Contour 2011

Curator: Anthony Kiendl 

Graphic design: Joris Kritis & Julie Peeters

Architecture: Kris Kimpe & Bruno Poelaert

Artists: Cory Arcangel, Pierre Bismuth, Chicks On Speed, Edith Dekyndt, Gabriela Fridriksdottir & Lazyblood, Noam Gonick & Luis Jacob, Dan Graham, Rodney Graham, Brion Gysin & Ian Sommerville, Joachim Koester, Adam Pendleton, Postcommodity, Lee Ranaldo & Leah Singer, Dennis Tyfus, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Jennifer West 

STATION MECHELEN-NEKKERSPOEL

Dennis Tyfus creates a 60-minute version of "The Girl from Ipanema," a bossa nova hit from the 1960s. Through constant repetition, it transforms into a form of "muzak," background music like that heard in shopping malls and public spaces. On various screens in the station, you see images of exotic dancers and psychedelic drawings. Gargles from Ipanema (2011) enters into dialogue with the repetitive pattern of the tiles in the station corridor, which bears similarities to the psychedelic art of the 1980s.

STATION BUILDING MECHELEN-NEKKERSPOEL

In the oppressive basement spaces of the station building, a performance by Club Moral was recently filmed. The Antwerp band, led by Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, performed the song "Bodies" (2011). The video footage of the performance is shown at the location where it was recorded. Those who descend into the dark basements are blown away by the sound of the music. Club Moral lives up to its reputation as a noise band. "Bodies" is an intense experience. Sound, architecture, and audience become one. (Note: Not for sensitive ears.)

At the opening of Contour 2011, Jennifer West recorded a live performance by Belgian artist and drummer Lara Dhondt and her band De Bossen (in collaboration with kunstencentrum nona). This resulted in Drummed Rock Film (2011). During a solo, Dhondt drums on strips of film, which West has altered with various products. The damaged film is later shown, resulting in hypnotic, abstract imagery. Along with the film, the video of the performance is displayed. The sound of the drums merges with the whirring of the projector.

TOY MUSEUM

Promoting a More Just, Verdant and Harmonious Resolution (2011) was created for Contour 2011. Postcommodity, an artist collective from the American Southwest, demonstrates the violent power of music. As visitors walk through the space, they step on sensors in the floor. The interaction between the visitor and the space triggers a sound explosion. The sound fragments consist of snippets of pop, heavy metal, punk, and rock. Can music function as a weapon? The viewer is immersed in a war-like situation. (Warning: not for sensitive ears.)

MALTERIE PLETSERS

Cory Arcangel modifies the popular video game Frets on Fire (Vurige Snaren), which is itself derived from Guitar Hero. On a plastic guitar console, players can mimic the notes on a screen. Arcangel replaces the rock melody of the game with the minimalist Composition 1960 #7, created in 1960 by American composer La Monte Young. The player can only strike two notes that last for minutes. You can achieve a high score without much effort. Anyone with fingers and patience can become a guitar hero thanks to Composition #7 (2009).

In Bloody Crepuscular Monstrous Rays (2011), created for Contour 2011, a couple (played by members of the group Lazyblood) wanders along old roads and through a barren landscape. They drift as if in a dream, encountering strangers along the way. Suddenly, the story takes an absurd turn. Gabriela Fridriksdottir and Lazyblood regularly collaborate on various projects involving dance, performance, and music. They draw their inspiration from death metal music, smoke machines, blood fountains, spaghetti westerns, and forests.

Myodesopsia is a medical term referring to an optical illusion. It describes spots that seem to float before our eyes. In reality, they are shadows on our retina, caused by a defect in the eye. In Myodesopsies, [Before Life], songs based on the lyrics of Myodesopsies (2001-2011), Edith Dekyndt replicates this phenomenon using a light screen. The longer you look at the white light, the more dancing threads and dots appear. By looking, you create your own moving image. The artist is more interested in the sounds of language than in the exact meaning of words. She describes the medical term 'myodesopsia' in a poetic text performed in various music genres.

Tarantism, according to Southern Italian folk legends, is a disease caused by a bite from the wolf spider or tarantula. The affected individuals become delirious, exhibit convulsions, and feel nauseous. For centuries, it was believed that the symptoms could be alleviated by dancing wildly. This belief gave rise to the Tarantella, a frantic dance. Joachim Koester was inspired by these uncontrolled movements. He filmed a group of professional dancers as they explored the limits of their bodies. The film Tarantism (2007) is structured around different choreographies, each with its own set of rules.

