aisyalam

Bangkok recap (finally):

On Wednesday, Eric and I got to work early, going over what we wanted to do in the performance, then we set out to record the pieces we had arranged the previous two days. Hard work, but it went fairly smoothly. I was glad that the ideas we had sketched out the day before had stuck overnight. Process: we’d create the soundscape, record (overlay) the vocals, and mix appropriately. End result: five solid tracks, the best of which I hope to post up at PennSound before long. We spent most of the day on it, leaving about an hour of downtime before we had to be at Bed Supperclub to do the tech check. Once at the club, we only encountered a few bumps, which we were able to find solutions for with the help of Roman (the sound guy) and Justin Time (the dj). Both Eric & I were mighty relieved when managed to get the sound and visuals ready to go with a couple of hours to spare; in order to do so I had to set my gear up at the cashier’s counter at the entrance of the room (where there was a vga cable that hooked into the projector) and Eric was at the rear where all the dj/vj equipment was—which wasn’t what we expected but it wasn’t a problem in the end. The most unusual thing—besides the general atmosphere of the club (which was cylindrical, and at which patrons dined on beds that were 80 feet long)—was that the evening was billed as “art and supermodels.” So, we performed to a room full of some of the most glamorous people imaginable, a few hangers-on, and a few of the artists from the festival. Oddly, no other acts from the festival were on the bill that night. Justin played a great set of tunes, the mood was good, and I’d guess more than 100 people were present when we started our set at about nine o’clock. We opened with our version of the Buddhist “Kesa Sutra” (in English and Japanese) which I chant every day in private, which starts with a few strikes on my rin gong and during which I also play flute at beginning and end; I projected the images of the Chinese temple in the Highlands changing the images (randomized by the javascript program I posted last week). Eric’s part in this piece (and the next) involves making totally wild sounds using a setting called “Rachmiel Skrewell” in the Ableton program, switching some of the settings and “monkeying” (live) with the fades and pitches once the next piece begins. The text of the second piece, “Feedback” was initiated by Leevi Lehto’s Google Poetry Generator, which I significantly edited; for simplicity’s sake I kept using the temple images as the visual accompaniment. I also read a piece I created with the TRAVESTY program using Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” as input. Then Eric had to switch programs (to Reaktor), so I read an a capella piece during the brief downtime, an acrostic poem called “Yemanjá” that I wrote in Brazil after the tsunami in 2004 (I thought it was appropriate to read in Thailand). The third electronic piece we did is called “How Fast Can a Zebra Run?” which was also made with the Google Generator and for which I made a Flash animation featuring zebras floating and bouncing around in various shapes and directions; the soundtrack is built from a sample of my voice saying “Bangkok” processed through the metaphysical function setting in the program. Then Eric had to change programs again and I read another solo piece called “Key Words,” which is kind of a found poem made up of words (in alphabetical order) from a book on Java. The next piece, “Facts About Durians,” also made with the Google Poetry Generator, was done in two voices. Eric (in brogue) and I read two entirely different types of texts (made with the same search string) while a recording of frogs I made in Cyberjaya also played through the speakers; the Flash animation I made was projected. To conclude I read three poems made from spam email messages while Eric intensely processed one of the samples of the piano soundtracks I recorded in New Jersey. In all the performance lasted about thirty minutes, and actually seemed to be fairly well received by the audience. I was surprised that very few (like only two) people stepped out while we were on, because admittedly it was not a very easy going, or easy-to-absorb, conventional-type presentation. I knew things were going well when a couple came up to me during the set to inquire what I was reading, and we got big props from both the festival organizer and sound technician afterward. Francis, the organizer, was very delighted, telling me that his preconception of digital poetry was that it would be some sort of dull hypertext show, but when we came out with great voices and sounds we really got his attention. Another good sign was when the guy who started the club (who was actually the person who interrupted me during the set) shoved a drink (Long Island Ice Tea of all things) into my hand and wanted to converse afterwards. Anyway, the whole thing gave me a good charge and both Eric and I had positive impressions of it afterwards, which was gratifying. It was Eric’s first performance since moving to Asia more than seven years ago, and a very good debut I’d say. Walking back to the hotel wearing my traditional Malaysian garb I was definitely feelin’ good. (For a few pics of the scene, see our Flickr blog).

Thursday morning was my only real “free” time in Bangkok so I got up at an ungodly hour and got a ride down to the river, where I took a walk and arrived at the Grand Palace just as it opened. It is incredible place to say the least, with ornate buildings, temples, and a 1900 meter long mural that depicts the entire Ramayana tale. From there I walked down to Wat Pho, a Buddhist temple that features the famous “reclining” Buddha (with feet inlaid with mother of pearl) and many other outrageous buildings. I could have spent the rest of the day there, but had to leave by noon in order to go back to my hotel and catch a taxi to my lecture (“Digital Poetry: An Introduction”), scheduled to start at 2. I hooked up with Eric and we went over to Chulalongkorn University, a sprawling campus, only to discover that the stated location of the lecture (“conference hall”) did not exist. Thanks to a helpful librarian at the Fine Arts building, who let us use her handphone, we managed to find the actual location, which was in the Library building. We got there on time, though the previous session by the Bangkok2 arts group was running late. This gave us time to check out a cool installation in an adjacent room by Nang Kwak called “Equal Opportunity” (See http://www.car.chula.ac.th/art), which has caused a slight stir in the city. Setting up for the lecture only one technical problem to deal with, having to do with the projector, so began late and felt (probably unnecessarily so) a bit rushed; also had to do the lecture with my back to the audience in order to see what was in the screen (which wasn’t appearing on my laptop). Otherwise the session (a modified version of a lecture I’ve given at MMU and IIUM) went well, and the audience (probably 30-40) seemed to be interested. The questions afterwards mainly involved what sorts of programs were best for this sort of work, and what was more important, the poetry or the technology. To this I say that the work isn’t possible without the technology, so the tech is important, but that the language and content is really what makes the work poetry, so both aspects are equally important. It must have gone well, in hindsight, as I was approached by a crew from a Thai TV station afterwards who wanted to interview me. The young man who conducted the interview had some real questions, so the interview was interesting and substantive; at one point, Eric, who was eavesdropping, got involved with it, then we sat in on a screening of some Warhol movies presented by one of his collaborators, Ronald Tavel, which were pretty good (one featured a split screen with a wordless Nico on one side and a drunken Paul Morrissey on the other) and some short pieces by Thanksa Phunsittivorakul (which I didn’t appreciate as much). So, despite a few foibles that arised, it was a fun afternoon. The close party, held at the HOF Art Center, featured five floors of paintings and video installations (not all associated with the Festival), and a rooftop dj/vj party. Eric and I hung out there for a couple of hours, taking it all in. My favorite pieces were Jeff Gompertz’s installation (live feeds mixed with shot footage) and some animations that were being projected onto a nearby building. A lot of people were there, and the djs and videos were all pretty good, though no one (besides Eric & I) seemed interested in moving to the beats. We left on the early side, said our goodbyes to the organizers and each other, and I went over to a nearby spa (not of ill-repute) for a traditional Thai massage, which was a great way to end the trip. Though it was exhausting, I much enjoyed the Bangkok experience and working with Eric, and hope to do so again someday. In any case, I was glad to get back to the family in Malaysia, getting back in the swing of things by copy editing my MMU lectures on the two hour flight home. Now, a couple of weeks of uninterrupted work ahead & plenty of other stuff to work on and explore…