Sa, 8.11.2014, 22 Uhr - So, 9.11.2014, 6 Uhr

▶ John Duncan_NARCOMANTIC

All-night surround-sound concert performance with video projections

Zum zweiten Male haben wir John Duncan, den Meister der abgründigen Künste, bei uns zu Gast. Seine Performance dauert diesmal die ganze Nacht und nimmt 20 BesucherInnen mit auf eine Reise durch die Klang- und Bildwelten der Nacht. Schlafsack und Isomatte bitte mitbringen und hier anmelden!

At the beginning, I have to confront sonic hyperstimulation… let myself go into the sound; at a certain point it supported me. You couldn’t listen with your ears, but with your body, not to be crushed by it… Laying down I felt my body sinking into the floor, and I also felt the energy supporting me. I turned onto one side but still couldn’t sleep. Now I’m lying on my back with both hands on my stomach around the navel, and in this position I begin to see hypnagogic images, which as soon as I start writing this diary in the dark I can no longer remember... What authority keeps us here? By now, for me it’s a challenge, a test of resistance. Why do I resist and not leave? Where would I go?

– Nicola Valentino

Moving toward an arena where insomnia, hypnosis and semi-consciousness tend to interweave in this frustration of dream and its interpretation, out beyond the limits of psychoanalysis.

John Duncan will accompany the audience live throughout the night. Narcomantic starts at 10pm and ends at 6 am.

Duncan's surround-sound audio is sourced from an extensive catalogue of his music and material that includes human voice, shortwave radio, field recordings, his film and video soundtracks as well as computer generated audio, mixed in ways that take full advantage of Signalraum's acoustics to provide enveloping, uninterrupted sound for the full duration of the event.

John Duncan (Wichita, Kansas 1953) is a pioneer of performance art and experimental audio who has worked in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Amsterdam; he currently lives in Bologna. Duncan's events and installations have been held at Performa in New York, Färgfabriken and Gallery Niklas Belenius in Stockholm, Rod Bianco Gallery in Oslo, The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston, the NoorlandsOperan in UmeŒ, Netmage 07 (with Leif Elggren) in Bologna, Cut and Splice (with CM von Hausswolff), Beaconsfield and The Church of St. Giles Cripplegate in London, MindPirates, NK and Galerie Mario Mazzoli in Berlin, MOCA and KPFK in Los Angeles, ORF Kunstradio in Vienna, Ars Electronica in Linz, CCA in Kitakyushu, and the 2nd Gothenburg Biennial. He has performed with and directed Ensemble Phoenix (in Basel and Bern, as well as for the Angelica Festival in Bologna), Musica Nova in Tel Aviv, Zeitkratzer in Berlin. His CD releases THE CRACKLING (1996 with Max Springer), PALACE of MIND (2001 with Giuliana Stefani), PHANTOM BROADCAST (2002), THE KEENING TOWERS (2003) and NINE SUGGESTIONS (2005 with Mika Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen) are acclaimed by critics and composers as benchmarks of experimental music. His work in radio, video and performance has been shown at CCA Kitakyushu; the Getty Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles; the Osterreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna; Museu d'Arte Contemporani, Barcelona (MACBA); and Museum of Tokyo (MOT).