Michael Snow, Christian Marclay, Paul Dutton, John Oswald
Christian Marclay + CCMC
Toronto/London, Canada: Art Metropole/Non Musica Rex, 2002
2 CD set
Edition of 1000, 25 of which were signed
When Christian Marclay presented his first Canadian solo exhibition at Oakville Galleries, I approached him about doing a live performance in Toronto. He replied that he was no longer interested in performing live. "What about a performance with Michael Snow?” I asked. He agreed instantly.
The pair played - alongside sound poet Paul Dutton and plunderphonics artist John Oswald - to an over-capacity crowd at the Rivoli, on December 5th, 2000. Snow performed on electric piano and synthesizer, Marclay on turntables and John Oswald on Alto Saxophone. Paul Dutton played harmonica and performed mostly non-verbal vocals.
I had the honour of introducing the band and also designing the promotional poster (in a very rudimentary way, using ‘Word Perfect’ to create individual text circles and printing them on acetate overlays, see above).
The performance was recorded with the possible aim of a future release, which was secured after the foursome reunited in New York City for their second and final performance on October 11, 2001.
This double CD presents both performances in their entirety. Andrew Di Rosa designed the layout and Rachel Harrison contributed photographs.
The CD is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC (top image). It can be purchased from Art Metropole for $20, and (shockingly) the signed version remains available for $75.00, here.
Michael Snow died from pneumonia on this day last year, at the age of 94.
