David Schafer “Four Letters to Mahler”

Studio 10

poster for David Schafer “Four Letters to Mahler”

This event has ended.

Continuing his usage of language, sound, and sculpture, David Schafer’s solo exhibition Four Letters to Mahler includes new works that reference Arnold Schoenberg and his letters to Gustav Mahler written in 1909 and 1910.

In Four Letters to Mahler, Schafer presents a room sized sculpture fabricated of aluminum struts that are host to an eight channel sound work. In this work, Schafer created a complex sonic work based on Schoenberg’s own language but existing more in a Cagean arena of voice that challenges the listener further with degrees of aural perception and intelligibility. The letters are personal and reveal the complex relationship between Schoenberg and the composer Mahler, whom Schoenberg admired greatly. Schoenberg is known for his compositions in atonal and 12 tone arrangements.

The amplifier, lights, text panels, eight speakers, and four iPods are attached to the structure in what Schafer describes as a “sound-emitting kiosk” in continuous play. The sound is generated from a directed, spoken-word reading of four letters in English with German accent and intonation. Each iPod is dedicated to one letter that is repeated with twelve variations. The tracks are processed with electronic treatments involving degrees of delay and distortion that interrogate the language to its collapse. The arrangement of the tracks challenges the dominance of the voice and it’s intelligibility. The continual shift and interruption of the voice generates an unpredictable spatial experience as one walks around the sculpture. The letters are presented on transparent film and hang from the sculpture, partially illuminated by two fluorescent lights also mounted to the sculpture.

DSENOISE is a signed edition boxed set that includes 12 CDs, poster, insert, sticker, and packaged in a die cut hand-assembled box, designed in collaboration with Shiffman&Kohnke in Los Angeles. This edition is the culmination of a one-year project in which Schafer released a CD once a month. The 64 tracks total add up to 10 hours of electronic noise Schafer created live in his studio and at NY and LA venues. A listening station is available with all tracks for selected listening in addition to a display of the complete set. Schafer has performed and recorded under the moniker of DSE for several years and is engaged in the genre and discourse of noise. This project serves as a conceptual document that contextualizes this sound work in multiple forms including mp3, vinyl, cd, cassette, and live performances. www.dsenoise.com

Media

Schedule

from November 15, 2013 to December 08, 2013

Opening Reception on 2013-11-15 from 19:00 to 21:00

Artist(s)

David Schafer

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