The Burroughsian Ideal of Space As Curatorial Strategy in Audial Art
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Title Nothing Short of Complete Liberation: The Burroughsian Ideal of Space as Curatorial Strategy in Audial Art Type Thesis URL http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/7780/ Date 2014 Citation Jackson, Mark (2014) Nothing Short of Complete Liberation: The Burroughsian Ideal of Space as Curatorial Strategy in Audial Art. PhD thesis, University of the Arts London. Creators Jackson, Mark Usage Guidelines Please refer to usage guidelines at http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact [email protected]. License: Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Unless otherwise stated, copyright owned by the author Mark Peter Andrew Jackson Nothing Short of Complete Liberation: The Burroughsian Ideal of Space as Curatorial Strategy in Audial Art London College of Communication University of the Arts London Submitted as requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2014 Abstract: Nothing Short of Complete Liberation: The Burroughsian Ideal of Space as Curatorial Strategy in Audial Art Mark Jackson, 2014 This research contributes to an understanding of curatorial strategy and sound art practices by using an inferential approach to curating. The study uses analysis of the theories and tape experiments of William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) to explore curatorial problems occurring within sound-related gallery displays of contemporary art. The study presents a Burroughsian methodology of curatorial practice engaging in “games with space and time” (Mottram 1977) in a manner suggestive of a complex form of mediation between aspects of the “meaning-making process” (Drabble in Graham 2010) relevant to the presentation of an exhibition of sound art. The study examines Burroughs’ project in the ‘60s and early ‘70s in the theoretical framework of curatorial strategy in sound-oriented practices to articulate a domain of meaning-making focused on visitor interactions. By considering interaction with sound as an unstable and unclear process, and privileging the exhibition visitor as the focus of the process of meaning-making in exhibitions, this study presents an ecological approach to curating, advancing studies in ecological approaches to meaning (Clarke 2005 and Gibson 1979), definitions of meaning in relation to Konstantns Raudive’s experiments with Electronic Voice Phenomena (Raudive 1971 and Banks 2012) and Burroughs’ revision of L Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics (Hubbard 1950). This study advances practical studies in curatorial theory and Burroughs scholarship, with particular regard to how meaning-making processes might be conceptualised in sound-based artistic domains. To this end it includes the practical example of a sound art exhibition Dead Fingers Talk: The Tape Experiments of William S. Burroughs at IMT Gallery, London, in 2010. Through analysis of Burroughs’ project and how it absorbed his understanding of Cubism, Alfred Korzybski (1879-1950), and Hubbard, his collaborations with Brion Gysin (1916-1986) and his application of experimental techniques, the study articulates a Burroughsian space as a motivation for experimental curatorial practice. Acknowledgements Thank you to Angus Carlyle, Salomé Voegelin and David Toop for their unwavering support, commitment and patience, with special thanks to Salomé for her encouragement when first quizzed over that curry in Whitechapel and for her tireless generosity throughout. Thank you to everyone, the individuals and organisations both mentioned and unmentioned, who contributed to the various Dead Fingers Talk exhibitions and events not only invaluable to this thesis but also to the activities, friendships and arguments that they inspired. Finally thank you to Jenny Foster, Lindsay Friend, Fiona Jackson, Betty Palmer, Michael Foster and the countless others who kept the drive alive. I owe you a great debt of gratitude, much of which I will never be able to repay. For Sebastian. Contents 0 Introduction 1 0.1 Burroughs 3 0.2 Thesis Outline 5 0.3 Curator-as-Practitioner 7 0.4 Audial Art 14 1. Contextualising Sounds and Hearing as Unclear and Unstable 24 1.1 Subjective Listening 28 1.2 Sound and Cognition – niche and domain 33 1.3 Sound and Cognition – affordance 36 1.4 Sound and Technology 41 1.5 Conclusion 49 2 William S. Burroughs and Meaning-Making 52 2.0 Introduction 52 2.1 Burroughs and Meaning-Making 52 2.2 Burroughs on Korzybski 54 2.3 Gysin, Cubism and the Cut-Ups 63 2.4 “nothing is true, everything is permitted” – from Space-Binding to Space 73 2.5 Burroughsian Space 75 2.5.1 Space in Burroughs’ Literature 76 2.5.2 Some Other Manifestations of Burroughsian Space 82 2.6 Conclusion 90 3 The Tape Experiments: Sound in Burroughs’ Thought and Work 91 3.0 Introduction 91 3.0.1 Burroughs’ Resonance in Music 91 3.1 Burroughs’ Voice and