2 May 2006
Rational Lo-Tec
Curated by Ansuman Biswas, interdisciplinary artist and musician
A Quiet Night Out while Rational Rec unplug; a lesson in how to listen; cut loose from the National Grid. No electricity, just pure entertainment with zero fossil fuels and maximum emissions. A cross between Neolithic shamanism and Nissen Hut music hall, Pre-Edisonian memory and post-apocalyptic vision.
With sets from:
- Marcia Farquhar, in Bisto Legs - revisited some of the bright spots of the dark days of WWII. From stained legs to sausage meat ducks, with cheerful resourcefulness in the face of lack, Marcia and a bevy of lovelies conjured bunker spirit from a candlelit world.
- Opal Lorbin - some piano tunes you may be able to hear.
- Mark Espiner - a chorus of voices out of the pitch black.
- Mervyn Millar - the cinema at the end of the world
- Rodhri Davies - playing his harp in unimaginable ways.
- Richard Wilson - intervening in the fabric of the room.
- Kazuko Hohki - giving a demonstration of her BINstruments
- Helena Goldwater - inviting us to enjoy a few minutes of watery intimacy with her.
- Jem Finer - DJ on a hand-cranked sound system with old 78’s heard through the iconic HMV horn. A soundtrack for when the lights have gone out and there's nothing left to burn.
- Bohman & Paolini - surreal conversation and inane garden shed tinkering.
- Aaron Williamson and Simon Raven as flamboyant, exhibitionist anti-singer and skulking keyboard player - The Cattleprods, the world¹s first synth duo to play without electricity.
And Drinking Songs, a convivial, communal percussion piece for raised glasses.