120 Everit Street
New Haven, CT 06511
seth@kim-cohen.com
www.kim-cohen.com
203/ 772.5950
Current Position
Artist / Lecturer
Yale University School of Art
January 2006 – Present
Education
Ph.D.
The London Consortium, University of London, London, UK
September 2002 – June 2006
Thesis: This Not Knowing NeednÕt Bother Us: Artistic Uses of Incompetence. A study of productive instances of representational failure in 20th century and 21st century works of visual art, music and literature. Supervisors: Steven Connor (Academic Director, London Consortium; School of English and the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London); Simon Critchley (Department of Philosophy, New School University and University of Essex).
Master of Fine Arts
Candidate in Creative Writing
Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
September 1988 - May 1989
Emphasis on literary theory, structuralism, post-structuralism, and interdisciplinary practice. Completed 1 of 2 years.
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Emerson College
Boston, MA, USA
September 1983 - May 1987
Creative Writing. (GPA 3.5). Coursework included sequence in literary theory and aesthetics, postmodernism seminar, twentieth century American and European literature. Studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Franz Wright.
I describe myself as a conceptual sonician. That is, I work primarily with sound, but I donÕt consider sounds my material nor my medium. I am more concerned with acts of thinking, interpreting and imagining than with acts of listening or watching. My work often unfolds according to systematic instructions and restraints, allowing performer and audience to be both participant and spectator, to make the work by witnessing it.
I do not focus on artifacts,
but on incidents and situations. By skewing the conventions of participation,
duration and authorial control, my work reorders interactions between work and
audience, between intention and realization, between signifier and signified. I
test the notion of Òinteractional synchronyÓ – the coordination (or lack
thereof) of collective experience – by composing situation-specific
events in which audience experience is fragmented in time, space and/or
perspective.
Works
for Jaromir Hladik
Solo Gallery Exhibition, Grand Projects, New Haven, CT
July – August 2006
An exhibition of unmade works. Calling into question the
material status of the artwork, the accepted history of sound art, and auditory
claims of phenomenological purity: this exhibition asked gallery patrons to
experience the potential of not-yet-made works through the medium of the
gallery audio tour. A guide described each of six works, while curators,
critics, and artists offered their opinions and insights into the meaning and
importance of the works.
The LŽvi Breaks
Composed for John Lely's Rational Fete, Bethnal Green Working Men's Club,
London, UK
7 February 2006
An anthropomorphism of sorts. Claude LŽvi-Strauss' The
Savage Mind (PensŽe
Sauvage) set
to the kick drum pattern of Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks".
As LŽvi-Strauss discusses "our" view of "primitive"
peoples, John Bonham's thunderous right foot asserts its own theory of
"the primitive".
Hour-Long Broadcast Auction
Performed: Live from Greene County
on www.free103point9.org internet radio
4 February 2006
A live, hour-long broadcast of an eBay auction for the item Hour-Long
Broadcast Auction. Listeners are invited to
log on to eBay and search for ÒHour-Long Broadcast AuctionÓ. All bids and
questions (submitted via the "Ask seller a question" link at the
bottom of the eBay page) become part of Hour-Long Broadcast Auction. Who needs "product" anymore, when we can
buy and sell buying and selling itself? The ultimate (or, if you believe Marx,
the penultimate) step in the evolution of capitalism. Winning bid: $21.51
Six Things #6 for Henri Vaxby by John Lely
(for guitar, analogue clock, and multi-track recording
device)
First performance: Live from Greene County on www.free103point9.org internet
radio
4 February 2006
Six superimposed performances of John Lely's Thing #6 for
Henri Vaxby (ÒWhen
the second hand of the clock crosses the hour hand, play a note. When the
second hand crosses the minute hand, play a harmonic.Ó) The organization of
sound events is determined by the movement of the hands of the clock, with the
intervals between sound events shifting as the relative positions of the hands
change.
