Sonic Youth | No Discipline | Part I
Februar 27, 2009 · Print This Article
Sonic Youth were never just whirring feedback and loads of distortion. For the past 27 years, this famous postpunk band was also a crystallization point for a network that goes from cool to artsy, from avant-garde to sectarianism, and is ambitious and multidisciplinary across all the arts. To shed light on the furthest reaches of this cosmos, an exhibition is currently touring through Europe: “Sonic Youth etc. – Sensational Fix.” We asked the curators and artists involved in the project for their own personal feedback.
What’s your private link to Sonic Youth?
In 1999 I was asked to co-ordinate the exhibition “Kim’s Bedroom” in Eindhoven, and to produce new works for it with the participating artists, as well as to design the layout/installation of it. Kim curated it. Then I got to know her and Thurston and the artists involved in that show and this sparked off the idea for the concept of the exhibition ”Sonic Youth etc. – Sensational Fix” that is now touring.
How was your first meeting with Kim and Thurston?
Well, that was almost ten years ago… I guess I must have been a bit nervous at first when we met about the “Kim’s Bedroom” exhibition, but she’s such a wonderful person and really trusted the way I was dealing with the coordination of the show and the design of the space. Of Thurston I remember that when we were installing in the exhibition space in Eindhoven he was continuously playing “NYC Ghosts & Flower”, that Sonic Youth had just finished recording. This way I got to hear it months before it came out. Really stimulating music to listen to while installing a show…
What’s your favorite album/song of Sonic Youth?
Since Sonic Youth has put out such an extensive discography that has a multitude of facets that are hard to compare, this is difficult to say. “Daydream Nation” is a classic, as are “Goo” and “Dirty”… They are also very effective in cover songs, “Superstar” of the Carpenters” and “I’m Not There” being among my all time favorites. In these songs a pop structure is being treated with a sonic touch, a noise that’s lingering beneath the surface of the structure of the song, which I find really great.
Describe the particular Sonic Youth style.
My interest in Sonic Youth is not so much their musical output but more something bigger that I detected: a sonic universe in which art, design, architecture, and music come together. This is illustrated by their collaborations with others as well as in their music output (record covers, posters, band photos etc. done by artists). The exhibition thus tells a specific and alternative story of contemporary culture that I am interested in, which links all those disciplines in a natural way.
What’s so sexy about Sonic Youth?
They’re always developing, looking for new territories, going unexpected directions… They’re curious about work by other artists. They take in a lot of culture and process this in their own sonic way. They sometimes puzzle you for a second with certain moves, but in retrospect it all makes sense… In a sonic way! This all happens very naturally and fluidly. And their performances are still very intense and sexy after 27 years!
Tell us about your approach to the show “Sensational Fix.”
For me, the story of the show is a very organic one. It starts with predecessors of the band, artists from the 1970s and 1980s downtown Manhattan scene, whose work is being contrasted with Sonic Youth paraphernalia (record covers, posters, lyric sheets, photos of the band by visual artists…), as the band started in the same period. Then, the already apparent themes in Sonic Youth’s output are grouped as such out of works by the participating artists that they form an audiovisual essay in which those themes are being broadened. In general, Sonic Youth—as many of the artists in the show—in their output process (American) post-war culture to say something about today’s society, where the same errors occur as the ones that have been occurring from the 1950s onwards. They were born during the Cold War, in the anti-communist 1950s, from which the counterculture of the beats emerged. As teenagers they lived the hippies’ 1960s that ended in bloodshed with the Manson ordered murders, then the continuing Vietnam War… And as young adults they witnessed and participated in late 1970s punk and no wave movements, while 1980s Reagan years further fueled hardcore bands and Sonic Youth to rebel against all the injustice in American society… at the same time they are very aware of and take in the history of art, literature, cinema… from which they borrow a lot for their work. This is what we wanted to bring out, among others, in the exhibition.
Archives Sonic Youth, Foto > © Marc Domage
avant-garde composer and guitarist
What’s your private link to Sonic Youth?
