Supermodels


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"Advertising ruins the world; Supermodels suck."

Listen to Supermodels in Real Audio format. [28.8] [ISDN]


Performance Instructions

While listening to the pre-recorded audio playing on the stage, you are to destroy an object (or objects) of your choice that somehow relate to the audio track (or your interpretation of it [indeterminacy]). I recommend starting with one large single item and gradually breaking off bits of it (subtraction/division) until its pieces are scattered all over the stage (thus transforming into addition/multiplication).

In my performance interpretation, I use a fashion magazine. As the audio track plays, I flip through the magazine and tear out as many sexually suggestive ads as I can find and arrange them on the floor all around me where the audience can see them . The idea is to get the audience to connect with me in annoyance that there are so many images in one magazine, and it is obvious that I am only randomly tearing them out, since the magazine will have been completely intact before the performance (indeterminacy again - which in this case actually strengthens the social message and "proof" of the audio statement) . In the spirit of the fluxus movement, I am using mathematical elements joined with an every day item - a fashion magazine - to create an intermedia performance piece with a socially rebellious message .


Audio Components

The audio background was created by mixing five tracks in Pro Tools. The entire piece lasts one minute and 40 seconds but can be extended easily to any length. Initially, I recorded only two tracks:

  1. my voice saying "Advertising ruins the world, super models suck" repeatedly for a minute and a half, and

  2. a glocken sample from a synthesizer.

The glocken music notes played are random (indeterminacy), however there is a rhythmic pattern I am actually adhering to strictly:

Left 1, Right 1-2, Left 1, Right 1-2, Left 1, Right 1.

Once I digitized the music in Pro Tools, I copied and pasted (addition/multiplication) my speaking part four additional times to create interesting textures that I liked. To create a sense of increased tension, I adjusted the volume levels of different tracks, including the music, so that the general volume of the piece is in something close to a bell shaped curve.

L.A. Kessler
February 2000

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