Symphony 0 (for Jimbo Blachly)
Peer Gallery, London, UK
13 – 14 November 2005
Conceptual sonics performance, consisting of one guitar
chord strummed for 24 hours. Changes in tuning due to humidity, temperature,
construction of guitar, age of strings, etc., determine the harmonic progress
of the piece. Spectators spent up to nine hours in the gallery. Many left and
came back to assess the development of the piece.
Before Your Door Is All The Way Open
for organ, metronome and audience whispers
Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
November 2005
Instructions are passed through the audience to the
organist, introducing the possibilities of mishearing, misspeaking and
misbehavior into the interpretation and realization of the score.
A Thousand Lands of a Thousand Dances
Ongoing, begun October 2005
A thousand cassette tape-to-tape dubs of Wilson Pickett's "Land of a
Thousand Dances" (1966).
The piece is presented as either the final
recording or as a selected dub culled from the process.
Seeing Darkness, Not Not Seeing
Whitechapel Gallery,
London, UK
November 2005
Audience members responses to a psychological questionnaire are translated into
a private multi-media experience, comprising video, sound, movement, and smell.
Beneath A Sky Debirded
Reception Space, London, UK
22 October 2005
A simultaneous performance and radio broadcast in which the
broadcast provides the sonic component of the performance and the movements of
the performers determine the content of the broadcast.
Unst: Bespoke Sound
Resonance FM, London, UK
September - November 2005
Conceived and created fortnightly radio program presenting
custom-made sound art for radio broadcast. Works are produced by Unst
Collective, which I founded as a collaborative, supportive network of artists
working together to create conceptual audio works.
Cycles, Spheres and Suitcases
PGH Sound, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
June 2005
4 hour loop installation of street sounds played on tree-mounted speakers as
part of public sound art installation in downtown Pittsburgh. Conceived and
created with Andrew Morgan.
Beuycott
Tate Modern, London, UK
April 2005
Conceived and performed an "aesthetic action" outside
Joseph Beuys exhibition. Marched with placard reading "Beuycott" on
one side, "I Am Not An Artist Yet" on the other. Discussed/debated
the action with interested/annoyed museum patrons.
Radio Memories
Archipel Festival, Geneva, Switzerland
March 2005
Contributed text to installation/exhibition organized by
Brandon Labelle as part of sound and music festival.
The Sixth Sick SheikÕs Sixth Sheep (sic)
Tate Modern, London, UK
January 2005
Web archive:
www.tate.org.uk/onlineevents/archive/heaven&earth
A composition for sextet, in which I asked the players to
copy each otherÕs original sonic-genetic material with mutations leading to new
sonic species. (Credited to my musonym, Olias Nil.) Performed as part of The
Sound of Heaven and Earth at Tate Modern, London, UK, which I conceived and curated.
Composers from various music and sound practices were asked to compose Òsound
scoresÓ for an ensemble of improvising musicians. Participants included: Luc
Ferrari, Kaffe Matthews, David Grubbs, Achim Wollscheid, David Toop. Reviewed
in The Wire, Issue 253, March
2005, p. 87.
Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK
January - March 2005
Performed interactive, conversational work of artist, Tino
Seghal (German representative at 2005 Venice Biennale).
The Movement
Static Gallery, Liverpool, UK
February 2004
Conceived, curated and executed web-based work involving
practitioners in various media (poetry, sound art, visual art, philosophy).
Each participant responded to the work of another participant, creating a
sequence of related works. Participants included: Scanner, Simon Critchley,
Shanon Playford, Nick Lambrianou, Richard Mosse. My text, ÒFour Imaginary
PrototypesÓ (credited to my litonym, Julius Nil), was incorporated into ScannerÕs
response piece ÒMutability & DepartureÓ and later published, in French
translation, in Revue Le
Quartanier, 3/4.
The Nil Antithesis
Spitz, London, UK
May 2003
Narrative sound/music piece consisting of textual
interventions and live sonic manipulations.