My cock.
Tell us about your first meeting with Kim and Thurston.
I found out that she’s a good cook and he’s a record collector.
What’s your favorite album/song of Sonic Youth?
“I Killed Christgau with My Big Fuckin’ Dick”
Sonic Youth are considered as an “art rock band” mixing the disciplines. When are you working multi-disciplinarily?
By hiring a couple dominatrixes.
What are your current projects?
Writing symphonies based on Sonic Youth songs.
Describe the particular Sonic Youth style.
Dirty jeans, flannel shirts and mini skirts.
What’s so sexy about Sonic Youth?
They suck blood from my dick before every gig. If you doubt me you can refer to a letter written by Thurston and printed in The Village Voice.
„Evol“, Richard Kern
underground filmmaker, and photographer
What’s your private link to Sonic Youth?
I was introduced to them by Lydia Lunch when she was recording “Death Valley 69” with them. I became a co-director on the video for that song and shot the cover for the album “Evol.” We’ve been friends since then.
What’s your favorite album/song of Sonic Youth?
“Expressway to Your Skull.” The line, “we’re gonna kill the California girls” really resonated with me and the scene I was involved in. We weren’t into killing girls but we were anti hippie and air heads.
Sonic Youth are considered as an “art rock band” mixing the disciplines. When are you working multi-disciplinarily?
I make films, I shoot photographs. I show some of these films and photos in galleries.
What are your current projects?
I just released a book, “Looker”, and will have a show in NYC at Feature Inc. in fall this year.
Describe the particular Sonic Youth style.
NYC downtown art school rocker survivalist.
What Sonic Youth record would you rather have made the cover design for?
The next one.
What’s so sexy about Sonic Youth?
Thurston’s height, Kim’s arms, Lee’s hair color, Steve’s smile.
Richard Kern, „Lung as Bratt“, 1986
visual artist and composer
What’s your private link to Sonic Youth?
I’d like to believe that I went to the very first Sonic Youth gig, I don’t even think they had a name yet. It was at a bar in Tribeca in New York. Before the show they were still figuring out chords across the street on the sidewalk. It was very raw and intimate, maybe a dozen people were there.
When did your first meeting with Kim and Thurston take place?
I met Kim in 1980 when I invited Dan Graham to perform in Boston. She was performing in an all-girl band with Christine Hahn (from The Static) and Miranda Stanton (from Thick Pigeon). Later I met the rest of Sonic Youth through (SY biographers) Catherine and Nicolas Ceresole who often organized dinners at their home, inviting lots of musicians.
What is your favorite album/song of Sonic Youth?
“Daydream Nation” is a classic, but I prefer the band live. I last saw them at CBGB’s, just before the club closed, as they were starting their US-tour to promote “Murray Street.” They had an incredible raw energy and sounded amazing.
Sonic Youth are considered as an “art rock band” mixing the disciplines. How do you work multi-disciplinarily?
I would get bored if I only did one thing, so I make sculpture, video, music, collage, etc. When I work in one medium I think it through other media. My videos are as much about sound as image.
What are your current projects?
I just finished a video of a woman making love to an electric guitar. It sounds great and looks very sexy.
Describe the particular Sonic Youth style.
Adventurous, collaborative, intellectual, and stylish without a style.
Tell us about your work to be presented at the show “Sensational Fix.”
To enter the exhibition you have to walk through a room filled with LP records, thousands strewn on the floor, a layered and unpredictable surface that moves under your feet. It sets the tone. It’s about the irreverence of Rock n’ Roll and the need to keep it live, rather than record and stifle the music.
Christian Marclay, „Untitled (piece with 5000 records)“ courtesy of the artist, Foto > © Marc Domage
…to be continued
„Sonic Youth etc. – Sensational Fix“, Kunsthalle und KIT Düsseldorf,
31. Januar – 10. Mai 2009
www.kunsthalle-duesseldorf.de
www.kunst-im-tunnel.de
Interviews > Marcus Woeller
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