audience present.
This CD is Paper No. 12 in a series published by The Metropolitan Complex.
First edition of 40 printed in Dublin 2006.
For Coalesce/Remix (Redux, London 13 May - 15 June 2005), Paul O'Neill asked me to organize week 2 of the exhibition, a gesture followed by Dave Beech and Mark Hutchinson (week 3), and temporarycontemporary (week 4).
I came over to London from Dublin, and for 7 days lived as resident-guest in Paul's apartment while he simultaneously was in Dublin curating another project. Over the course of the week I used Redux as a meeting place for a series of oneto- one conversations about surroundings, production and collectivity. These entailed non-public exchanges with invited guests, which I intended to make public at the end of the week in the form of a CD archive.
Every day I brought various background materials selected from Paul's bookshelves into the gallery. These publications became part of the exhibition. As a group they relate to gaming and leisure, DJing, London's artworld, and tourism.
For months each conversation remained on a set of 6 minidisks, undigitized, and untouched. When a year later temporarycontemporary's Jen Wu and Anthony Gross invited me to think about a project for their booth at Zoo, I decided to revisit the Redux conversations. Serendipity exists between temporarycontemporary and the Metropolitan Complex's relationship to Coalesce and Paul's proposal for Zoo, Our Day Will Come. This project asks three publications to "interpret, interrupt or respond to post-nation identity, cultural tourism, self-representation and cultural consumption in the context of the market/Fair in a rather contingent and/or oblique manner."
This CD is that response. As an edited piece it comprises revised and reconstructed versions of actual conversations. Craig Smith was the first visitor, followed by Jason Coburn, Elizabeth Price, Peter Lewis, and Maria Fusco, although the CD's track list rearranges this sequence. The disks contain hours of material. Unlike with other conversations that I have recorded since 2003 and subsequently transcribed into papers, I thought that it was appropriate to allow these five 'coalesce' as an audio compilation.
Peter Lewis has a vast collection of vinyl LPs. He generously offered this collection to me during my time at Redux, along with use of his mixer, which is a constant fixture in the space. His albums became the soundtrack for the conversations, and certain of these tracks are included on the rough_cut CD. I want to thank Paul O'Neill for the invitation to Coalesce, and Craig Smith, Jason Coburn, Elizabeth Price, Maria Fusco, and especially Peter Lewis for their openness, trust, and support for this project.
(Sarah Pierce, "Notes on the rough_cut", liner notes, limited edition CD, Paper No. 12, The Metropolitan Complex:Dublin 2006.)
The CD begins with Peter. What was the shortest conversation is the longest track. I edited to convey the intellectual scope of Peter's process and the Redux project. Accompanied by Nico, live from New York.
Elizabeth and I had not met before, and she commented how strange it was to ride her bicycle across town at 10am in anticipation of meeting someone she didn't know to record a conversation about a show she hadn't yet seen.
Craig and I quickly slipped into a familiar tempo produced in our time in New York. How we practice art and theory - the meeting place of language and forms - the language of forms - formal language. We were listening to Pink Floyd which overtakes the conversation.
Maria has a brilliant manner of speaking. Literary processes infiltrate her speech and stories are her way of telling. I selected two about consensus, territory and criticality, with tracks from Stereolab.
Jason and I hung out for 3 hours while Peter and Makiko were at a dinner party. Much of the original conversation is drowned out by records. Jason DJing and communicating, me rambling and laughing at his jokes. The Brothers Johnson featured big on the night.