A Private Audience
The Hideout, Chicago, IL, USA
August 2002
Conceived and performed a conceptual rock performance in
which audience members were allowed, one at a time, into a performance venue
for a private, improvised one minute concert. During the performance, a
large-format Polaroid was taken of the spectator and a CD of the performance
was burned. Each spectator left with his or her Polaroid-portrait and a CD of
the only existing recording of his or her private audience.
Conceptual and critical interdisciplinary artistic practice; conceptual approaches to sound; twentieth century music and sound practice; recording and theory; methods of artistic reception; aesthetic theory; artistic semiotics.
Third Year Crits (Guest Tutor)
University of Brighton, Brighton, UK
December 2005
Invited to lead critical review of the work of third year
undergraduate students in the Music and Visual Art program – an
interdisciplinary fine arts degree.
Research Methods
The London Consortium, London, UK
Led seminar for first year London Consortium Ph.D. students
on research methods related to sound research and practice.
Incompetence and Art
Tate Modern, London, UK
September - October 2005
Designed and taught course on representational infidelity in
20th century artistic and theoretical practice. Course examined work
in sound and visual art, literature, and music, proposing methods of production
and reception which utilize representational incompetence as sites of
interpretive possibility.
Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
Study Day Workshop, Tate Modern, London, UK
July 2005
Following on success of Repetition course (see below),
designed and taught an intensive, one-day condensation of course with emphasis
on repetition in creative practice.
Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
Tate Modern, London, UK
January –
March 2005
Designed and taught course proposing repetition as the
preeminent, yet unacknowledged concern of 20th century art practice.
Course covered visual art, literature, sound, music and film via confrontations
with the artworks themselves, as well as creative and critical texts.
The London Consortium, London, UK
January – March 2005
Invited to lead first year Ph.D. research seminar helping to
focus student work; advising on research direction, methodology, and resource
management.
Course Assistant
The London Consortium Summer School, London, UK
July 2003
Assisted course leader in preparing and presenting week-long
course on urbanism, technology and modernism.
My recent research has focused on failures of representational fidelity in literature, art, music and theory. I am interested in the ways in which representational and semiotic codes within texts fail to correspond to their intended referents. Such moments allow us to read the text reading itself; that is, to become aware of the textÕs interaction with its own construction and with its representational capacities and shortcomings. My analysis is focused on works which are invested, through their representational incompetence, with otherwise-unattainable meaning and value.
My future research interests include an examination of
critical trends in late twentieth century art, sound and music practice and
theory, with a specific interest in the validity of phenomenological approaches
to conceptual work. I am also interested in exploring the mediation of sonic
semiotics through an auditory thinking of Charles Sanders PeirceÕs concept of
the interpretant.
ÒLetÕs Hear It For The Incompetent ComposerÓ
The Value of Expertise Symposium
The Royal Academy of Music
December 2005
ÒBas Jan Ader and the Question Concerning CompetenceÓ
Open Systems Symposium
Tate Modern, London, UK
September 2005
ÒNoise Starts With No: Relations to SoundÓ
NoiseTheoryNoise 2 Conference
Middlesex
University, Middlesex, UK
November 2004
ÒWhat Counts As True in W.G. Sebald?Ó
Witness: Memory, Representation, and the Media in
Question
European Summer
School, Copenhagen, Denmark
August 2004
ÒScrabbling At The Lock: Failure in Lachenmann, Autechre,
ResplendentÓ
NoiseTheoryNoise Conference
Middlesex University, Middlesex, UK
March 2004
ÒHow To Reinvent The Station When The Station
WonÕt Stay Put:
Language PoetryÕs Strategy of ResistanceÓ
Capitalism and Philosophy Lab
Invited Talk
Middlesex University Philosophy Department,
Middlesex, UK
December 2003
ÒCerulean Snot: Abjection As ResistanceÓ
Abject (I) Abject Conference
Graduate College of Art, Berlin, Germany
November 2003
ÒCritical Harmonies: Kant and the Interested ObjectÓ
Object (I) Object Conference
Tate Britain, London, UK
July 2003
ÒOn Cats In Bags:
Asymmetric Information, Endemic Dishonesty And The CohortÓ
Invited Talk
Royal Society of Art, London, UK
July 2003
One
Reason To Live
Errant
Bodies Press, Copenhagen and Los Angeles.
