Christian Marclay
Encyclopedia
Christian Marclay is a Swiss
-American visual artist and composer.
Marclay's work explores connections between sound, noise, photography, video, and film. A pioneer of using gramophone records
and turntables
as musical instrument
s to create sound collage
s, Marclay is, in the words of critic Thom Jurek, perhaps the "unwitting inventor of turntablism
." His own use of turntables and records, beginning in the late 1970s, was developed independently of but roughly parallel to hip hop's use of the instrument.
, California to a Swiss father and an American mother (maiden name Frese) and raised in Geneva
, Switzerland. He studied at the Ecole Supérieure d'Art Visuel in Geneva (1975–1977), the Massachusetts College of Art
in Boston (1977–1980, Bachelor of Fine Arts), and the Cooper Union
in New York (1978). As a student he was notably interested in Joseph Beuys
and the Fluxus
movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Long based in Manhattan
, Marclay has in recent years divided his time between New York and London.
Drawn to the energy of punk rock
, Marclay began creating songs, singing to music on pre-recorded backing tapes. Unable to recruit a drummer for his 1979 performances with guitarist Kurt Henry, Marclay used the regular rhythms of a skipping LP record as a percussion instrument. These duos with Henry might be the first time a musician used records and turntables as interactive, improvising musical instruments.
Marclay sometimes manipulates or damages records to produce continuous loops and skips, and has said he generally prefers inexpensive used records purchased at thrift shops, as opposed to other turntablists who often seek out specific recordings. In 1998 he claimed never to have paid more than US$1 for a record. Marclay has occasionally cut and re-joined different LP records; when played on a turntable, these re-assembled records will combine snippets of different music in quick succession along with clicks or pops from the seams – typical of noise music
– and when the original LPs were made of differently-colored vinyl, the reassembled LPs can themselves be objets d'art
.
Some of Marclay's musical pieces are carefully recorded and edited plunderphonics
-style; he is also active in free improvisation
. He was filmed performing a duo with Erikm
for the documentary Scratch. His scene didn't make the final cut, but is included among the DVD extras.
Thom Jurek writes that "While many intellectuals have made wild pronouncements about Marclay and his art – and it is art, make no mistake – writing all sorts of blather about how he strips the adult century bare by his cutting up of vinyl records and pasting them together with parts from other vinyl records, they never seem to mention that these sound collages of his are charming, very human, and quite often intentionally hilarious."
Marclay has performed and recorded both solo and in collaboration with many musicians, including John Zorn
, William Hooker, Elliott Sharp
, Otomo Yoshihide, Butch Morris
, Shelley Hirsch
, Flo Kaufmann and Crevice; he has also performed with the group Sonic Youth
, and in other projects with Sonic Youth's members.
At the 2011 Venice Biennale
, Marclay was recognised as the best artist in the official exhibition, winning the Golden Lion for The Clock
, a 24-hour compilation of time-related scenes from movies that debuted at London's White Cube
gallery in 2010. Newsweek
responded by naming Marclay one of the ten most important artists of today. Accepting the Golden Lion, Marclay invoked Andy Warhol
, thanking the jury "for giving The Clock its fifteen minutes".
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
-American visual artist and composer.
Marclay's work explores connections between sound, noise, photography, video, and film. A pioneer of using gramophone records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
and turntables
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
as musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s to create sound collage
Sound collage
In music, montage or sound collage is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores...
s, Marclay is, in the words of critic Thom Jurek, perhaps the "unwitting inventor of turntablism
Turntablism
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
." His own use of turntables and records, beginning in the late 1970s, was developed independently of but roughly parallel to hip hop's use of the instrument.
Biography
Christian Marclay was born on 11 January 1955 in San Rafael, Marin CountyMarin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
, California to a Swiss father and an American mother (maiden name Frese) and raised in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland. He studied at the Ecole Supérieure d'Art Visuel in Geneva (1975–1977), the Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a publicly-funded college of visual and applied art, founded in 1873. It is one of the oldest art schools, the only publicly-funded free-standing art school in the United States, and was the first art college in the United States to grant an artistic degree...
in Boston (1977–1980, Bachelor of Fine Arts), and the Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
in New York (1978). As a student he was notably interested in Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
and the Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Long based in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, Marclay has in recent years divided his time between New York and London.
