Tasman Richardson

Omega culture, jawa performance, appropriation, installation, and other experiments in media misuse.

[lethebaptism]

The brave old plant in its lonely days, Shall fatten upon the past; For the stateliest building man can raise, Is the Ivy’s food at last.

Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

[lethebaptism]

[lethebaptism]

We invite the surveillance cameras into our homes because they are proof that someone is paying attention to us.

Moxie Mezcal

[lethebaptism]

[lethebaptism]

[lethebaptism]

In the kingdom of glass everything is transparent, and there is no place to hide a dark heart.

Vera Nazarian

[lethebaptism]

[lethebaptism]

Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.

Jorge Luis Borges

[lethebaptism]

Here’s a bit of documentation for the Waterloo install titled Sands Stand Still. I used formant filters to shape the static and make the TVs take turns chanting... In Yo In Yo. a black tv, a white tv, black and white signals, the signals shaped by midi to voltage conversion.  Julie René de Cotret curated this amazing show, Edmund Law built this beast for me, and the list of artists in the show puts me in very honourable company:  Ann Beam, Adrian Blackwell, Laurent Craste, Chris Curreri, Léopold L. Foulem, Mathieu Grodet, David R. Harper, Sarah Maloney, Kelly Mark, Nadia Myre, Tasman Richardson (me), and Tim Whiten. worth the visit to Waterloo! details here.

[lethebaptism]

some concepts for a new install I’m making for a group show in Waterloo. The gutsy, bold, and brilliant curator aka Julie Rene de Cotret approached me and gave me a chance to daydream this one. very excited to see it come to life with the help of chief installer Edmund Law. I’ll post again with some sample drawings and the actual results but the themes are all here. Inyo, Inyo, light and dark, light and dark. and of course, time.

[lethebaptism]

This happened and is was weird, wonderful, and deeply satisfying. one night only at the gorgeous Music Gallery. so many people made it possible and the artists that participated renewed my hope for experimental adventurous action. I asked people to challenge themselves and they absolutely delivered. for this project, I asked everyone to forego using their names and instead, assist the signals. So, the soul without a body, abstract expressions, real-time, and generative. each promo image was a still from each artist ( Robin Kobrynski , Katie Switzer / Paul Moleiro, Jenn Norton / Steph Yates, Bruno Ribeiro, Tasman Richardson, Jeremy Bailey, Sherri Hay) Huge thanks to technical help from Edmund Law, Peter Gmehling and the Music Gallery staff, as well as the promo from Kristel Jax, and the very patient and supportive David Dacks. Also, Chris McKinon for showing enthusiasm which ultimately gave me the nerve to attempt this fleeting, imperfect, happening.

[lethebaptism]

Janus was the first stream of consciousness composition I’ve made. I was really honoured to be selected by Scott McGovern to come to Athens and install it and then I got to improve on it and install again thanks to Vicki Van Chau, in Calgary. Hope to continue my investigations into the ghost in the machine, both my own self and the antiquated devices I depend on. nice interview about this piece was featured in Luma online quarterly here.

[lethebaptism]

I often illustrate my media work before I build it. It’s a bit like a patent drawing but people rarely see the sketches that I draft. Just thought I’d share some here. I’d love to have a catalog or zine made of these someday. Too many to fit here but hopefully this gives you an idea. Also, the files are dated electronically so hopefully if some one makes an duplicate I can at least demonstrate I had the draft concept early on... I don’t always get the funding to make these things.

[lethebaptism]

When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

[lethebaptism]

Thanks to  Artur Augustynowicz my performance at CHANNEL was somewhat documented. No video coverage of the show but then again, it’s a live performance so if you’re not there, there’s really no substitute. Going to make some refinements to this one (Doppelganger) and send it out to festivals in the hopes of performing it again! Thanks to Brett Despotivich for curating these excellent evenings.

[lethebaptism]

Working on a new dual projection performance using manually warped time markers in addition to regular cuts. really pushing the limits of the source clips and trying to shape them into hypnotic loops. Also introducing errors but manipulating them to maintain rhythm and generate bass and synth style notes. Over all, its’ meant to induce a sensation of doubt, deception, through manipulations in temporal continuity. Sources move from mirrors in cinema to recording errors in said sources to full signal failure and pulsing video glitches. Hoping to create a lot of lovely resonance and reverberation through slight asynchronous cuts that pan from screen to screen like delayed mirroring.

[lethebaptism]

Hey Toronto! Some inspiration for my installation Sphere of Influence, Circle of Protection. doing a talk at 1pm Saturday Nov 7 at 250 Emerson (near the Shell station on Dupont) (Neubacher Shor Contemporary). come on down and I’ll decode the work, let you in on the technical set up behind the curtain, and share a coffee and croissant with you. hope to see you there!