Blank Forms

Last updated

Blank Forms is a not-for-profit arts organization based in New York City. It was founded by Lawrence Kumpf in 2016 as a platform for the preservation and presentation of experimental and time-based performance practices. [1] Blank Forms frequently works with individual artists on a long-term basis in order to create "in-depth public programs and educational materials that provide a range of perspectives on inherently ephemeral practices." [2] In 2017, the organization established Blank Forms Editions, a platform for disseminating texts and recordings related to their programming through anthologies, books, and audio releases. [3] [4] [5] Blank Forms has additionally organized exhibitions by Catherine Christer Hennix, Loren Connors, Henning Christiansen, and Graham Lambkin. [6] [7] [8] [9] Although Blank Forms presents events on a largely nomadic basis through partnerships with a variety of spaces, in 2020 the organization opened their own exhibition space in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood. [9] [10]

Contents

The Maryanne Amacher Foundation

Blank Forms was inaugurated on March 4, 2016 with Labyrinth Gives Way To Skin, the first of a series of seminars and listening sessions presented in collaboration with The Maryanne Amacher Archive to investigate the work of the late sound artist Maryanne Amacher. [1] Seminars, listening sessions, and concerts of Amacher's work by Blank Forms have taken place at Redcat, Artists Space, Bell Labs, The Kitchen, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, University of Pennsylvania, the Emily Harvey Foundation, and Holy Apostles and the Mediator. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] In 2020, Blank Forms established the Maryanne Amacher Foundation and donated the composer's archives to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts for use by researchers and artists. [19]

Notable Projects

In 2018, Blank Forms began the ongoing project of preserving and promoting the work of Swedish polymath and minimal music composer Catherine Christer Hennix. That year, Blank Forms co-curated two exhibitions of her artwork—Traversée du Fantasme at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Thresholds of Perception at Empty Gallery in Hong Kong—and released Selected Early Keyboard Works, the first volume in their series of archival releases of her unheard music. [6] [20] Subsequent volumes have included The Deontic Miracle: Selections from 100 Models of Hegikan Roku and Unbegrenzt. [21] [22] In 2019, Blank Forms anthologized Hennix's writing in the two-volume set Poësy Matters & Other Matters. [23]

In 2019, Blank Forms announced Intermediate States, a series of listening sessions, installations, and performances of the work of the French composer Éliane Radigue. The ongoing program has included diffusions of Radigue's tape works Trilogie de la mort, Adnos I-III, Chry-ptus, and Vice-Versa, etc... in addition to touring performances of her instrumental composition Occam Ocean. [24] [25]

Exhibitions

In 2018, Blank Forms co-curated Traversée du Fantasme, Catherine Christer Hennix's first solo museum exhibition since 1976, at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. [6] Later that year, Blank Forms occupied Artists Space's former space at 55 Walker St. in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood for two art exhibitions with accompanying performance programs. Wildweeds, Loren Connors' first solo art show, was supplemented with performances by the guitarist as well as by Charalambides. [7] Freedom Is Around the Corner was the first retrospective of Danish Fluxus artist Henning Christiansen's work in America, with sculpture, painting, video, sound works, objects, works on paper, self-published magazines, and other work shown. The exhibition also included the presentation of performances by Werner Durand, Mark Harwood, Ute Wassermann, Thorbjørn Reuter Christiansen, Lucy Railton, James Rushford, Stíne Janvin, Graham Lambkin, Áine O’Dwyer, Lau Nau, and Apartment House, in addition to a screening of films by Ursula Reuter Christiansen at Anthology Film Archives. [26] Although Blank Forms continues to work using a roving curatorial model to present performances and exhibitions without a fixed space, in 2020 the organization opened their first dedicated exhibition space in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood. [27] That winter, they presented Time Runs Through the Darkest Hour, an exhibition of drawings, mixed-media works on paper, and a sound piece by Graham Lambkin. [9]