the Routine 95 3.1.1 Burroughs’ Voice 98 3.2 The Tape Experiments 102 3.2.1 The Tapes 105 3.2.2 ‘Handkerchief Masks, News Cut-ups’ 107 3.2.3 ‘Working with the Popular Forces’ 117 3.2.3.1 Intro 117 3.2.3.2 News/Schultz 117 3.2.3.3 Noise 120 3.2.4 ‘Her Primrose Laundry’ 123 3.2.5 ‘WSB and IS. Stereo Experiment’ 130 3.3 Dianetics and Scientology 137 3.3.1 The E-Meter 142 3.4 Burroughs’ Recordings as Not-Artworks 147 3.5 Outside East St. Louis in the dominion of aging roots, ten-year-old keeping watch – Cracked pool hall and vaudeville voices made this dream – distant coffin between the mirrors of time that meanwhile i had forgotten 155 3.6 Conclusion “The Recording is Incomplete and Cuts Off Abruptly” 158 4 The Tape Experiments of William S. Burroughs at IMT Gallery 162 4.0 Introduction 162 4.1 Basic Concerns in Establishing a Curatorial Strategy for the Exhibition 163 4.2 Recent Exhibitions of Burroughs’ Work 166 4.2.1 Curating Burroughs: Fallows and Genzmer at Kunsthalle Wien 167 4.2.2 Curating Burroughs: Breger, Heil and Weibel at ZKM 168 4.2.3 Curating Burroughs: Rondinone at the Palais de Tokyo 168 4.2.4 Hirst and Lucas as Examples of Engagement with the Burroughs Myth 172 4.3 Dead Fingers Talk 176 4.3.1 Artists and Autonomy 178 4.3.2 The “Recording” 181 4.3.3 A Note Regarding Participants 182 4.3.4 The Recordings 183 4.3.5 The Exhibition 190 4.3.5.1 First Thought Best Thought 198 4.4 Conclusion 199 5 Conclusion 201 Bibliography 206 0 Introduction Curating contemporary art has become an open field for alternative methodologies. As the nature of art exhibitions and sites of engagement with art has expanded, artists, gallerists, critics and academics have opened up curating to different approaches in response to different needs. The role of the curator has shifted from caring for collections to becoming a key figure in the presentation of works, sometimes to the extent of being considered the author of artistic propositions. The discourse surrounding curating has also expanded and continues to evolve in response to new ways in which artists and curators are approaching the placement and contextualisation of works. As curators take on different projects and approach curating from different backgrounds, the methodologies of curating are welcoming less formal, more experimental approaches that have profound effects on the nature of the work presented. The articulation and analysis of curatorial strategies matters to artists, visitors and others involved in contemporary culture because it provides insights into processes by which art is brought into view. For the processes involved in the engagement with art to be properly considered, it is important to closely examine the context, design and presentation of exhibition making. Exhibitions provide a framework for artistic presentation and as such have a direct effect on how we engage with art. The specific strategies curators develop towards the aims of individual projects are therefore of increasing relevance to the discussion of art, meaning and environments of engagement. The often complex or evasive language of art press releases, catalogues and information sheets can easily complicate or conceal the role of the curator in the presentation. Whilst such language can help keep the interpretation of work open to analysis and encourage intellectual as well as sensorial engagement, it can make the activities, motivations and objectives of the curator unclear. By contrast this thesis presents a candid approach to the development of a curatorial strategy. In comparison to conversations on curating visual art, the histories of curating art that involves or prioritises sound is relatively slim. The designation contemporary art is commonly associated with the history of the visual arts. Towards the end of the 20th Century and in the beginning of the 21st, sound has been making itself more and more present in the visual art landscape. In 2010 the Turner Prize dropped the word “visual” from its “visual art prize” for the first time and announced that the sound artist Susan 1 Philipsz would be part of the short list. Philipsz would go on to win the prize, a major indication that sound was being recognised by the UK art establishment as an important presence in contemporary art. The curatorial strategy presented in my thesis is one that prioritises sound as a medium for contemporary exhibition projects and as such makes an important contribution to this field of research. This thesis aims to articulate a curatorial strategy that is coherent both for artists and curators involved in the complex interplay of media found in contemporary practices. It does so through the work ideas and experiments of 20th Century author William S. Burroughs, which provides versatile resources from which to construct such a strategy. This thesis is the culmination of research inspired by my practice as a curator of art and my interest in the treatment of sound in the visual arts.