Art's Birthday: Wiencouver

Description:

This performance was programmed as part of a multi-day celebration of Art’s Birthday that coincided with the 100th anniversary of radio. Local and international artists used sound, video, robotics, poetry, images, and performance to celebrate and deconstruct utopian ideas of network, radio, and places.  

Wiencouver (an imaginary place invented by Hank Bull) is a series of exchanges, visits, and events that have taken place between Vancouver and Vienna since 1979.

Artist Volkmar Klien at Kunstradio in Vienna worked with the sounds of mechanical motors (spring driven devices) including sounds from Vienna’s clock museum. These sounds paid homage to the fact that before radio, clocks were used as an aid to navigation. Klien’s broadcast was received at Western Front augmented with projections and sound interventions by Absolute Value of Noise, Anna Friz, and Glenn Gear.

Video documentation available upon request.