17.3.10
We saw Lucky Dragons yesterday night at WORM in Rotterdam. I love Lucky Dragons. I love Lucky Dragons. I love Lucky Dragons. I love Lucky Dragons. I FUCKING LOVE LUCKY DRAGONS. THEY ARE THE BEST.
Thanks to the person who recorded this last night, I'm one of the blurs in the video.
Lucky Dragons are Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara, an experimental art/music group from L.A. Their interactive performance, 'Make a Baby', involves the participation of the audience to initiate, monitor, and meaningfully interpret the transfer of data through skin contact. In short, Lucky Dragons operate an array of homemade hardware and software which sends carrier signal-line level audio frequencies in a series of digital loops through touch conductive fabric sensors attached to various instruments. When one touches the touch sensitive instruments, it produces a sound. This signal is also carried through the human body, which means that if another individual touches the person holding the instrument, it will produce a sound. This spurs a chain reaction of interactions, where people experiment with variating types of touch to produce different tones. These social aural interactions are simulataneously mapped onto a visual display in the form of moving coloured patterns.
Referring to John Cage’s ‘A Year from Monday,’ 'Make a Baby' proves that the artist is “no more extraordinary than we are.” Fischbeck and Rara are the mediators between the artwork and the participants, “anyone who experiences a work of art is as guilty as the artist. It is not a question of sharing the guilt. Each one of us gets all of it.” Cage also questions the direction in which art is going and whether it will become a family reunion. In this sense, 'Make a Baby', confirms his supposition, as the performance forms family-intimate interactions through new acts of perception and cognition. An instantaneous 'art-family' emerges and, as the title of the performance suggests, gives birth to a unique art action.
(An excerpt from my unpublished entry on Lucky Dragons on the Art and Electronic Media website.)
And if you're ever at Rotterdam Centraal Station, get a bami kroket out of the wall from Smullers, it is THE SHIT.
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3 comments:
Ok, I officially DON'T GET IT. Can you please explain what it is you love about Lucky Dragons? Seriously, I would like to know what is so great about this band as I am obviously missing it. I feel like it's one of those things that you just say is really cool because everyone else thinks so, so you kind of blindly follow. or am I wrong?
Hi Anonymous. Do we know each other?
I hope you have seen Lucky Dragons live before you commented. If you haven't, I think we shouldn't be having this discussion. If you have, and you still didn't like them, it's just not your thing - that's ok.
I am not going to convince you to like them if you don't. I think this entry explains sufficiently why I like them. Perhaps have a re-read?
Before seeing them I was afraid it might be to experimental for me, but I was very curious. And I can say that I FUCKING loved it too. It's a very special experience. Don't think of it as normal 'music', it's something else. It's more art then music, how they create sounds, interact with the 'audience', how you get into the moment 100% etc. Please go and see them before judging a fan.
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