Difference between revisions of "Playhead"

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'''Schizophonia'''<br/>
 
'''Schizophonia'''<br/>
 
'''25 October 2013 - 16 February 2014'''
 
'''25 October 2013 - 16 February 2014'''
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[[File:MG 8355.jpg|400px]]  [[File:DSC7065.jpg|400px]] 
  
 
[http://www.cac-synagoguedelme.org Centre D'Art Contemporain La Synagogue de Delme]<br/>
 
[http://www.cac-synagoguedelme.org Centre D'Art Contemporain La Synagogue de Delme]<br/>
 
33 rue Poincaré F - 57590 Delme
 
33 rue Poincaré F - 57590 Delme
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With: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Latifa Echakhch, Sharon Hayes, Hiwa K, Franck Leibovici, Eileen Simpson and Ben White (Open Music Archive), Adrian Piper, The Otolith Group
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''curated by Anna Colin & Sam Thorne''
 
''curated by Anna Colin & Sam Thorne''
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''Playhead'' (2013) by Eileen Simpson and Ben White builds on an ongoing project initiated by Open Music Archive for 17th Biennale of Sydney 2010 taking as a starting point the 1952 release Harry Smith's ''Anthology of American Folk Music''. The project brings together alternative public domain versions of tracks from the anthology not closed down by copyright, from non-attributed folk versions and covers to commercial recordings whose proprietary interests have expired. New copyleft iterations are simultaneously generated from elements of the archive material.
 
''Playhead'' (2013) by Eileen Simpson and Ben White builds on an ongoing project initiated by Open Music Archive for 17th Biennale of Sydney 2010 taking as a starting point the 1952 release Harry Smith's ''Anthology of American Folk Music''. The project brings together alternative public domain versions of tracks from the anthology not closed down by copyright, from non-attributed folk versions and covers to commercial recordings whose proprietary interests have expired. New copyleft iterations are simultaneously generated from elements of the archive material.
  
''Playhead'' consists of: a continuous video stream with amplified audio; indexical elements which map channels of access and restriction to archive material - both in printed form and enlarged across the walls, appropriating attributes from abstract minimalism; and elements distributed freely online including over 200 catalogued and ripped public domain tracks and newly commissioned remixes.
+
''Playhead'' consists of: a continuous video stream with amplified audio; indexical elements which map channels of access and restriction to archive material - both in printed form and enlarged across the walls, appropriating attributes from abstract minimalism; and elements [http://www.openmusicarchive.org/playhead distributed freely online] including over 200 catalogued and ripped public domain tracks and newly commissioned remixes.
  
 
The video - a continuous audiovisual stream - acts as an archival playhead, skipping through the 84 anthology tracks to recall archive and new recordings. Shot on DV tape and played back on a 1995 Beovision 4:3 monitor, rotating onscreen numbers link indexically to the collected recordings. The endlessly looping video references algorithmic scripting, recalling the spirit of ''The Chart Show'', a music video programme broadcast terrestrially in the UK in the 1990s which pioneered the policy of 'no presenters', who were instead replaced by computer-generated displays.
 
The video - a continuous audiovisual stream - acts as an archival playhead, skipping through the 84 anthology tracks to recall archive and new recordings. Shot on DV tape and played back on a 1995 Beovision 4:3 monitor, rotating onscreen numbers link indexically to the collected recordings. The endlessly looping video references algorithmic scripting, recalling the spirit of ''The Chart Show'', a music video programme broadcast terrestrially in the UK in the 1990s which pioneered the policy of 'no presenters', who were instead replaced by computer-generated displays.
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The 1952 ''Anthology of American Folk Music'' was assembled from an idiosyncratic personal collection of commercial 78rpm records. The recordings date back to the beginnings of the recording industry, a moment that marked the establishment of a system to fix collectively-authored folk lyrics and melodies to individual authors in an attempt to control and profit from previously fluid cultural material.
 
The 1952 ''Anthology of American Folk Music'' was assembled from an idiosyncratic personal collection of commercial 78rpm records. The recordings date back to the beginnings of the recording industry, a moment that marked the establishment of a system to fix collectively-authored folk lyrics and melodies to individual authors in an attempt to control and profit from previously fluid cultural material.
  
