KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Ode To Gravity: Avant-Garde Artists Alan Sutcliffe and Gustav Metzger

Analog Audio

Event Type

Interview and Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

OTG.1972.09.13.c1

Program Series

Ode To Gravity

Program Length

56 min

Dates

1972-09-13 | broadcast
| 1972-09-13 | created

Description

Charles Amirkhanian presented this report featuring discussions with two prominent avant-garde artists active in England during the 1960s and 70s. The first is Alan Sutcliffe, founding director of The Computer Arts Society. Long before personal computing became commonplace, Alan and other members of his Society used computers in a number of inventive ways so as to produce art, both visual and musical. Also included in this program is Alan singing “Stolen Kisses Sweet” as he accompanies himself on an antique player piano. While not a contender for a Grammy, Alan certainly deserves an award for good sportsmanship for allowing KPFA to broadcast this musical debut. The second guest on this program is visual artist, Gustav Metzger, inventor of Auto-Destructive Art, who comments on his environmentally conscious work for automobile exhaust systems. The Metzger show was a part of the opening ceremonies of Gallery House, an adjunct of the London Goethe Center. Charles then goes on to read from a number of articles or manifestos written by Metzger in which he lays out the philosophical underpinnings of his new art movement. These interviews were recorded in Wokingham and London, England, respectively.

Genres

Modern Art
Poetry

Musical Selections

[unidentified electronic music] -- Stolen Kisses Sweet [lyrics by Francis Wheeler] (ca. 1921) / Ted Snyder -- Spazmo [excerpt, a poem] / Alan Sutcliffe -- [unidentified electronic music] -- [reading of auto destructive art manifestos over 20th century classical music]

Performers

Alan Sutcliffe, vocals, piano ; reader (Stolen ; Spazmo)
Charles Amirkhanian, reader (Spazmo)

Subjects

Songs with piano
Computer art
Computer music
Poetry
Performance poetry
Interactive art
Art, Modern
Avant-garde (Art)
Conceptual art
Fluxus (group of artists)

Acknowledgment

Funding for the preservation of this program made possible through a grant by Save America’s Treasures, a program of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Related places

Berkeley (Calif.) (was recorded at)
Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)

Related Entities

Amirkhanian, Charles
Sutcliffe, Alan
Wheeler, Francis
Snyder, Ted, 1881-1965
Metzger, Gustav
Nørgård, Per, 1932-