Sounding

 

The pieces presented individually in the large open area of the gallery will occasionally play out in space overlapping and interacting. Thus the show will be a sound installation as well as a presentation of the separate works. The smaller rooms will provide more intimate viewing and listening. Related drawings, photographic prints and sheet music that Charlemagne Palestine made for Simone of her Hippie Gospel Songs will also be on view. 

 

One of the pieces, Largo Argentina, consists of projections of photographs Forti took in 1968 of cats in the ruins of Rome. These images will be projected onto a white sheet suspended in free space accompanied by a set of wind chimes that will both be ruffled by a slowly revolving fan. There will be punctuations of sound in the space including Censor, 1961 with Forti singing an Italian folk song full out while vigorously shaking a pan of nails.Bottom, 1969 consists of projections of four postcard images of American landscapes each accompanied by sounds including a vacuum cleaner running, drumming and a five minute intoning of a single chord by La MonteYoung, Marian Zazeela and Simone Forti. There will be weekly performances of Accompaniment for La Monte's "2 sounds" and LaMonte's "2 sounds," one of Forti’s Dance Constructions from 1961. Projections on Elevation Tunes is a commissioned new rendition of Forti's Elevation Tunes score (1967) by Los Angeles composer Douglas Wadle, a frequent young collaborator of Forti's. Another punctuation playing in the room will be a new recording of Forti playing the molimo horn, a ready made instrument that she has integrated into her performances since the 1970s. 

 

The smaller rooms, one with comfortable carpet and floor pillows, will provide more intimate listening to works including an LP record, Illuminations of Charlemagne Palestine with Simone Forti; Peter Van Riper's Sound to Movement CD; Simone's 1981 minimalist Night Walk recording and a recording of Simone singing her never before shared Hippie Gospel Songs. Another room will display Cloths, 1967 featuring three wooden frames with variously arranged cloths, a five minute Hollis Frampton film of the cloths being activated, and a recording of “favorite songs” by folks on the team at The Box LA. 

 

 

Simone Forti (b. 1935) is a dancer/choreographer, artist and writer currently based in Los Angeles, CA. Her early Dance Constructions were a critical component in forging the direction of the Judson Dance Theater that revolutionized dance in New York in the 1960s and 70s, a historical moment of rich dialogue between visual artists, musicians, poets and dancers. Over the years Forti has worked with various musicians / composers including La Monte Young, Charlemagne Palestine, Peter VanRiper and Jon Gibson. 

 

Forti's book Handbook in Motion was published by the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design Press as part of their Source Materials of the Contemporary Arts series (1974). Her book Oh, Tongue was edited and published by Fred Dewey for Beyond Baroque Books (2003).Forti's work is in the permanent collections of prominent institutions around the world including in the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Her participation in the Made in LA 2012 Biennial features her news animation speaking while in motion improvisations and related drawings, won her the nomination as a finalist for the MOHN Award. Forti has received various awards including a 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship in dance and a 2011 Yoko Ono Lennon Courage Award for the Arts.