Philip Venables

More dates announced for ‘Answer Machine Tape, 1987’

14 September 2022 - news

Answer Machine Tape, 1987, my a new work for piano and multimedia, has more performances announced this autumn. Zubin Kanga, who commissioned the piece, will perform the work at the following places:

12th November 2022 — House73 Courtroom in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, as part of November Music. Click here for tickets and info.

19th November 2022 — Bates Mill in Huddersfield, UK, as part of Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Click here for tickets and info.

4th December 2022 — Espace Cardin in Paris, as part of the Festival d’Automne à Paris. Click here for tickets and info.

The piece was made in collaboration with Zubin and programmer Simon Hendry, based on a concept developed in collaboration with Ted Huffman. It focuses on New York visual artist David Wojnarowicz and the turbulent period leading up to the death Peter Hujar, his close friend and fellow artist, from AIDS-related illness in 1987. The focal point of the work is Wojnarowicz’s answering machine tape from the days leading up to Hujar’s death, featuring calls from Hujar, other artists, friends and lovers. Using new sensor technology from the Augmented Instruments Lab, the piano is turned into a huge typewriter to transcribe, comment on and illuminate the messages. The result is, I hope, a poignant and intimate exploration of that period of the New York art scene, queer history and the AIDS crisis.

Answer Machine Tape, 1987 was commissioned by Zubin Kanga with the support of a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship and Royal Holloway, University of London, in conjunction with Time of Music, November Music, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Festival d’Automne à Paris. I also received support for research, workshops and software development from the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media within the framework of Neustart Kultur.

Photo by Eeli Järvinen, taken at the premiere at Time of Music, Viitasaari.

› tags: 2022/23 Season / Answer Machine Tape 1987 / David Wojnarowicz / Festival d'Automne à Paris / Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF) / November Music / Peter Hujar / Simon Hendry / Ted Huffman / Zubin Kanga /