Blank Forms Editions

In 2017, Blank Forms began publishing an anthology in book form, consisting of interviews, essays, poetry, newly-translated texts, and artwork and envisioned as "a platform for critical reflection and extended dialogue between scholars, artists, and other figures working within the world of experimental music and art." [28] That same year, they released a cassette by Charlemagne Palestine, inaugurating the record label branch of Blank Forms Editions. [4] The label has also released music by Catherine Christer Hennix, Hairbone, Loren Connors, Maryanne Amacher, Graham Lambkin & Joe McPhee, Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit, Patty Waters, and Afuma. [29] In 2019, they expanded their publishing wing by publishing three single-author books, by Loren Connors, Catherine Christer Hennix, and Joseph Jarman. [5] In 2020, they announced the publication of a book of selected writings and interviews by Maryanne Amacher and a collection of poetry about music by Thulani Davis. [30] [31] In 2021, Blank Forms Editions published Alan Licht's book Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995-2020.

Artists

Some of the artists with which Blank Forms has sustained extended relationships include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Flynt</span> Musical artist

Henry Flynt is an American philosopher, musician, writer, activist, and artist connected to the 1960s New York avant-garde. He coined the term "concept art" in the early 1960s, during which time he was associated with figures in the Fluxus scene. He later received attention for his anti-art demonstrations against New York cultural institutions in 1963 and 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryanne Amacher</span> American composer and musical artist

Maryanne Amacher was an American composer and installation artist. She is known for working extensively with a family of psychoacoustic phenomena called auditory distortion products, in which the ears themselves produce audible sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Éliane Radigue</span> French composer (born 1932)

Éliane Radigue is a French electronic music composer. She began working in the 1950s and her first compositions were presented in the late 1960s. Until 2000 her work was almost exclusively created with the ARP 2500 modular synthesizer and tape. Since 2001 she has composed mainly for acoustic instruments.

Stephan Mathieu is a German mastering engineer and former musician. He currently lives in Bonn, Germany where he runs Schwebung Mastering, an independent studio for audio mastering and restoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kasper T. Toeplitz</span> French composer and musician

Kasper T. Toeplitz is a French composer and musician of Polish origin, born in 1960. He lives in Paris.

Capp Street Project is an artist residency program that was originally located at 65 Capp Street in San Francisco, California. CSP was established as a program to nurture experimental art making in 1983 with the first visual arts residency in the United States dedicated solely to the creation and presentation of new art installations and conceptual art. The Capp Street Project name and concept has existed since 1983, although the physical space which the residency and exhibition program occupied has changed several times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Paglen</span> American artist, geographer, and author

Trevor Paglen is an American artist, geographer, and author whose work tackles mass surveillance and data collection.

<i>Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine</i>

Launched from the Lower East Side, Manhattan in 1983 as a subscription only bimonthly publication, the Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine utilized the audio cassette medium to distribute no wave downtown music and audio art and was in activity for the ten years of 1983–1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Christer Hennix</span> Swedish and American composer (1948–2023)

Catherine Christer Hennix was a Swedish musician, poet, philosopher, mathematician and visual artist. As a musician, she has worked with figures such as Pandit Pran Nath, La Monte Young, and Henry Flynt. Several of her archival recordings have been released in the 21st century, most prominently The Electric Harpsichord (2010). Hennix was affiliated with MIT's AI Lab in the late 1970s and was later employed as research professor of mathematics at SUNY New Paltz; she also worked with mathematician Alexander Esenin-Volpin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marianne Schroeder</span> Swiss pianist and composer (born 1949)

Marianne Schroeder is a Swiss pianist and composer. She studied with Giacinto Scelsi. She played at Carnegie Hall, Lucerne Festival and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. She worked with John Cage and Shigeru Kan-no.

Sanford Biggers is a Harlem-based interdisciplinary artist who works in film/video, installation, sculpture, music, and performance. An L.A. native, he has lived and worked in New York City since 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laetitia Sonami</span> Musical artist

Laetitia Sonami, is a sound artist, performer, and composer of interactive electronic music who has been based in the San Francisco Bay area since 1978. She is known for her electronic compositions and performances with the ‘’Lady’s Glove’’, an instrument she developed for triggering and manipulating sound in live performance. Many of her compositions include live or sampled text. Sonami also creates sound installation work incorporating household objects embedded with mechanical and electronic components. Although some recordings of her works exist, Sonami generally eschews releasing recorded work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greene Naftali Gallery</span> Contemporary art gallery in New York City

Greene Naftali is a contemporary art gallery located in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.

Doron Langberg is an American painter. Langberg paints in the style of genre painting and portraiture and addresses issues of gender and sexuality by making love and desire a shared experience through the surface and subjects of his paintings.

Angharad Davies is a Welsh violinist and composer, known for her work in the field of free improvisation, her use of prepared violin, her extensive discography and collaborative work with other musicians.

Caitlin Cherry is an African-American painter, sculptor, and educator.

Catherine Lamb is an American composer and violist, and a winner of the 2020 Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize.

Sisters with Transistors is a 2020 documentary film directed by Lisa Rovner in her directorial debut. It premiered at the 2020 South by Southwest Film Festival and was later screened at AFI Fest. The rights to the documentary were acquired by Metrograph Pictures.

References

  1. 1 2 "Blank Forms present programme dedicated to Maryanne Amacher - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  2. ↑ Dalachinsky, Steve (2016-10-04). "Outtakes". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  3. 1 2 "Blank Forms announce in-house journal Magazine - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  4. 1 2 "Charlemagne Palestine - STTT THOMASSS ‘’’’"‘"DINGGGDONGGGDINGGGzzzzzzz ferrrr TONYYY’’’’’’’’". Boomkat. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  5. 1 2 "Blank Forms Editions to publish books by Loren Connors, Catherine Christer Hennix and Joseph Jarman". Fact Magazine. 2019-08-27. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  6. 1 2 3 "Catherine Christer Hennix". stedelijk.nl. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  7. 1 2 3 "Catherine Damman on Loren Connors at Blank Forms". artforum.com. 10 October 2018. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  8. 1 2 Farago, Jason; Schwendener, Martha; Heinrich, Will; Steinhauer, Jillian (2018-10-24). "What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Recidoro, Zeny May (2020-02-05). "Graham Lambkin". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  10. ↑ Battaglia, Andy (2016-12-22). "Sound Disposition: A Personal, Peculiar Top 10 of a Memorable Year in Art". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  11. ↑ rrodriguez (2018-12-17). "Maryanne Amacher: Adjacencies (1965)". redcat.org. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  12. ↑ "Maryanne Amacher". artistsspace.org. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  13. ↑ Mike (2018-02-04). "Maryanne Amacher in New York and New Jersey, March 30 and 31". Avant Music News. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  14. 1 2 "Maryanne Amacher Adjacencies". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  15. 1 2 Walls, Seth Colter (2017-05-19). "Reviving the Ghostly Sounds of Maryanne Amacher". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  16. ↑ "Maryanne Amacher: Adjacencies, Petra, Supreme Connections ::: Friday, April 12, 2019 at Holy Apostles and the Mediator". Bowebird. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  17. ↑ "Maryanne Amacher: An Introduction ::: Tuesday, April 7, 2019 at the Kislak Center". Bowerbird. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  18. ↑ emilyharveyfoundation.org https://www.emilyharveyfoundation.org/newyork/Pages/EmilyHarveyFoundation/0044.html . Retrieved 2020-06-24.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ↑ "New York Public Library Acquires Archive of Sound Art Pioneer Maryanne Amacher". artforum.com. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  20. ↑ "Empty Gallery – Thresholds of Perception". emptygallery.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  21. ↑ "Archive releases of the year". The Wire. 431: 49. January 2020.
  22. ↑ "FFFoxy Podcast #161: Blank Forms feature". 2020-06-13. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  23. ↑ Battaglia, Andy (2019-12-24). "The Year in Sound: Writings, Recordings, and Performances of Artful Aurality in 2019". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  24. 1 2 "Eliane Radigue". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  25. ↑ "Blank Forms to host performances of four Éliane Radigue works in NYC". Fact Magazine. 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  26. ↑ "Blank Forms opens first institutional survey of Henning Christiansen's work in America". artdaily.cc. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  27. ↑ McGovern, Fiona (December 2018). "Curating Sound". Texte zur Kunst. 112: 76.
  28. ↑ Dalachinsky, Steve (2017-07-14). "Outtakes". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  29. ↑ "Blank Forms Editions". Discogs. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  30. ↑ Maryanne Amacher Selected Writings and Interviews Artbook | D.A.P. 2020 Catalog Blank Forms Editions 9781733723572.
  31. 1 2 Nothing but the Music Artbook | D.A.P. 2020 Catalog Blank Forms Editions Books Exhibition Catalogues 9781733723565.
  32. ↑ "Album of the Day: Afuma, "Songs From the Shore"". Bandcamp Daily. 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  33. ↑ "Printed Matter's NY Art Book Fair 2019 Opening Night | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  34. ↑ "9 Art Events in New York: Leonardo da Vinci, Pierre Cardin, Onyx Ashanti, and More". ARTnews.com. 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  35. ↑ Eppley, Charles (2017-11-02). "The Experimental Music of Maryanne Amacher and Philip Corner". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  36. ↑ "Strong Sales at Frieze Los Angeles; Billionaire Donates $3M to James Turell's Roden Crater". Hyperallergic. 2020-02-20. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  37. ↑ "Strange Structures: How Maryanne Amacher Made Shapes with Sound". daily.redbullmusicacademy.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  38. ↑ Dayal, Geeta. "Maryanne Amacher". 4columns.org. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  39. ↑ "Henning Christiansen". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  40. ↑ "Three Ordinary Seasons in New Haven « Artedolia" . Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  41. ↑ "Printed Matter NY Art Book Fair 2019 to host talks on Joseph Jarman, David Grubbs and Tony Conrad". FACT Magazine. 2019-09-20. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  42. ↑ "Ndagga Rhythm Force". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  43. ↑ "Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force postpone New York show, announce DJ set instead". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  44. ↑ "Catherine Christer Hennix: Selected Early Keyboard Works". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  45. ↑ Choate, Canada (February 2018). "Alternative Math". Artforum. 56, 6: 57.
  46. 1 2 "What to Do in N.Y.C. This Weekend: "The Women Behind Hitchcock," Lekka Burger, Dry Cleaning, and "Dana H."". The New Yorker. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  47. ↑ Reising, Sam (2018-04-30). "This week: concerts in New York (April 30, 2018 – May 6, 2018)". I Care If You Listen. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  48. ↑ "Special Event: Observations At Night x Blank Forms - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  49. ↑ "News » Return to Hoffman Estates This week! | Drag City". dragcity.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  50. ↑ "Lawrence Kumpf, editor - Blank Forms Magazine". Printed Matter. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  51. ↑ Dalachinsky, Steve (2017-09-07). "Outtakes". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  52. ↑ "Prismatic Park exhibition coming to NYC's Madison Square Park: Matana Roberts, Joe McPhee, Graham Lambkin, and more to perform with a blue tint". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  53. ↑ "The Month in Weird: December's Best Avant-Garde Concerts". Observer. 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  54. ↑ Battaglia, Andy (2017-07-27). "Bells and Bears and Beings, Oh My!: Charlemagne Palestine Takes New York". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  55. ↑ Coley, Byron (February 2018). "Size Matters". The Wire. 408: 62.
  56. ↑ "Artist support network Blank Forms launches its first annual benefit concert - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  57. ↑ Heinrich, Will (2019-09-18). "TriBeCa, the New Art Stroll". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  58. ↑ Downey, Walker (2019-12-11). "Reappraising Luc Ferrari and Éliane Radigue, Two Renegades of French Music". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  59. ↑ "New York Classical Review". newyorkclassicalreview.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  60. ↑ Petrossiants, Andreas (2017-11-14). "Annea Lockwood, Aki Onda, and Akio Suzuki: Presented by Blank Forms". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  61. ↑ "Blank Forms Announces Volume 2 of Journal: Music From the World Tomorrow". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  62. ↑ Mike (2020-05-03). "Blank Forms Upcoming Releases". Avant Music News. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  63. ↑ Gotrich, Lars (18 June 2019). "Viking's Choice: Japanese Free Jazz, Psychedelic Hardcore, Doomy Drone". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  64. ↑ Russonello, Giovanni (2018-05-02). "Live Jazz: 5 April Standouts, From Andrew Cyrille to Linda May Han Oh". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  65. ↑ "Sasha Frere-Jones on Patty Waters". artforum.com. 23 September 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  66. ↑ "On the Record: February 15, 2019 – Page 13". National Sawdust Log. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.