Abridged Performance
In 2015 I started a project with two analogue devices — a vinyl record turntable and Theremin — in a performance lecture. One of the first presentations took place at the Deleuze and Artistic Research (DARE) conference held at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent, November 2015. Since then I have experimented with these devices in both academic conferences, such as TAPRA in Bristol and the Performance Philosophy conference at Surrey, but also in performance venues such as theatre.now in Kiasma, Helsinki and New Performance in Tehdasteatteri, Turku.
In these presentations I play and mix vinyl records, which I have recorded and pressed from a lecture read by myself, and experiment on them with a Theremin, which is an early electronic instrument developed by Léon Theremin in 1920 — and supposedly the only instrument played without touching. The pitch of the eerie sound, similar to an ondes Martenot, is controlled by the proximity of a body – or any conducting matter. I am not a musician, even less a skilled turntablist or Thereminist. My interest is in the relationship between the matter, text, voice and intra-action in the event of performance. I enjoy the non-intentional humour, or irony, that my performance often evokes. With turntables I can make my voice stutter, repeat, get jammed or skip words. Similarly, I use Theremin to create grunts, whines, one-syllable words and ridiculous intonations, often to mock the academic seriousness of the recorded voice or my own presentation.