14-11-2008
Friday 14 November 17.00 hour Omer Krieger, Bas Böttcher, BLAXTAR During the opening of the group exhibition
Speaking Out Loud there were three performances by Omer Krieger (IL), Bas Böttcher (DE) and the Dutch hiphop artist Blaxtar. The exhibition will be shown until january 24, 2009.
OMER KRIEGER, LIVE COVERAGE Omer Krieger works in performance, video, audio, communication systems, social environments and public spaces. Live Coverage is a public system covering speech and publishing text in a physical social space. The system is activated by people in a process of live reporting, based on an infrastructure of microphones, a listening station and a text display. The keywords heard in the sites of coverage are published by the human reporter on a screen, in
constant and questionably immediate updates. Live Coverage is proposed as a permanent media installation for public spaces, a form of journalism. At the opening of Speaking Out Loud, Omer Krieger will cover conversations of the visitors. Programming by Gil Rimon.
Live Coverage (Amsterdam, 14 November 2008)is the fifth edition of the system. Previous editions include: Memale Makom / Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Tel Aviv; programming by Asaf Talmudi; The Spontaneous Conversation Index Machine / Tesla zur Transmediale open studios; Live Coverage / TESLA medien kunst
BAS BÖTTCHER During the early 1990s Bas Böttcher was the first German-speaking rapper to perform his lyrics as a new form of poetry and put them on stage in the context of literary events. He developed a new form of poetry which is dynamic and rhythmic, as well as very direct and driven by the sound and melody of the language. His particular style of performance gives his texts a poetic maelstrom. His lyrics/texts are sharp observations about contemporary life, often referring to subjects such as pop culture and media. The rap poetry of Bas Böttcher and his band Zentrifugal is closely connected to American Slam Poetry. The genre uses distinct pictures ‘drawn’ with words. The first poetry slams took place in the late 1980s in American bars, cafés and clubs. One of them was the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York, where young American poets organised literary competitions they called ‘Slams’. At the beginning of the 1990s the first slam competitions were organised in Germany, which soon developed a slam scene of its own. Poetry slams are far removed from literary readings. They represent a literary experiment with a high entertainment factor for the listeners, as they also function as the jury. When Böttcher performs outside German speaking-countries, he often uses projections which display the translation of his texts accompanied by stylish video loops.
Böttcher will perform a selection of his texts at the opening of 'Speaking Out Loud'.
www.basboettcher.de/ BLAXTAR The Dutch hip-hop artist Blaxtar is very conscious of the power of language, the strength of the word. It is simply logical then that the texts are printed in a book let with his album. Even more: the titles of all the numbers together, one after another, make a poem. Blaxtar does more than just show us that he comes off the streets. In his texts he showcases his interest in philosophy,
science and religion. Recently he organized the event Spoken. For this occasion Blaxtar phoned up some friends to ask if they were interested in an evening that only revolved around the content of their texts. The evening session gave a large group of different professional hip-hop artists the opportunity to gain exposure.
www.blaxtar.com
Speaking Out Loud 15 November 2008 – 24 January 2009
Opening 14 November 5:00 p.m.
Artists participating: Tim Etchells (UK) and Vlatka Horvat (CRO), Mukul Patel (UK) and Manu Luksch (AT), Charles Sandison (UK), Christoph Keller (DE), Jaromil (IT) and Jodi (NL), Linda Hilfling (DEN), KH Jeron (DE), Tudor Bratu (RO), Michael Höpfel (DE), Trikoton (DE), Evan Roth (US)
Thanks to:
Kindly supported by the Goethe Institute Amsterdam, BeamSystems and Jacot Audiovisueel