Like the printed brochure that accompanied the original anthology which included recording dates and additional details on the anthology recordings, a new printed element provides coded annotations on the current public or proprietary status of the anthology recordings, along with future dates of copyright expiry and additional sourced alternative archive recordings which pre and post date those featured in the 1952 anthology. Details of new remixed versions generated for project including electronically processed material by Karen Gwyer and Beatrice Dillon and beats made for specifically for Atlanta based emcees are also listed and linked to. The printed element is offered as a limited unlimited edition for takeaway from the exhibition, unlimited by the fact that it is also available for free download.
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Like the printed brochure that accompanied the original anthology which included recording dates and additional details on the anthology recordings, a [http://www.openmusicarchive.org/playhead/SCHIZOPHONIA_105x297.pdf new printed element] provides coded annotations on the current public or proprietary status of the anthology recordings, along with future dates of copyright expiry and additional sourced alternative archive recordings which pre and post date those featured in the 1952 anthology. Details of new remixed versions generated for project including electronically processed material by Karen Gwyer and Beatrice Dillon and beats made for specifically for Atlanta based emcees are also listed and linked to. The printed element is offered as a limited unlimited edition for takeaway from the exhibition, unlimited by the fact that it is also available for [http://www.openmusicarchive.org/playhead/SCHIZOPHONIA_105x297.pdf free download].
  
 
Through scrutiny of the public/private status of the archive, its ownerships and freedoms, ''Playhead'' assembles a parallel anthology tracing the rights that subsist within recorded material, that prevent or open access and creates a platform for the re-circulation of collectively-authored sonic material - to open out the archive as resource for the future. Pursuing lines of enquiry provoked by Smith's erratic collection, encountering voices conjured from past, the project envisages the anthology as a series of nodes in a larger network and employs a kind of sonic virology - tracing songs across spatial and temporal distances.
 
Through scrutiny of the public/private status of the archive, its ownerships and freedoms, ''Playhead'' assembles a parallel anthology tracing the rights that subsist within recorded material, that prevent or open access and creates a platform for the re-circulation of collectively-authored sonic material - to open out the archive as resource for the future. Pursuing lines of enquiry provoked by Smith's erratic collection, encountering voices conjured from past, the project envisages the anthology as a series of nodes in a larger network and employs a kind of sonic virology - tracing songs across spatial and temporal distances.
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''Playhead'' remains open for active future reuse and loops back into the wider ongoing, collaborative project of Open Music Archive.
 
''Playhead'' remains open for active future reuse and loops back into the wider ongoing, collaborative project of Open Music Archive.
  
== Video ==
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{{#ev:vimeo|76971186}}
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{{#ev:vimeo|76972904}}
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|}
  
<videoflash type="vimeo" class="video800">76971186</videoflash> <videoflash type="vimeo" class="video800">76972904</videoflash> <videoflash type="vimeo" class="video800">76972902</videoflash> <videoflash type="vimeo" class="video800">76972903</videoflash> <videoflash type="vimeo" class="video800">76972901</videoflash>
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{{#ev:vimeo|76972902}}
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{{#ev:vimeo|76972903}}
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{{#ev:vimeo|76972901}}
  
 
== Images ==
 
== Images ==
  
[[File:MG 8407.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8401.jpg|133px]]  [[File:MG 8396.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8379.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8372.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8367.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8364.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8355.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8354.jpg|300px]]  [[File:DSC7107.jpg|300px]]  [[File:DSC7098.jpg|300px]] [[File:DSC7080.jpg|133px]]  [[File:DSC7075.jpg|133px]] [[File:DSC7073.jpg|133px]]  [[File:DSC7067.jpg|300px]]  [[File:DSC7066.jpg|300px]]  [[File:DSC7065.jpg|300px]]  [[File:DSC7062.jpg|300px]]
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[[File:MG 8355.jpg|300px]]  [[File:DSC7065.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8379.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8372.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8354.jpg|300px]]  [[File:DSC7098.jpg|300px]]  [[File:DSC7073.jpg|133px]]  [[File:DSC7067.jpg|300px]]  [[File:MG 8407.jpg|300px]]  [[File:DSC7107.jpg|300px]]
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== Listen / Download ==
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[http://www.openmusicarchive.org/playhead Listen / Download]
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== Printed element ==
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[http://www.openmusicarchive.org/playhead/SCHIZOPHONIA_105x297.pdf Download a PDF of the printed element of Playhead]
  
 
== Credits ==
 
== Credits ==
  
Playhead was commissioned for Schizophonia an exhibition curated by Anna Colin and Sam Thorne at Synagogue De Delme
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Playhead was commissioned for Schizophonia, an exhibition curated by Anna Colin and Sam Thorne at Synagogue De Delme
  
 
New copyleft editions by [http://www.dillonwork.com/ Beatrice Dillon] and [http://www.karengwyer.com/ Karen Gwyer] have been produced for the exhibition.
 