Drawn to the energy of punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, Marclay began creating songs, singing to music on pre-recorded backing tapes. Unable to recruit a drummer for his 1979 performances with guitarist Kurt Henry, Marclay used the regular rhythms of a skipping LP record as a percussion instrument. These duos with Henry might be the first time a musician used records and turntables as interactive, improvising musical instruments.
Marclay sometimes manipulates or damages records to produce continuous loops and skips, and has said he generally prefers inexpensive used records purchased at thrift shops, as opposed to other turntablists who often seek out specific recordings. In 1998 he claimed never to have paid more than US$1 for a record. Marclay has occasionally cut and re-joined different LP records; when played on a turntable, these re-assembled records will combine snippets of different music in quick succession along with clicks or pops from the seams – typical of noise music
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
– and when the original LPs were made of differently-colored vinyl, the reassembled LPs can themselves be objets d'art
Work of art
A work of art, artwork, art piece, or art object is an aesthetic item or artistic creation.The term "a work of art" can apply to:*an example of fine art, such as a painting or sculpture*a fine work of architecture or landscape design...
.
Some of Marclay's musical pieces are carefully recorded and edited plunderphonics
Plunderphonics
Plunderphonics is a term coined by composer John Oswald in 1985 in his essay Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative. It has since been applied to any music made by taking one or more existing audio recordings and altering them in some way to make a new composition...
-style; he is also active in free improvisation
Free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....
. He was filmed performing a duo with Erikm
Erikm
eRikm has appeared on the artistic scenes in 1992.His early experience as a musician , and as a visual artist led him to composition and turntables....
for the documentary Scratch. His scene didn't make the final cut, but is included among the DVD extras.
Thom Jurek writes that "While many intellectuals have made wild pronouncements about Marclay and his art – and it is art, make no mistake – writing all sorts of blather about how he strips the adult century bare by his cutting up of vinyl records and pasting them together with parts from other vinyl records, they never seem to mention that these sound collages of his are charming, very human, and quite often intentionally hilarious."
Marclay has performed and recorded both solo and in collaboration with many musicians, including John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, William Hooker, Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock,...
, Otomo Yoshihide, Butch Morris
Butch Morris
Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris is an American jazz cornetist, composer and conductor.-Biography:Before his musical career, Morris served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War....
, Shelley Hirsch
Shelley Hirsch
Shelley Hirsch is a singer, performer, and composer. Central to Hirsch's work are her versatile vocal abilities, which are often enmeshed in a kaleidoscope of electronic music and sound effects....
, Flo Kaufmann and Crevice; he has also performed with the group Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
, and in other projects with Sonic Youth's members.
At the 2011 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
, Marclay was recognised as the best artist in the official exhibition, winning the Golden Lion for The Clock
The Clock (2010)
The Clock is an art installation by video artist Christian Marclay . It is in effect a clock, but it is made of a 24-hour montage of thousands of time-related scenes from movies and some TV shows, meticulously edited to be shown in “real time”: each scene contains an indication of time that is...
, a 24-hour compilation of time-related scenes from movies that debuted at London's White Cube
White Cube
White Cube is a contemporary art gallery designed by MRJ Rundell & Associates in Hoxton Square in the East End of London Mason's Yard, in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London...
gallery in 2010. Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
responded by naming Marclay one of the ten most important artists of today. Accepting the Golden Lion, Marclay invoked Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, thanking the jury "for giving The Clock its fifteen minutes".
Selected exhibitions
- The ClockThe Clock (2010)The Clock is an art installation by video artist Christian Marclay . It is in effect a clock, but it is made of a 24-hour montage of thousands of time-related scenes from movies and some TV shows, meticulously edited to be shown in “real time”: each scene contains an indication of time that is...
– 23rd August to 20 October 2011 – Israel MuseumIsrael MuseumThe Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, Jerusalem - The ClockThe Clock (2010)The Clock is an art installation by video artist Christian Marclay . It is in effect a clock, but it is made of a 24-hour montage of thousands of time-related scenes from movies and some TV shows, meticulously edited to be shown in “real time”: each scene contains an indication of time that is...
