DJsounds caught up with the US conceptual/video artist Gardner Post to talk about art + technology at the Remix Hotel, at The National in South Beach. The interview is followed by a trip to a nearby apartment to get a special, behind-the-scenes insight into what Gardner’s working on this year – complete with words from celebrity DJ Tom Laroc!
Gardner was in South Beach with his Baby Grand Master creation (an acclaimed DJ/VJ masterpiece, modestly tagged the ‘king of video instruments’) to collaborate with the New York-born, Miami-based hip-hop DJ Tom Laroc/United Content Providers.
DJsounds last spoke to Gardner in 2007 at the Optronica festival, so it was great to see his vision for Baby Grand Master-style video mash-up materialising in such full-on splendour. Enjoy the show.
Extra special thanks to Mary Mc Caughey, Adrian Shaw, and Terri Parker for making last month’s Late at Tate event a wonderful evening.
While there, I also had the good fortune to see some amazing new work by the Russian art group AES+F, and meet some of the artists. I was truly impressed with their new work, and recommend their website to get a look at it.
Pictured here are Gardner Post and myself, along with Mary Mc Caughey, Francoise and Graham from Addictive TV, Stuart from Hexstatic, and MC Rebbe in a quiet moment after the event finished.
Thanks again for everyone’s help, and for more information on the Baby Grand Master, click here.
Big thanks from Gardner, Xavier, and myself to everyone at the Big Chill for making this a great show, including MC Rebbe, Lisa Loco, Simon from Pioneer, Hexstatic, Coldcut, eXceeda, DJ Tom Laroc, Addictive TV, and the production crew at the Big Chill. Oh, and special big thanks to the airline pilots that came in during the airplanes piece. Wow.
Below are some pics from the show, as well as some render tests from the material which I presented.
The highlight of the night for me was when I looked to my right and there was Matt Black cutting up some of Xav’s cartoon set. That really made my day - thanks, Matt. Much love.
Baby Grand Master™ - The King of Video Instruments.
Introducing the breathtaking Baby Grand Master™, Gardner Post’s latest, most muscled athlete.
Shouldered and powerful as always, but sleeker now with Pioneer DVJ-X1 DVD players, this powerful entertainment machine is purposefully trimmed and tuned for heart-pounding performance. Artistic expression, power, control and comfort await notice with bold assurance.
There’s not an ounce of excess. But there is anticipation… because on stage, in the museum, or in the living room, the Baby Grand Master™ commands.
A big thanks to Addictive TV, Amy Z, and everyone who made Optronica 2007 a big success. And to all the folks who came to see our show a the ICA.
We had a great time, and were glad to meet so many super-xlnt people.
Addictive TV keeps getting better and better. If you get a chance to see one of their shows, do it! You wont regret it. Their stuff looked monumental on the massive Imax screen, and they played an amazing new remix of Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again”. I think this one could be a big hit.
I also got to see two killer sets from Exceeda. I had never seen their set before. Fantastic stuff. Xavier rocked the house with his Phantom of Optronica set.
Peter Greenaway performed a spectacular live mix of his films in the Imax theatre.
Ok, so now it’s out. My good friend Gardner Post and I are going to do a show in March at Optronica at the ICA in London. We’re pulling together some classic old footage from the dusty old archives, and mixing it together with some brand new material for a special one night show. I was thinking about calling it “Aged 15 Years”. But then again, I was thinking about naming my son Orange or Vector. And that went nowhere. Except that now he likes the name Orange, and even came up with a rhyme for it: Door Hinge. But I digress…
All thanks are due to the awesomeness at Addictive TV
—
Optronica presents for the first time in the UK, Gardner Post and Brian Kane from the massively influential, but sadly no-longer, pioneering American audiovisual act Emergency Broadcast Network (EBN). The duo will present a sharp-edged set of unseen EBN work mixed with some new material.
EBN was originally founded in the late 80’s by Gardner Post, Josh Pearson and Brian Kane, all graduates of Rhode Island School of Design. In the early 90s they pretty much invented a new standard in the culture of AV remixing, video scratching and audiovisual sampling techniques. Post was also heavily involved in the spectacular set design for the band, while Kane developed the first known VJ software called Vujak, with the charismatic Pearson also working as front man for the group.
Their modus operandi was to take cable TV broadcasts and remix them with a funky beat, often having the lyrics ’sung’ by half-second sound bites cut together. They gained popular acclaim after their involvement with U2’s ZooTV Tour in ‘92 and later released their video album “Telecommunications Breakdown” in ‘95 on TVT Records.
After Kane had left the group, they were later joined by turntablist Ron O’Donnell and video effects artist Greg Deocampo. All the team still pursue personal projects and here, for Optronica, Post & Kane perform together for the first time in nearly a decade!
In the spring of 1987, a group of friends and i created a mural for the RISD Tap Room. This was entirely created with spraypaint and stencil.
I don’t remember everyone who worked on this, but I do remember that Nicole Eisenman, Josh Pearson and Ben Carlson were involved.
This was a beautiful piece, and it remained up for 17 years. I believe that the school left a piece of it remaining when they refinished the tap room 2 years ago.