BIMSEM

Adam Pendleton reworks both the form and content of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1968 documentary Sympathy for the Devil. Godard showed long segments of rehearsals and recordings with The Rolling Stones, the superstars of that time. In Band (2009), Pendleton does the same with the alternative post-punk band Deerhoof. He also shows footage of protest movements such as the Black Panthers and the political chaos following the Kennedy assassinations. Pendleton highlights the cultural shifts between the 1960s, as seen in Godard’s work, and the present. He uses the language of avant-garde film but raises questions about current experimental art.

Rotary Psycho-Opticon (2008) is based on a stage prop created for the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath. You could see the band perform against such a backdrop when they performed the song "Paranoid" in a 1970s RTBF television program. Dan Graham created a kinetic sculpture. The installation evokes the spinning optical discs of Marcel Duchamp and psychedelic imagery. It is set into motion by pedaling a bicycle connected to it.

CHURCH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL

Lee Ranaldo is a writer, visual artist, and one of the founders of the band Sonic Youth. Leah Singer is a visual artist and filmmaker. Together, they have created works such as DRIFT (1991), a performance with live film and music. In Contour 2011, Ranaldo and Singer presented contre-jour (2011), a performance featuring live music, noise, and video projections. They engage in dialogue with the Dreamachine (1960) by Gysin & Sommerville.

The Dreamachine is an invention by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville. They were inspired by research on the nervous system. Their device consists of a cylinder with cutouts and a lamp mounted on a turntable. As the cylinder rotates, the light from the lamp passes through the slits at a rate of 8 to 13 flashes per second. These flashes stimulate the alpha waves in the brain, which can induce a hallucinatory visual experience. The 'Dreamachine' is considered the first artwork you can 'view' with your eyes closed. This way, you experience the effect of the flickering light best. (Warning: not suitable for people with epilepsy.)

SAINT RUMBOLD’S COLLEGE

Pierre Bismuth worked on a series called ‘Following the…hand…’. He projects a film onto a plexiglass wall while meticulously tracing with a black pen the movements made by a central figure with one or two hands. The abstract drawings that result are then converted into 16mm film for this work, which is projected as an animated film in the literal sense of the word. In Following Elvis Presley’s Hands in Jailhouse Rock (2011), Bismuth follows the movements of Elvis Presley’s hands while he performs the song “Jailhouse Rock” (1957). This creates a visual trace of Elvis' physical performance, showing how his body functions as a means of communication.

OLD CITY HALL

The Painter’s Enemy (2011) draws connections between music and biology. In a 1956 story, the English author J.G. Ballard describes a future where humans can hear melodies emitted by plants. In 1990, scientist (and musician) Joel Sternheimer discovered how music can stimulate plant life. Moreover, plants themselves can "make music" when the patterns of plant molecules are converted into a frequency audible to humans. Edith Dekyndt, in collaboration with a composer, has translated such sound waves into music for the theremin, a peculiar electronic instrument played from a distance.

DE GARAGE

A readymade is an artwork made from existing or found objects. In Endless Song (2011), the collective Chicks on Speed (COS) attempts to make you view everyday objects in a new way through the lens of art, music, and fashion. For the opening of the biennale, COS created a workshop at De Garage. They created an installation on-site, incorporating a recent invention: the E-shoe, a women’s pump with guitar strings.

CULTURAL CENTRE MECHELEN

Dan Graham creates a structure designed as a space for performances and encounters. Performance pavilion for a catholic city (2011) is conceived as a kind of stage. You see yourself reflected in the shiny surface. The artist wants you to think about the relationship between performer and audience. The mirror glass and steel create an optical effect: through the holes in the steel, a flamed pattern emerges. It evokes light shows from rock concerts and the psychedelic experiences we associate with rock culture. The pavilion aims to entice visitors to interact, both on a larger and more intimate scale.

A group of boys unleashes themselves amid the beauty of the Canadian prairies. Wildflowers of Manitoba (2007) by Luis Jacob & Noam Gonick showcases a utopian return to nature: blissful and sensual. These provocative, non-narrative images echo the alternative culture of the late 1960s, with experiments in communal living, environmental activism, and sexual liberation. It was a time of feminism and gay liberation. The music is slightly later and comes from Harmonium, a band from Québec (CAN) that promoted a separatist message. The half-sphere shape of the installation references the futuristic design of the 1960s and '70s.