– 4 June to 27 November 2011 – Corderie dell'Arsenale, Venice Biennale, Italy - The ClockThe Clock (2010)The Clock is an art installation by video artist Christian Marclay . It is in effect a clock, but it is made of a 24-hour montage of thousands of time-related scenes from movies and some TV shows, meticulously edited to be shown in “real time”: each scene contains an indication of time that is...
– 26 May to 31 July 1011 – Los Angeles County Museum of ArtLos Angeles County Museum of ArtThe Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, Los Angeles, California, USA - The ClockThe Clock (2010)The Clock is an art installation by video artist Christian Marclay . It is in effect a clock, but it is made of a 24-hour montage of thousands of time-related scenes from movies and some TV shows, meticulously edited to be shown in “real time”: each scene contains an indication of time that is...
– 16 February to 17 April 2011 – Hayward GalleryHayward GalleryThe Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre, part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames, in central London, England. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings and also the Royal National Theatre and British Film Institute...
, London, England - The ClockThe Clock (2010)The Clock is an art installation by video artist Christian Marclay . It is in effect a clock, but it is made of a 24-hour montage of thousands of time-related scenes from movies and some TV shows, meticulously edited to be shown in “real time”: each scene contains an indication of time that is...
– 21 January to 19 February 2011 – Paula Cooper Gallery, New York City, New York, USA - The ClockThe Clock (2010)The Clock is an art installation by video artist Christian Marclay . It is in effect a clock, but it is made of a 24-hour montage of thousands of time-related scenes from movies and some TV shows, meticulously edited to be shown in “real time”: each scene contains an indication of time that is...
– 15 October to 13 November 2010 – White CubeWhite CubeWhite Cube is a contemporary art gallery designed by MRJ Rundell & Associates in Hoxton Square in the East End of London Mason's Yard, in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London...
, London, England - The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl – 2010 – Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Vinyl – 2009 – Lydgalleriet, Bergen, Norway (with Flo Kaufmann, Janek Schaefer and Otomo Yoshihide)
- Broken English – 2009 – Seiler+Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland (with Justin Bennett, Shana Lutker, Euan Macdonald, Navid Nuur and Mungo Thomson)
- Replay – 2009 – DHC/Art, Montréal, Canada
- You Said He Said She Said – 2008 – Seiler+Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
- Honk If You Love Silence – 2008 – Mamco, Geneva, Switzerland
- Snap! – 2008 – Galerie Art and Essai, Rennes, France
- Replay – 2007–08 – Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, Australia
- Replay – 2007 – Cité de la Musique, Paris, France
- Christian Marclay – 1999 – Paula Cooper Gallery, New York City, New York, USA
- Pictures at an Exhibition – 1997 – Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York City, New York, USA
- Arranged and Conducted – 1997 – Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland
- Accompagnement Musical – 1995 – Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, Switzerland
- Amplification – 1995 – Chiesa San Staë, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
- Christian Marclay – 1994 – Daadgalerie, Berlin, Germany; and Fri-Art Centre d'art contemporain Kunsthalle, Fribourg, Switzerland
- Christian Marclay – 1993 – Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, California
- The Wind Section – 1992 – Galerie Jennifer Flay, Paris, France
- Christian Marclay – 1991 – Interim Art, London, England
- Directions: Christian Marclay – 1990 – Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA
- Christian Marclay – 1987 – The Clocktower, P.S. 1 Museum, New York City, New York, USA
External links
- Seiler+Mosseri-Marlio Galerie: Upcoming Exhibits.
- White Cube: Christian Marclay.
- European Graduate School: Christian Marclay.
- Christian Marclay Discography.
- Christian Marclay, de la musique aux sons (in French).
- Audio of "Tabula Rasa" (2005) for three turntables and cutting lathe by Christian Marclay and Flo Kaufmann. Site broken 25 June 2011.
- Audio of "Phonodrum" by Christian Marclay from Records 1981–1989 (1997).
- The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl.
- Review of Album Without a Cover (1986), Spin, January 1986.