The idea of a performance installation is derived from the concepts of Alvin Lucier, David Birchfield, Morton Feldman, Lamonte Young, William Anastasi, Dove Bradshaw and Max Neuhaus. The working title for this installation is "Sustained Metal". Performance installation implies an element of 'live performance', and in this particular installation the performance will be the subject and the sound source. Many sound installations use technology to produce the 'effect', in this work technology is only the conduit. The 'effect', or experience, in "Sustained Metal" is the processes of human energy and mechanical/acoustic energy over long periods of time.
The work takes place in two isolated spaces. One for the performer, and one for a series of speaker sculptures. The performer performs a selected process that is not 'composed' or 'derived', but is simple. This process should 'excite' the speaker elements to create a meta-representation of the live performance. The speakers can be made of anything, but should not sound like conventional speakers. The speakers represent the sound of the live performance only in 'motion', their sonic qualities can differ from element to element. This means that they should be constructed to work like a speaker, but to create a 'sound corollary' that is intrinsic to itself. My 'speaker sculptures' will be made from the instruments that I play, mostly metal. It could be interpreted that the speaker sculptures are meta-instruments, or a meta-color of the live performance.
With this project I want to explore a new performance media, and intersect with current artistic trends in representation and presentation. The idea of installation and performance is very interesting to me. Of the performance installations I have seen none of them deal with the live performance as subject and source. Most of them are simply 'exhibits', and not experiences or processes. It is my intention to find compelling new performance media and to evade popular contemporary art evangelism.