qrz227 - tellus: remko scha

launched in 1983 the tellus cassette series took full advantage of
the popular cassette medium to promote cutting edge music,
documenting the new york scene and advanced us composers of the
time - the first two issues being devoted to new york artists from
the downtown scene. the series was financially supported along the
years by funding from the new york state council of the arts and
the national endowment for the arts. obviously, the tellus
publishers (visual artist and composer joseph nechvatal, curator
claudia gould and composer carol parkinson, director of
harvestworks from 1987 on) never considered running an underground
publication, rather envisaging the cassette medium as an art form
in itself. a quite unique point of view at a time (the 1980s) when
many self released cassettes blossomed through mail order or trade
between artists, and when the cassette milieu was promoting diy
technique, even anti-art as a motto. the audio cassette magazine
never indulged into amateurism, their releases always focused, well
researched and aptly curated. from the start, the founding members
deliberately aimed at raising the profile of their cassette
releases, sending issues to us public libraries and museums, for
instance. the tellus team launched the harvestworks
artist-in-residence program along the cassette series, to promote
independent artists’ projects and provide them with a professional
recording facility, named studio pass. tellus "the audio cassette
magazine" was in activity for 10 years (1983-1993), witnessing the
digital revolution taking place in the new media arts. some points
of comparison can be established with the toronto based musicworks
journal and cassette, launched 1978, or with the roir cassette only
releases of various musical styles, from flipper to lee perry to
einstürzende neubauten, launched 1981. tellus published audio art,
new music, poetry and drama, exploring musical spheres as diverse
as avant-garde composition, post industrial music, ny no wave,
fluxus music, heirs of harry partch, avant rock, sound poetry,
radio plays, tango, electroacoustic music, etc. the series included
some landmark sound works now regarded as historical: louise
lawler's 'birdcalls' (tellus #5-6), christian marclay 1982's
'groove' (tellus#8), lee ranaldo 'the bridge' (tellus#10), alison
knowles 'nivea cream piece' (tellus#24), etc. tellus always
championed women and gay composers, which was very needed in the
macho experimental music sphere of the times. curatorial policy has
proved very efficient as well - asking specialists to compile a
program in their own field insured state of the art results. today,
tellus is mentioned as an inspiration to the opening of the sound
art museum in rome in 2007. an exhibition was held at printed
matter, ny, devoted to contemporary american cassette culture
('leaderless: underground cassette culture now', may 12 to 26,
2007). it seems it's now time to reappraise tellus' major
contribution to the perception of independent music as an art form.
ein einblick in tellus nummer 22: remko scha. |>> remko scha
- katadeedo daynatadoh