Fotofono is a small studio dedicated to intermedia exploration and electro-acoustic improvisation. Established by artist Gill Arno in 2004 in an old factory building in Brooklyn, NY, it has initially functioned as a rehearsal space for his own performance project mpld, and then as an incubator for several collaborative projects like ea‘s ‘Balancing act with controlled dynamics’ (Winds Measure recordings, 2006), Unframed Recordings’ ’10.e’ series (2006 and on), Ting Ting Jahe‘s ’18 (16)’ (Winds Measure recordings, 2007) among others. It later became also the home and headquarters of experimental label Unframed Recordings.
In 2006 Fotofono opened up for its first ‘open doors’ event, thus becoming part of a spontaneous Brooklyn scene of tiny underground venues (in fact, private homes and studios) – the natural response to a space crisis resulting from the advancing transformation of the neighborhood’s urban/economic fabric. A partial list of such sessions and performances can be seen here, and the plan is to slowly bring out on this blog some documents from those sessions. Subsequently, more events have been organized near and far outside the studio space. Check the postings tagged outside for upcoming documentation of such events.
To be fair, the sound standard at Fotofono is nothing close to pristine. One studio wall sustains an outside wooden stairwell, and the whole building sits right next to the elevated subway. 60 Hz hum from electric lines, various radio interferences and bad computer soundcards are sometimes welcomed as components of a permacultured intermedia merzbau. Also, most of the studio equipment in use has been found around, exchanged, donated, borrowed or forgotten here. Sometimes we like to romanticize this matter-of-fact reality, fancying that we are contributing to an ever-futuristic approach to music and art at large – from our tiny and strangely out of time utopian outpost, somehow forgotten behind the lines.
Gill A., Brooklyn, 2001-2009.
In 2006 Fotofono opened up for its first ‘open doors’ event, thus becoming part of a spontaneous Brooklyn scene of tiny underground venues (in fact, private homes and studios) – the natural response to a space crisis resulting from the advancing transformation of the neighborhood’s urban/economic fabric. A partial list of such sessions and performances can be seen here, and the plan is to slowly bring out on this blog some documents from those sessions. Subsequently, more events have been organized near and far outside the studio space. Check the postings tagged outside for upcoming documentation of such events.
To be fair, the sound standard at Fotofono is nothing close to pristine. One studio wall sustains an outside wooden stairwell, and the whole building sits right next to the elevated subway. 60 Hz hum from electric lines, various radio interferences and bad computer soundcards are sometimes welcomed as components of a permacultured intermedia merzbau. Also, most of the studio equipment in use has been found around, exchanged, donated, borrowed or forgotten here. Sometimes we like to romanticize this matter-of-fact reality, fancying that we are contributing to an ever-futuristic approach to music and art at large – from our tiny and strangely out of time utopian outpost, somehow forgotten behind the lines.
Gill A., Brooklyn, 2001-2009.
Thursday July 15 9:00pm
Richard Francis
O.blaat and Ben Owen
Fyxzis (Steve Flato, Richard Kamerman, Corey Larkin)
Fotofono - 440 Broadway #2L, Brooklyn NY
Subway: JM Hewes St. - G Broadway
______________________________________
Links:______________________________________
Fotofono
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment