Viral symphOny

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Full viral symphOny cover: art by Joseph Nechvatal The cOmplete.jpg
Full viral symphOny cover: art by Joseph Nechvatal

viral symphOny is a collaborative electronic noise music symphony created by the postconceptual artist Joseph Nechvatal. [1] [2] It was created between the years 2006 and 2008 using custom artificial life C++ software based on the viral phenomenon model. [3] It is 1 hour and 40 minutes in length. [4] The first movement of viral symphOny - and raw viral field material - was released in 2006 as a CD by The Institute for Electronic Arts in Alfred, New York. A low resolution extract from the pOstmOrtem section of viral symphOny was published in NME (The New Musical Express) magazine.

Contents

Awards and acknowledgements

Movements

Performance history

CD Donation

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, Joseph Nechvatal and Galerie Richard donated one hundred viral symphOny CD's to not-for-profit Harvestworks Digital Medias Art Center in New York City. [11]

Orlando et la tempête viral symphOny redux suite

In 2020, Joseph Nechvatal and Andrew Deutsch went back to virus-modelled audio material unused in the creation of viral symphOny and reworked it into the Orlando et la tempête viral symphOny redux suite by also integrating an anonymous reading of the novel Orlando, written by Virginia Woolf in 1928. Orlando et la tempête viral symphOny redux suite was created in connection with Joseph Nechvatal's art exhibition Orlando et la tempête, held in the Fall of 2020 at Galerie Richard Paris and was broadcast and archived [12] on January 16, 2021, at 4pm on WGXC 90.7-FM: Radio for Open Ears. [13]

Orlando et la tempête viral symphOny redux suite is one of the two LP vinyl records that make up Nechvatal's 2022 release The Viral Tempest on Pentiments Records. The other being pour finir avec le jugement de dieu viral symphOny plague. [14]

Tracklist:

Selected Sound Works (1981-2021)

In 2021, a retrospective of Joseph Nechvatal's sound art, [15] that included multiple aspects of viral symphOny, was produced by Pentiments Records as a 28 track 60minute audio cassette with digital download at Bandcamp [16] with Liner Notes by Laurent Fairon. It was released on October 15, 2021.

Tracklist:

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References

Recording reference

Footnotes

  1. Joseph Nechvatal Interview: see end for mention of viral symphOny
  2. "viral symphOny". Internet Archive.
  3. 2 excerpts from viral symphOny at UbuWeb
  4. Review of full viral symphOny by Continuo
  5. Observatori 2008: After The Future, p. 80
  6. viral symphOny by Joseph Nechvatal, Tuesday June 23, 2020, 5 pm – 5:40 pm Twitch.TV/harvestworks
  7. WAVE FARM ARCHIVE viral symphOny (Audio) June 06, 2020
  8. White Page Gallery viral symphOny first movement.
  9. Harvestworks announcement April 2102
  10. "Joseph Nechvatal Paris Art Show 2010". Scribd.
  11. Harvestworks donation announcement
  12. audio file of Orlando et la tempête viral symphOny redux suite by Joseph Nechvatal and Andrew Deutsch
  13. WGXC radio is presenting the Orlando et la tempête viral symphOny redux suite by Joseph Nechvatal and Andrew Deutsch
  14. vital weekly number 1329 music review of The Viral Tempest]
  15. "Tape Hiss: Joseph Nechvatal & The History Of Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine", Robert Barry, October 30, 2021, The Quietus – interview with Joseph Nechvatal about his history with sound in light of his recent tape release and his experiences in the cross-sections of New York No Wave, DIY Punk, Fluxus, Noise and cassette culture. La Monte Young, Joseph Beuys and Barbara Ess
  16. Pentiments Records' Selected Sound Works (1981-2021) by Joseph Nechvatal