17 September – 29 November 2015
From compositions of the faintest possible sounds emitted by instruments, human bodies or electronic apparatuses, to music derived from mathematical systems and works featuring the feedback of electric guitars, Music for Museums explores the intersection of visual art and experimental music.
This season of live music and film has its roots in the 1960s when museums became a site of experimentation and collaboration between artists and musicians in contrast to the more conservative concert halls. It features a series of live performances, a film programme, and audio interventions in the public areas of the gallery by the collaborative project Support Structure by Céline Condorelli and Gavin Wade.
Live music performances, on Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons, are ticketed and feature works by groundbreaking avant-garde composers and artists from the Fluxus and Minimalist generation to contemporary compositions and improvisations by electronic and experimental artists and musicians such as Gavin Bryars & Etel Adnan, Rhys Chatham, Mark Fell, Florian Hecker, Hassan Khan, Thurston Moore and Ryoji Ikeda + Carsten Nicolai.
A free programme of film screenings focuses on the dynamic relationship between moving image and music with works by Cory Arcangel, Sonia Boyce & Ain Bailey, Beatrice Gibson, Ken Jacobs, Mikhail Karikis & Uriel Orlow, Tony Oursler, Nam June Paik, Jayne Parker, Elizabeth Price, Manon de Boer, Mika Taanila and Tony Cokes.
Music for Museums takes its name from a 2008 audio project by Céline Condorelli and Gavin Wade/Support Structure, originally commissioned by Arnolfini, Bristol.
Conceived in association with: Guest Curator Tom Trevor.
In partnership with:
The Vinyl Factory
With additional support from:
Céline Condorelli & Gavin Wade (Support Structure) present audio interventions throughout the Whitechapel Gallery from 17 Sept to 29 Nov 2015.
Established in 2001, The Vinyl Factory Group encompasses a record label, vinyl pressing plant, the record shop Phonica and music magazine FACT, in addition to all of its visual arts activities. These include new arts commissions, exhibitions and collaborations between musicians and contemporary artists.
The Vinyl Factory record label releases limited editions made in collaboration with both artists and musicians, accompanied by events and performances. Releases to date include: The xx, Christian Marclay, Massive Attack, Eddie Peake, Roisin Murphy, Haroon Mirza, Burial, Dinos Chapman, Florence + the Machine, Maurizio Catalan, Pet Shop Boys and Martin Creed.
The Vinyl Factory Space at Brewer Street Car Park is a dynamic cultural hub featuring arts commissions and audio-visual collaborations. This year site-specific exhibitions at the space have included Ryoji Ikeda’s supersymmetry and Carsten Nicolai’s unicolor. This November it will host Ragnar Kyartansson’s The Visitors.
The Vinyl Factory also works in partnerships with leading art organisations. Key projects include Jeremy Deller English Magic for The British Council’s British Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale of Art, The Fun Palace at the Serpentine Gallery’s Summer Party, Christian Marclay’s major 2015 show at White Cube Bermondsey and, in collaboration with the Barbican, American multi-media artist Doug Aitken’s Station to Station project.
