Gregory Whitehead
Encyclopedia
Gregory Whitehead
Gregory Whitehead ((Nantucket, MA) is a writer, radiomaker and audio artist based in Lenox, Massachusetts
.
, from the 1980s to the present.
Active in cassette culture during the 1980s, his early works include Disorder Speech (1985), Display Wounds (1986), Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1987), The Pleasure of Ruins (1988), Writing On Air (1988) and Reptiles and Wildfire (1989). In 1991, RRRecords released a 7” vinyl record titled Vicekopf.
Selections from his early voice works, which he called “castaways”, were released on CD in 1993 by the Dutch label Staalplaat
, who then released a CD version of his seminal experimental radio documentary, Dead Letters, which had first been broadcast in 1985. Two additional radio plays, Shake, Rattle, Roll and Degenerates in Dreamland were released on CD by the V2 Institute for Unstable Media in 1995. Shake, Rattle, Roll received a BBC Award at the Prix Futura
competition in Berlin.
Other works produced these years were widely anthologized on audio or radio art CD magazines such as Tellus
, Aerial and Revista de Arte Sonora.
Whitehead collaborated with Christof Migone
on the 1995 radio play, The Thing About Bugs, for New American Radio. Other radioplays from the 1990s include Pressures of the Unspeakable (1992), Nothing But Fog (1996) and Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered (1997), which he produced for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
. Pressures of the Unspeakable received a Prix Italia
award.
Since 2000, Whitehead has produced numerous plays and documentary essays for BBC Radio
, including The Marilyn Room (2000), American Heavy (2001), The Loneliest Road (2003), On One Lost Hair (2004), No Background Music (2005), The Day King Hammer Fell From The Sky (2007) and Bring Me The Head of Philip K. Dick (2009).
The Loneliest Road and No Background Music (featuring Sigourney Weaver
) both won Sony Gold Academy Award
s.
Dead Letters was included in the sound section, curated by Stephen Vitiello
, of the Whitney Museum’s American Century show in 2000, and his Mister Whitehead Are You There? was included in the Whitney’s Bitstreams exhibition of digital art, in 2001. His video installation, Delivery System No. 1, was shown at Location One gallery (NYC) in 2001, and his multimedia installation, The Bone Trade, was exhibited at Mass MOCA in 2003.
Whitehead has also been a frequent speaker at various conferences and festivals, including Radio Without Boundaries, Third Coast, Megapolis, Boundless Sound, School of Sound, and Airborne. He is the author of numerous essays on subjects relating to the poetics of radio space, and he is co-editor of a groundbreaking anthology of sound art and radio texts, Wireless Imagination: sound, radio and the avant-garde (MIT Press, 1994).
Gregory Whitehead ((Nantucket, MA) is a writer, radiomaker and audio artist based in Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Set in Western Massachusetts, it is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,077 at the 2000 census. Where the town has a border with Stockbridge is the site of Tanglewood, summer...
.
Work
Allen S. Weiss considers him to be a major international figure in the fields of audio and radio artRadio art
Radio art refers to the use of radio for art. "Radio Art implies that the artist who works in, and with, radio is not necessarily a trained DJ, programmer, producer, engineer, or personality, but one who uses sound to make art and seeks ways to transit it through radio as art...
, from the 1980s to the present.
Active in cassette culture during the 1980s, his early works include Disorder Speech (1985), Display Wounds (1986), Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1987), The Pleasure of Ruins (1988), Writing On Air (1988) and Reptiles and Wildfire (1989). In 1991, RRRecords released a 7” vinyl record titled Vicekopf.
Selections from his early voice works, which he called “castaways”, were released on CD in 1993 by the Dutch label Staalplaat
Staalplaat
Staalplaat is an independent record label that is located in Amsterdam with a separate store in Berlin. Created in 1982, the company's mission was created as a sound forum for sound artists, who write and perform new and experimental music...
