Gordon Monahan really knows how to get sound moving.
In 1982, the experimental-music artist first performed Speaker Swinging. What has turned out to be Monahan's seminal composition and performance-art routine features three perpetrators, strategically positioned in the same room, swinging illuminated, cable-attached loud speakers 'round and 'round in swooping circular motions.
There's more. Emanating from those speakers are abrasive, industrial-type sounds that Monahan sculpts from sine-wave oscillators, the in-the-back-pocket choice for today's noise artists.
On Friday, February 4, Monahan performs his infamous piece at antispace during an exclusive First Friday shindig. The evening will also feature the U.S. debut of Monahan's Sauerkraut Synthesizer, a composition that, no joshing, "uses naturally-occurring voltages in fruits and vegetables to control parameters of a software synthesizer designed in Max/MSP," according to the official release.
The Toronto-based creative type roots his compositions, such as Speaker Swinging, in Fluxus traditions that are renewed to include industrial-centric electronic music. Rather than showcasing traditional, classical music-inspired ebbs and flows in the actual music, the movements are illustrated in the showmanship of the performance.
Locals sharing the eve's bill include sound manipulator Barry Schwartz, experimental electro cats Dayvid LeMmon and Scot McKenzie performing in the Elektrobahn project, light projectionist Hugo Ross, and mixed-media artist Laura Kikauka.
Stuff gets going at 9 p.m. at antispace, 715 West Buchanan Street. Admission is $10 at the door. For more information, check out the Facebook event page.
In the meantime, take a lookie at this footage of Speaker Swinging: