ONE MAN’S TRASH is another man’s treasure, as the adage goes. But what if the discarded item were a shred of unraveled melody, a sonic scrap? Audio wizard Christian Marclay is interested in “the sounds that people don’t want.” Spinning art out of overlooked materials, such as the shards of a vinyl record, or the musical interlude from a cult film, he engages in one of pop culture’s pet projects: the redemption of damaged goods. The result is a collection of avant-garde yet strangely familiar compositions, a mash-up of static blips, muffled bass, squeeze toy chirps, the odd bongo beat, and the dreamy resonance of a plucked harp string.
Replay, now showing at DHC/ART, offers a good sampling of the artist’s vast soundscapes, assembling his video works from the past 25 years.
In Marclay’s hands the glossy vinyl, with its sexy club culture appeal, is given new purpose that goes beyond the DJ turntable. Whether played, destroyed, or even ingested like a giant Eucharist at the church of rock n’ roll, he elevates the record from mere object to potent symbol through several acts of reincarnation.
For his 1985 video “Ghost (I Don’t Live Here Anymore),” he invented the Phonoguitar (a turntable made to be slung over the shoulder and played like a guitar), so that he could imitate Jimi Hendrix without having to learn to play an instrument. Cheeky appropriation and childlike imagination continue in “Mixed Reviews (American Sign Language),” as deaf actor Jonathan Hall Kovacs interprets a series of excerpts from metaphorically rich music reviews.
Using sign language to convey “sound texture as delicate as a cobweb chang[ing] into dense clusters, then into a pointillist constellation of colour, rhythm, and dynamic articulation from an angular constructivism,” Kovacs puffs up his cheeks, claws the empty space, and navigates his way through an invisible tsunami. With eyebrows raised and hand cradling chin, he sometimes appears as stumped as the critics in trying to capture the essence of a work. The overall effect is both hypnotic and comical, as the actor attempts to embody an art form twice removed.
In contrast to this subtle and silent choreography, “Guitar Drag” cranks the sound to full blast, forcing us not only to hear but also feel the wails of an amplified Fender Stratocaster as it is tied to the back of a truck and trailed along Texan back roads. The sound is just as violent as the image it evokes: in 1998, an African American man was chained to a truck and dragged to his death at the hands of white supremacists. Returning to the punk sensibility that shaped him as a young artist, this recent work makes clear that Marclay continues to produce politically charged art.
Replay closes on a lighter note, however, with the musical strains of Hollywood. Hearing the rat-a-tat-tat of Scarface and the ring-a-ding-ding of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes leaves us with the sense that some sounds never grow old.
Replay runs until March 29th, 2009 at DHC/ART, 451 St-Jean.
Christian Marclay will be speaking on Saturday, December 13th from 3 to 5p.m. at the Monument National, 1182 St-Laurent. Free admission, limited seating.
The Sounds of Christmas, a community project/art installation in collaboration with local DJs, will take place at the Darling Foundry, 745 Ottawa Street, from December 14th to 20th.
For more information, visit www.dhc-art.org.
