~DEATH BY . . VICE ?
RIP DEATH BY AUDIO – DEATH BY ART
A GROUP EXHIBIT – DBA
CO-CURATED BY – MARK KLEBACK and JOE AHEARN
NOV 6-22, 2014.
49 SOUTH 2ND STREET, BROOKLYN.
I saw all the buzz about the big VICE party.
all I can say is . . gentrification is a snake that eats its tail.
first come the hardcore artists, and then the hyper-marketed ‘hipsters’ take over, and the rents go sky-high. hopefully the artists, and musicians move on, to tell another tale, and bring another forgotten, and neglected neighborhood to life.
so, yes . . time to post the pix of:
DEATH BY ART – the last hurrah / closing party exhibition put on by DEATH BY AUDIO . . which lost it’s space to VICE – which bought up the whole entire block.
it’s a sad scene when a hardcore space . . that screamed raw life and talent . . goes under the never-ending real estate knife.
even the trash on the outside said . . wild life and wild days moving on, money moving in.
if mailboxes could speak . .
I was thinking . . VICE should have built their new corporate headquarters around DEATH BY AUDIO, and left it as is – as a little chapel to real artistic freedom, but who am I.
but seems nobody else had the vision . .
or desire. and in come the celebs and out go the hardcore artists, meaning of course obviously the musicians and the gear geeks, too. etc. etc.
damn. we want their money, but we don’t want them. it’s a hard thing to figure out, look at Miami Basel.
so, DEATH BY AUDIO – STAY SALTY . . is all I can say.
death to art by vice, greed . . pumped up ‘style’. pumped up ‘cool’. savvy packaging, dumb-ed down content, whatever. a kind of pseudo jargon ? of the street, but I never really felt it was cutting edge.
it’s just the way of the world. when the masses collide, authenticity and originality . . take a dive.
the deathly dark doorway in, was . . fab.
a road map to DEATH BY ART, presented by RIP DEATH BY AUDIO. DEATH BY VICE.
taken done by VICE, how sweet, not. surprised, not.
maybe somethings are just meant to have life, take on a spark in the moment. some of the best things – they are not meant to last forever. their profoundness in fact, often comes from their very fleeting, and therefore very free . . nature.
but still, people were feeling it. were feeling . . dark.
were feeling . . loss.
the road map to the show was printed on newsprint, printed in black and handed out for free. it is actually a pretty nice piece all on its own. an archival artifact, a graphic design with ‘soul’, I guess the word is: character.
a defining Brooklyn . . moment, that’s for sure. it had a very solemn ‘cast’.
inside it was dark, too.
with an amazing hardcore ‘industrial’ light fixture – by SEAN MCINTYRE hanging in the immediate entryway.
now, that’s . . cutting edge.
a programmed ‘gamelan’ – by AARON TAYLOR KUFFNER stood in the small foyer.
all the while it was pitch dark, and so this is a photo – illuminated by flash, sometimes you just have to be there. it was eerie, and gothic. cathedral-like . on the underground scale of things.
it was really a statement, an experience . . to walk past the dark decline on the street, into the small dark entry with a very beautiful artist-made light fixture overhead, casting a pale glow, and an artist-made gamelan, moving gongs and all, playing all by itself, no people. it was definitely art, music, and ‘machinery’ . . invention. inquiry. statement. purpose. poetry.
the ancient percussive instruments . . played by themselves.
all you had to do was choose a button and press it, to set them in motion.
all I can say is: S-K-I-L-L-S.
damn. if skills, isn’t one letter away from . . KILLS.
there was a real sense of history, as well.
these instruments seemed quite old and authentic . .
pots and pans and . . the origins of music. did come to mind.
and, well . . male / female – as well.
not to forget the big gong at top.
the digital presence was divined by the small glow of blinking ‘machinery’ lights behind, like I said it was dark, and the sense was really of exquisite surround sound, no people. lots of history, lots of art – entrancement, is all I can think of.
MARK KLEBACK . . co-curator DEATH BY ART.
his website: KLEEBTRONICS
here’s a few images, just the tip of the iceberg.
Kleback – is apparently some kind of central . . hub to the scene.
cog. gear . .
ZORB – image: KLEEBTRONICS
MOSHMURAL – image: KLEEBTRONICS
THAT SHOULD KEEP YOU BUSY, for awhile.
more pix of the ‘DEATH BY AUDIO – DEATH BY ART’ show . . posting shortly.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH – unless otherwise noted.
PHOTOS TAKEN ON SAT EVENING – NOV 8, 2014