Tabula Rasa brings together sound engineer and vinyl cutter Flo Kaufmann and artist Christian Marclay in a live performance. Marclay, equipped with a turntable, makes sounds that are recorded in real time by Kaufmann, who engraves the sounds onto acetate dubplates. Marclay begins making sounds with empty turntables -– no records – he uses the tone-arm to create a vocabulary of sounds, which are then cut live. The first plate is then handed to Marclay, who uses it to make the next phase of sounds. The process is a mulit-inversion of what is normally expected from the performance of a DJ. The sound source is restricted to the machine and the medium, removing all the content normally associated with vinyl records. Around six records are made in hour with this strange-loop system.
 
'Turntablism' pioneer Christian Marclay (b. 1955) is an artist and composer based in New York. Marclay developed an unorthodox use of turntables in the 70s independently of hip-hop techniques. A former lecturer of video and sound at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, the visualization of sound is central to Marclay’s work; he has exhibited and performed extensively, collaborating with musicians including John Zorn, Otomo Yoshihide and Sonic Youth.
 
Florian Kaufmann (B. 1973) lives and works in Solothurn, Switzerland as an artist, sound engineer and vinyl cutter. He works primarily with technological obsolete objects and homemade instruments, presenting video and sound installations and concerts. He also incorporates specially designed vinyl-cutters into performances. After meeting Christian Marclay at the 2003 "la batie" festival in Geneva, the two teamed up for Tabula Rasa,. Kaufmann has also collaborated with artists David Grubbs, Ronald Lippok, and Joseph Suchy.
 
> www.floka.com
 
Appearances:
> CTM.08 > ANTICIPATING UNPREDICTABILITY