De-conceptual Voicings is a 12-inch record, which uses the
extensive archive of interviews with artists of the historical
post-minimal
and conceptual art as a starting point. It was generated for the
documentary film
Conceptual Paradise (Stefan Römer, 2006).
“
Deconceptual Voicings consists of individual tracks composed
from interviews with artists primarily recorded for the film essay
Conceptual
Paradise. We selected statements and transformed them into a
musical composition, i.e. we turned the audio material (field recordings)
into songs. Only speech and language material were used. Sound fragments,
syllables and consonants were processed into rhythmic patterns, while
slogans, statements and text passages were sampled into
sprechgesang.
We understand global conceptualisms as practices to oppose reactionary
backlash. For us, this project marks a critical difference to the
tendencies in the digitized commercialization of contemporary art. Our aim
is to signify a strategic artistic activity, to challenge recent cultural
conditions and to prevent depression. To SCREAM about the contemporary
conditions would be an understandable gesture. Instead, you may perform a
neo-emancipatory dance. This is an homage to all the artists involved. By
calling it
Deconceptual Voicings we suggest a global polyphony
of positions and sounds. Good ideas should be amplified.”
Marc Matter (born 1974 in Basel) is a sound artist, researcher and curator, and founding member of the artist's group Institut fuer Feinmotorik.
Stefan Römer (born 1960 in Katzenelnbogen, Germany) works as an artist and art theorist. He initiated the political activist art collective "FrischmacherInnen" in Cologne (1993–2000), was awarded the AdKV Prize for Art Criticism in 2000, and has held professorships at various art institutes. Since 1981, he has not only been a vegetarian, but also combines an ecological and ethical awareness in his art. In addition to his film Conceptual Paradise (2006) he developed an extensive web archive at the ZKM-website.
Stefan Römer's works are known for their deconstructivist approach to image, sound and text, combining various working methods of lense-based, time-based and performative practices. Römer uses the term "de-conceptual" to define his transmedial fusion of Conceptualism and Deconstructivism with postpanoptic, feminist and postcolonial practices. His de-conceptualization of art formulates a new kind of artistic REALsearch, by means of a multi-layered critique of prevailing discourses.
