JOSEPH BEUYS & TERRY FOX

JOSEPH BEUYS & TERRY FOX “Action for a Dead Mouse / Isolation Unit”,
TERRY FOX “Berlino / Berlin Wall Scored for Sound”, “Rallentando”

A SELECTION OF ARCHIVAL RECORDINGS  
/ AIRED ON MONTEZ PRESS RADIO 07.25.2020
/ RADIO.MONTEZPRESS.COM

⁣ ⁣




“Action for a Dead Mouse / Isolation Unit”, Sound Recording of a Performance at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, 1970⁣

During the years of the protest movements against police brutality and the rise of extremism in the West German Left throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, Joseph Beuys and Terry Fox sought out strategies for integrating performance and activism. After contributing to protests that began in 1968 —Beuys through performative didactics that began with the formation of the German Student Party (DSP) and Fox through a variety of actions including performances with objects that were conceived as musical works—the two came together for a collaborative performance in the basement of the Düsseldorf art academy in 1970. Given that the two were both invested in themes of illness, healing, and ritual, the event served as a significant alignment of their interests and proved to be transformative points of time in both artists careers.⁣ ⁣

Beuys, who titled his contribution to the performance, Action for a Dead Mouse, debuted his custom-made felt suit which later became one of his best known editions, Felt Suit. Fox, who titled his contribution, Isolation Unit, would soon after expatriate from the US to Europe where he went on to establish his career in conceptual art and political site-specific performances.

Recording courtesy of the Estate of Terry Fox, Estate of Joseph Beuys, ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac / London, VG Bild-Kunst, and Artists Rights Society.⁣
⁣












“Berlino / Berlin Wall Scored for Sound”, 1980-88, Mastered at Tango Studio Eindhoven, August 18th, 1988, Het Appolohuis)⁣

One example of a site-specific performance work by Terry Fox is Berlin Wall Scored for Sound. In 1980/81 Terry Fox was a resident at the D.A.A.D. in Berlin where he had a studio located in the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Mariannenplatz, Kreuzberg, next to the Berlin Wall. During his residency he created a sound score based on the geography of the wall. By measuring the wall on a map he transposed centimeters into seconds so that distance became measured in time. The topographical or geometrical peculiarities of the wall were then divided into five categories and assigned letters (E,G, B, D, F). One strange formation of the wall, resembling the Horsehead Nebula, was given its own letter: X. The six categories of wall became: curved or crooked (E), straight (G), chaotic (B), canal (D), lake (F), and Horsehead Nebula (X). The complete score, for six different sounds, is endless, forming a loop, like the wall it describes.

For the version of the score realized for Berlino, Fox chose six sounds from fragments of audio tape he had on hand. These are from cassette tapes of private studio activity. All of the sounds are acoustic and recorded with an open microphone. Sounds include a British Military helicopter making daily passes along the wall at Mariannenplatz, Berlin in 1980, a piano wire being bowed in a large cavity beneath a sidewalk in San Francisco, 1978, piano wire being struck with a long wooden chopstick in Belgium, 1988, and the sound of rain, thunder, and bells of the church at Mariannenplatz, Berlin 1980.






Terry Fox, Liege, August 1988:

In 1980/81 I lived, as a guest of the D.A.A.D. , in Berlin. Throughout those eighteen months I had a studio in the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Mariannenplatz, Kreuzberg, next to the Berlin Wall. From the chimney top of that building I could look down into the wall and follow its course for a long way in both directions. I could see how it bisected streets, squares and even houses. 

To become better acquainted with my new situation I decided to make a sound map, a score, a kind of aural geography of this structure. On a large map I located four corners in the wall surrounding West Berlin. These corners, or ›points‹, thus divided the wall into four sections. A straight line was drawn through each section from point to point. When the four sections were joined end to end, point to point, the map of Berlin became a very long straight line with the pattern of the wall zig- zagging and looping through it. Four more lines were drawn, evenly spaced and parallel to this center line, two above it and two below, creating a musical stave. The entire length of the wall was measured from the map in centimeters. The centimeters were then transposed into seconds so that distance became measured in time. 
The topographical or geometrical peculiarities of the wall were then divided into five categories and assigned letters (E,G, B, D, F). One strange formation of the wall, resembling the Horsehead Nebula, was given its own letter: X. The six categories of wall became: curved or crooked (E), straight (G), chaotic (B), canal (D), lake (F), and Horsehead Nebula (X). The complete score, for six different sounds, is endless, forming a loop, like the wall it describes. For the version of the score realized on this record I chose six sounds from fragments of audio tape I had on hand. These are from cassette tapes of private studio activity. All of the sounds are acoustic and recorded with an open microphone. No pick ups or contact mics were used. 

The six sounds are:


E - The sound of an instrument being bowed in a large cavity beneath a sidewalk in San Francisco. The overhead end of a vertical piano wire is attached to the underside of a steel freight elevator door in the sidewalk. The lower end of the wire is attached to a large metal box which is partially suspended by the wire and provides tension and resonance for it. The wire is stroked with two violin bows. San Francisco 1978.


G - The sound of two parallel piano wires four meters long. They are attached at either end to a wooden floor and pass over wooden bridges. They are beaten with a long wooden chopstick held in one hand and inserted between the wires. Lié ge 1988.

B - The sound of the British Military helicopter which made almost daily passes along  the wall at Mariannenplatz. This pass was taped from a window of my studio. Berlin 1980.


D - The sound of a single piano wire attached at one end to the metal frame of my studio window and stretching ten meters to the opposite corner where it was attached to a wooden cupboard. The wire is rapidly bowed, using a very thin steel bar. Berlin 1981.

F - The sound of rain, thunder, and bells of the church at Mariannenplatz taped from my studio window. Berlin 1980.


X - The same instrument as ›E‹, but taped on a different day, when it made a sound as strange as the shape of the Horsehead Nebula. San Francisco 1978.