I am sitting in a room: Issue Project Room celebrates Alvin Lucier at 90
Dear Friends,
Beginning Thursday, May 13 at 20:00 Issue Project Room is celebrating Alvin Lucier’s 90th birthday (!) by streaming 90 artists’ iterations of his iconic work “I am sitting in a room.” I am extremely honored to be included in the event which has an exceptional line-up of performers; see below for full schedule. The text we read, which is recorded and then carefully filtered over time by playing the original recording back into the space it was first recorded in (and allowing the room to physically shape the resultant audio), is as follows:
"I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have."
Finally, today The New York Times published an article diving a bit deeper into the history of “I am sitting a room” and Alvin’s legacy — read it here.
For now,
Jordan
Line-up for the event:
May 13th
Alvin Lucier - 20:00
Amanda Lucier - 20:19
Abigail Levine - 20:39
Aki Takahashi - 20:48
Akiko Hatakeyama - 21:09
Alec McLane - 21:26
Andrea Miller-Keller - 21:45
Anna Pangalou - 21:56
Anthony Burr - 22:13
Barbara Bloom - 22:30
Bernhard Rietbrock - 22:42
Bob Bielecki - 22:59
Charles Curtis - 23:12
Christian Wolff - 23:35
Christina Kubisch - 23:56
May 14th
Claire Chase - 0:16
Cleek Schrey - 0:31
Conrad Harris - 0:52
Daniel Fishkin - 1:07
David Behrman - 1:26
Dave Scanlon - 1:40
David Toop - 1:46
Dina Maccabee - 2:02
Douglas Simon - 2:22
Ernest Braun - 2:42
Evan Ziporyn - 3:01
George Lewis - 3:22
Georgia Hubley - 3:38
Gordon Monahan - 3:57
Hauke Harder - 4:14
Heidi Senungetuk - 4:34
Ira Kaplan - 4:55
Irvine Arditti - 5:13
Isabelle Bozzini - 5:34
James Peter Falzone - 5:50
James Fei - 6:09
James McNew - 6:35
Jan Thoben - 6:53
Jane Alden - 7:10
Jennifer Hadley - 7:29
Intermission (15 minutes)
Jessie Marino - 8:00
Joan Jordi Oliver Arcos - 8:17
Joan La Barbara - 8:38
Joe Kubera - 8:58
Jordan Dykstra - 9:17
Jung Hee Choi - 9:36
Kata Kovács - 9:53
KCM Walker - 10:13
La Monte Young - 10:31
Laura Cetilia - 10:48
Lucy Railton - 11:03
Lynn Bechtold - 11:23
Marian Zazeela - 11:38
Intermission (15 minutes)
Mark Slobin - 11:54
Matt Sargent - 12:26
Matt Wellins - 12:40
Matthew Evan Taylor - 12:50
May Klug - 13:09
Meredith Monk - 13:29
Michael Steinborn - 13:49
Mimi Johnson - 14:02
Minoru Sato - 14:17
Nestor Prieto - 14:37
Nic Collins - 14:55
Nina Katchadourian - 15:09
Olga Bell - 15:26
Oren Ambarchi - 15:42
Paula Matthusen - 15:58
Pauline Kim Harris - 16:10
Peter Ablinger - 16:21
Petr Kotik - 16:38
Robert Wilson - 16:53
Ronald Kuivila - 17:14
Ron Shalom - 17:31
Seth Cluett - 17:52
Seth Kim-Cohen - 18:12
Steve Reich - 18:28
Steven Drury - 18:45
Sumarsam - 19:02
Susan Leigh Foster - 19:19
Terri Hanlon - 19:37
Thomas Buckner - 19:52
Thurston Moore - 20:11
Tom Hamilton - 20:32
Tom O'Doherty - 20:51
Trevor Saint - 21:11
Valentine Michaud - 21:28
Viola Rusche - 21:44
Warren Enström - 22:01
Wendy Stokes - 22:17
Alvin Lucier at the Brandeis Electronic Music Studio in Waltham, Massachusetts in the late 60s. Unnamed University Photographer.