New copyleft editions by [http://www.dillonwork.com/ Beatrice Dillon] and [http://www.karengwyer.com/ Karen Gwyer] have been produced for the exhibition.

Latest revision as of 20:51, 22 November 2018

Playhead: a Parallel Anthology

Schizophonia
25 October 2013 - 16 February 2014

MG 8355.jpg DSC7065.jpg

Centre D'Art Contemporain La Synagogue de Delme
33 rue Poincaré F - 57590 Delme

With: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Latifa Echakhch, Sharon Hayes, Hiwa K, Franck Leibovici, Eileen Simpson and Ben White (Open Music Archive), Adrian Piper, The Otolith Group

curated by Anna Colin & Sam Thorne

Playhead (2013) by Eileen Simpson and Ben White builds on an ongoing project initiated by Open Music Archive for 17th Biennale of Sydney 2010 taking as a starting point the 1952 release Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music. The project brings together alternative public domain versions of tracks from the anthology not closed down by copyright, from non-attributed folk versions and covers to commercial recordings whose proprietary interests have expired. New copyleft iterations are simultaneously generated from elements of the archive material.

Playhead consists of: a continuous video stream with amplified audio; indexical elements which map channels of access and restriction to archive material - both in printed form and enlarged across the walls, appropriating attributes from abstract minimalism; and elements distributed freely online including over 200 catalogued and ripped public domain tracks and newly commissioned remixes.

The video - a continuous audiovisual stream - acts as an archival playhead, skipping through the 84 anthology tracks to recall archive and new recordings. Shot on DV tape and played back on a 1995 Beovision 4:3 monitor, rotating onscreen numbers link indexically to the collected recordings. The endlessly looping video references algorithmic scripting, recalling the spirit of The Chart Show, a music video programme broadcast terrestrially in the UK in the 1990s which pioneered the policy of 'no presenters', who were instead replaced by computer-generated displays.

The 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music was assembled from an idiosyncratic personal collection of commercial 78rpm records. The recordings date back to the beginnings of the recording industry, a moment that marked the establishment of a system to fix collectively-authored folk lyrics and melodies to individual authors in an attempt to control and profit from previously fluid cultural material.

Like the printed brochure that accompanied the original anthology which included recording dates and additional details on the anthology recordings, a new printed element provides coded annotations on the current public or proprietary status of the anthology recordings, along with future dates of copyright expiry and additional sourced alternative archive recordings which pre and post date those featured in the 1952 anthology. Details of new remixed versions generated for project including electronically processed material by Karen Gwyer and Beatrice Dillon and beats made for specifically for Atlanta based emcees are also listed and linked to. The printed element is offered as a limited unlimited edition for takeaway from the exhibition, unlimited by the fact that it is also available for free download.

Through scrutiny of the public/private status of the archive, its ownerships and freedoms, Playhead assembles a parallel anthology tracing the rights that subsist within recorded material, that prevent or open access and creates a platform for the re-circulation of collectively-authored sonic material - to open out the archive as resource for the future. Pursuing lines of enquiry provoked by Smith's erratic collection, encountering voices conjured from past, the project envisages the anthology as a series of nodes in a larger network and employs a kind of sonic virology - tracing songs across spatial and temporal distances.

Playhead is a coming together of fragments from a complicated series of interconnected trajectories with no singular history - a new roots and future public domain anthology. It is not a musicological, anthropological or historical study, but the distribution of a partial mapping and playback of recorded music, negotiated through the lens of copyright, stretching back one hundred years and simultaneously, projecting decades into the future. The viral nature of folk ensures the inexorable spread of the material, which overlaps with contemporary practices of remix, sampling and peer-to-peer exchange.

Playhead remains open for active future reuse and loops back into the wider ongoing, collaborative project of Open Music Archive.

{{#ev:vimeo|76971186}}

{{#ev:vimeo|76972904}}

{{#ev:vimeo|76972902}} {{#ev:vimeo|76972903}} {{#ev:vimeo|76972901}}

Images

MG 8355.jpg DSC7065.jpg MG 8379.jpg MG 8372.jpg MG 8354.jpg DSC7098.jpg DSC7073.jpg DSC7067.jpg MG 8407.jpg DSC7107.jpg

Listen / Download

Listen / Download

Printed element

Download a PDF of the printed element of Playhead

Credits

Playhead was commissioned for Schizophonia, an exhibition curated by Anna Colin and Sam Thorne at Synagogue De Delme

New copyleft editions by Beatrice Dillon and Karen Gwyer have been produced for the exhibition.

Designer: Ismini Adami
Researcher: Matthew White

Playhead was supported by MIRIAD: Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design