, who then released a CD version of his seminal experimental radio documentary, Dead Letters, which had first been broadcast in 1985. Two additional radio plays, Shake, Rattle, Roll and Degenerates in Dreamland were released on CD by the V2 Institute for Unstable Media in 1995. Shake, Rattle, Roll received a BBC Award at the Prix Futura
Prix Europa
Prix Europa is the Europe's largest annual tri-medial festival and competition. Its open juries sample and select the best television-, radio- and online productions of each year...
competition in Berlin.
Other works produced these years were widely anthologized on audio or radio art CD magazines such as Tellus
Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine
Launched from the Lower East Side, Manhattan, in 1983 as a subscription only bimonthly publication, the Tellus cassette series took full advantage of the popular cassette medium to promote cutting-edge downtown music, documenting the New York scene and advancing experimental composers of the time...
, Aerial and Revista de Arte Sonora.
Whitehead collaborated with Christof Migone
Christof Migone
Christof Migone is an experimental sound artist and writer, formerly based in Montreal, now living in Toronto.He is the Director/Curator of the Blackwood Gallery and is a lecturer at the Centre for Visual and Media Culture at The University of Toronto's Mississauga campus.Migone's solo recordings...
on the 1995 radio play, The Thing About Bugs, for New American Radio. Other radioplays from the 1990s include Pressures of the Unspeakable (1992), Nothing But Fog (1996) and Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered (1997), which he produced for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
. Pressures of the Unspeakable received a Prix Italia
Prix Italia
The Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...
award.
Since 2000, Whitehead has produced numerous plays and documentary essays for BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
, including The Marilyn Room (2000), American Heavy (2001), The Loneliest Road (2003), On One Lost Hair (2004), No Background Music (2005), The Day King Hammer Fell From The Sky (2007) and Bring Me The Head of Philip K. Dick (2009).
The Loneliest Road and No Background Music (featuring Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
) both won Sony Gold Academy Award
Sony Radio Academy Awards
The Sony Radio Academy Awards , started in 1983, are some of the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. They are run by ZAFER Associates in association with the Radio Academy...
s.
Dead Letters was included in the sound section, curated by Stephen Vitiello
Stephen Vitiello
Stephen Vitiello is a visual and sound artist. Originally a punk guitarist he is influenced by video artist Nam June Paik who he worked with after meeting in 1991...
, of the Whitney Museum’s American Century show in 2000, and his Mister Whitehead Are You There? was included in the Whitney’s Bitstreams exhibition of digital art, in 2001. His video installation, Delivery System No. 1, was shown at Location One gallery (NYC) in 2001, and his multimedia installation, The Bone Trade, was exhibited at Mass MOCA in 2003.
Whitehead has also been a frequent speaker at various conferences and festivals, including Radio Without Boundaries, Third Coast, Megapolis, Boundless Sound, School of Sound, and Airborne. He is the author of numerous essays on subjects relating to the poetics of radio space, and he is co-editor of a groundbreaking anthology of sound art and radio texts, Wireless Imagination: sound, radio and the avant-garde (MIT Press, 1994).
See also
- Jacki Apple, "Screamers", High Performance, Spring, 1992.
- Kristiana Clemens, review, Turned On, Tuning In, Musicworks #95, Spring, 2005, p. 53.
- Kersten Glandien, Art on Air. A Profile of New Radio Art, in: Simon Emmerson (ed), Music, Electronic Media and Culture (Ashgate, 2000).
- Thyrza Nichols Goodeve, "No Wound Ever Speaks For Itself" in Art Forum, January 1992, p. 70.
- Elisabeth Mahoney, review, The Loneliest Road, The Guardian, October 20, 2003
- Joe Milutis, "Radiophonic Ontologies and the Avant-Garde," TDR 40, no. 3 (Fall 1996): 70. 5
- Jon Pareles, review, "Five Concerts All at Once, And It's Quiet", New York Times, April 24, 2004
- Allen S. Weiss, "Purity of Essence", in Breathless: Sound Recording, Disembodiment and the Transformation of Lyrical Nostalgia, Wesleyan University Press, 2002