Theory aside, KYTN (its organisers gave the festival the working nickname, ‘Kitten’) promises to wield excitement, liberation and most importantly, relevance. ‘Rather than just let the audience experience the reproduction of my own sounds, I want them to experience the relations at play in the very situation that they are in’, explains Basque noise artist, improviser and all-round polemical agitator, Mattin.
the ‘I come from punk, so provocation for me is something positive. I want to actually d o something, rather than just reproduce good taste.’ Opening festival with a characteristically inflaming performance, Mattin (star of last month’s issue of The Wire magazine) plans to join with participants in an investigation, or ‘improvention’, into the rules that govern a traditional music performance. Mattin’s work entails a simple and startling gesture – one easily spoiled by details let slip at this stage – which will trigger a complex and probing set of reactions.
‘Some people will be pissed off’, says Mattin. ‘People will be taken by surprise because the kind of social interaction that I provoke prompts people to either police each other or encourage each other to turn the situation over’. Similarly intrigued by the context of a performance, but perhaps soliciting a little less antagonism, Canada-based experimental sound artist Christof Migone plans to invite his participants to take part in a series of playful
‘I COME FROM PUNK, SO
PROVOCATION
FOR ME IS SOMETHING POSITIVE’
happenings. Known for gifting everyday gestures with a mischievous twist, Migone plans to stage Knockers, a large-scale game of ‘chap door run’ on the streets of Dundee. ‘Instead of knocking with our knuckles we are going to be using an amped-up microphone, thus really amplifying the act’, explains the artist.
Hit Parade engages in a similarly repetitive action. Migone will instruct willing participants to lie down, and smack or tap a microphone off the ground 1,000 times. ‘It doesn’t require any skill, but it does require a little leap of faith, says Migone. ‘Even though it produces a chaotic noise, the action becomes meditative. Despite the perceived simplicity of the piece, some people also found that they had a moment of epiphany, whilst occasionally others have had a vehement reaction. But nothing violent.’ Alongside performances and a specially selected film programme, featuring works that interrogate foundational tenets of the medium
itself, each of the artists are involved in leading investigation groups. Designed to extend the happenings into prolonged and malleable discussions, Mattin and Migone will collaborate with other artists to explore issues raised during their performances. Working with the artists in a friendly and equal setting will provide the chance to divert, adjust or mutate the artistic processes at work. Or just sit, watch and listen, because there are no rules here.
‘We are going to explore together what we think is experimental, amazing and useful’, says Esson. ‘We don’t want the festival to be a thing in itself anymore. Ultimately, what we want is to see more people, more fully engaged, with more experimental art forms, more regularly, in more places and in more meaningful ways’. Kill Your Timid Notion, Sun 21–Sun 28 Feb, in and around Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. www.arika.org.uk
KILL YOUR TIMID NOTION
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS
SMITH/STEWART Glasgow-based artists Stephanie Smith and Edward Stewart enjoy playing with darkness and light, safety and danger, trepidation and trust in their largely performance-based work. Their KYTN performance will be accompanied by their road movie Ahead. Fri 26 Feb. MORGAN FISHER The experimental filmmaker presents several short films, including one shot in Dundee, tracing the journey many viewers may well have just made on their way into the screening room. Film screenings on Thu 25, Sat 27 and Sun 28 Feb; a chat from Fisher on Sun 28 Feb.
ULTRA-RED The Ultra-Red collective of activists and artists are old hands at organising user-friendly, yet provocative community debate. Topics cover sound art and music – is it more useful to think of music as organised sound or organised listening? U-R’s project results will be shown in the Investigation Space, Mon 22–Sun 28 Feb. DROMOS Two artists from Dundee’s Generator gallery contemplate real time and ‘the aura of the artist’. The performance may or may not include stand-up comedy, painting, smoke and photography. . . Fri 19 Feb.
■ For Dromos, Generator Gallery are organising a bus journey leaving ECA, Grassmarket entrance, Edinburgh at 5.30pm, returning 1am, £5.50. See www.generatorprojects for info. All events take place in and around DCA, Dundee. For more info visit www.arika.org.uk
18 Feb–4 Mar 2010 THE LIST 29