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Music

Florian Hecker and Mark Leckey's "Sound Voice Chimera" Makes Live U.S. Debut

Last march, PAN released an "3 channel album" by video artist Mark Leckey and sound artist Florian Hecker — Hecker Leckey Sound Voice Chimera. This "decomposed, modulated, and re-synthesized vocal track," according to from Leckey's 2010 performance piece 'GreenScreenRefrigeratorAction' (for which Leckey intoned the inner monologue of a black Samsung fridge)."

Earlier today, the US premiere of Hecker Leckey Sound Voice Chimera made its debut at the New York contemporary art museum, MoMA PS1. Before the premiere, the Berlin-based label showcased a line-up of artists, including James Hoff, M.E.S.H., Aleksandra Domanovic, and label guru Bill Kouligas. The performances were followed by a discussion between Kouligas, Leckey, and Hecker that was moderated by PS1 curator Jenny Schlenzka. In the discussion, Hecker and Leckey discussed their concept of "chimerization," a sound art concept of tripling — three speaker channels set in a triangle, with each channel playing a different stem. For the actual performance, Hecker treated Leckey's voiceover for "GreenScreenRefrigeratorAction" while Leckey performed a live vocal overdubs to Hecker's sound sculpture 3 Channel Chronics.

The performance marks a growing conversation between the two artists with museums, and follows in the footsteps of the duo's original museum performance, "Push and Pull," which premiered at the Tate in 2010.

Hecker published a book on "Chimerization" that is available from the publisher Primary Information.