10/12/2024
Very special show at The Screening Room on Tuesday, October 15th. We welcome Ceremonial Abyss alongside Grant Beyschau and Lid Ismuth. Doors at 7:30pm, music starts at 8, all ages, $10.
Ceremonial Abyss Plays Tony Conrad presents a live collaboration based around an unknown, found mixtape of Tony Conrad’s work. Transcending the fixed constraint of the medium, the cassette will be acting as a Present Source, (e.g. as an instrument in the room), byway of generative modular processing from the performer. The performer (Abyss) will be responding to the tape with additional live electronics as a secondary musician in an improvisational setting, letting the ghost of Tony Conrad completely lead the way.
Ceremonial Abyss (1987–) is an aleatoric tape artist, curator and writer based in the Pacific Northwest. He has toured the U.S. extensively in support of his releases 23, Betrayal, and Tape Study for Four Variants. Along the way, he has performed with musicians and authors such as Pete Swanson (Yellow Swans), Jennifer Soong, Zan da Perry, Vi Khi Nao, DIIV and Will Alexander.
Tony Conrad (1940–2016) was a multidisciplinary artist known for his groundbreaking art, music, films, and videos, although his work doesn’t fit comfortably within any of these disciplines. He eschewed categorization and actively sought to challenge the constraints of media forms, their modes of production, and the relationships of power embedded within them. Conrad was an early member of the Theatre of Eternal Music, along with La Monte Young, John Cale, Angus Maclise and Marian Zazeela.