June 2006
Book
publication of conversations from my radio show on Resonance FM, London. Each
conversation features one guest discussing one piece of music of her or his
choosing. Conversants include Scanner, David Toop, Brandon LaBelle, Kaffe
Matthews, Simon Critchley, Steven Connor and others.
ÒWhat Counts As True in W.G. Sebald?Ó
Witness: Memory, Representation, and the Media in
Question
Museum
Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen
Winter 2006 (in press)
Essay on the use of pictures in W.G. SebaldÕs novels. To be
published in book of essays on the subject of witnessing.
ÒStephen
Vitiello: The Lost VoiceÓ
Art
Review
May 2005
Profile of
sound artist Stephen Vitiello for sound art issue of Art Review.
ÒOn Cats In Bags:
Asymmetric Information, Endemic Dishonesty and The CohortÓ
Invited Contribution
The Future of the Professions
Position Paper
Royal Society of Art, London, UK
2003
ÒCash and Currency: A Requiem For Johnny CashÓ
Pitchfork Magazine
www.pitchforkmedia.com
2003
ÒProg Will Eat Itself: Yes and Post-RockÓ
Chicago Reader,
Chicago, IL, USA
2001
ÒArtificial Intelligence: AutechreÓ
Chicago Reader,
Chicago, IL, USA
2001
ÒMonstress of Rock: PJ HarveyÓ
Chicago Reader,
Chicago, IL, USA
1998
ÒOf Mice and Men: Chris WareÓ
Pop Stock Magazine,
Chicago, IL, USA
1993
ÒLiz PhairÕs Self-Imposed ExileÓ
Pop Stock Magazine,
Chicago, IL, USA
1993
ÒAn Interview With Jenny HolzerÓ
Columbia: A Magazine of Poetry and Prose, New York, NY, USA
1990
Awards
Overseas Research Studentship
Universities UK
2003 – 2006
Three year merit-based studentship.
Radio Host
One Reason To Live, Resonance, 104.4 FM, London, UK
January 2004 – March 2005
Created and host radio program (under my radionym, Julius
Nil), the aim of which is to explore the various ways in which people make use
and meaning of music. One guest chooses one piece of music per show. Discussion
focuses on specific passages, modes of listening, form, content, mediation. Guests
have included: Scanner, Luc Ferrari, Brandon Labelle, Ken Vandermark, Steven
Connor, Esther Leslie, Simon Critchley, Ben Watson, David Cunningham, John
Parish.
Founder / Organizer
The Cardigan Festival, Chicago,
IL, USA
1993 – 1998
Conceived, booked, organized and promoted annual multi-night
concert to benefit The Howard Brown Health Center (an AIDS research and
treatment facility). 50 bands over 5 years. More than $50,000 raised.
Freelance Art and Music Critic
March 1991 – Present
Articles, reviews,
and essays in various publications, including: Art Review, The
Chicago Reader, Magnet, and Pitchfork. Founded and edited Pop Stock:
Magazine of Music and Culture.
Composer / Musician
November 1989 – Present
Released 7 internationally-distributed albums. Performances
in US, Canada, the UK, and Europe. Recent work explores social component of
musical production and the boundaries between composition and performance.
Currently producing a quartet of sound recordists, making simultaneous
recordings in four different time zones. These recordings will constitute both
multi-channel sound compositions and be used as sonic-event maps from which
performance scores will be generated.
Poet / Fictionalist
1983 – Present
Author of poems, short stories and a novel, a few of them published.
Professor Steven
Connor, Academic Director, The London Consortium, e: s.connor@bbk.ac.uk
Simon Critchley, Professor
of Philosophy, The New School, e: critchls@newschool.edu