This weekend I went to an event at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, NY. It was called Signal to Noise and featured performances by many hybrid visual/sonic artists and a performance by 8-bit rock band Anamanaguchi. I walked into the museum to see a large video installation, a pixel wall of YouTube diaries that, when viewed from afar, gave off the impression of a pixelated image. The pixel aesthetic was very prominent throughout the night, mirrored in the fonts on all the signs, the art on the walls, and on the clothing of the attendees. The music in the first room (a DJ was playing) was loud, focused on squarewave basslines and stuttering beat-repeat effects. I walked upstairs and looked at the video game exhibit in the museum. They had classic console and arcade games on display and to play, and they were treated as art objects to interact with. Downstairs there was an interactive game exhibit that involved people's bodies popping bubbles on a projection screen. In the room with the live music, there was a projection of a Twitter feed displaying any tweet with the hashtag #SignalToNoise superimposed upon a camera feed of the audience.
As the band started playing, the audience was heavy on moshing. There was a boundary between the mosh pit and those standing outside of it. It was full body music, influenced by pop-punk, metal, and indie rock. Anamanaguchi played 8-bit covers of pop songs while having technical difficulties. The audience got really into it--irony disappeared.
Those in attendance presented a unique hybrid between "hipster" and "nerd," often blending the two aesthetics. Both men and women wore mostly graphic tees and jeans. Sometimes the tees had videogame logos on them, other times ironic cultural criticisms. One shirt read "Fucking White People" in white on a black fabric. The man wearing the shirt was white. My friend Macklin told me he'd heard at least four languages spoken--English, Spanish (he said it sounded like Catalan), Japanese, and another unidentified Eastern European language.
-As a subculture, 8-bit treats videogame consoles and their visual and sonic aesthetics with the utmost respect.
-All of the exhibits and events presented some audio/visual hybridity
-Almost every surface of the museum was white and blacklit, almost all the walls had something projected on them
-Both the musical and visual aspects of the performances and exhibits were predicated on mashup and re-approriation
Great first set of field notes. It seems like getting some fieldwork at concerts is a first step that will make the rest of your research easier to contextualize. I'm particularly interested in the makeup of the audience. You described the typical attendees as blending the "hipster" and "nerd" aesthetic. I wonder if moshing, which is a kind of physical abandon, is something that the attendees of the Anamanaguchi show would perform at other shows; it seems contrary to the typical "hipster" or "nerd" physicality, which is usually more reserved and contained. It's too early to draw conclusions, but do you think it's possible that 8-bit shows might be a sort of safe space for an attendee that normally might not physically express himself so extrovertedly?
ReplyDeleteWow that's really cool you were able to go into the city for your first set of field notes. I found it really interesting that people actually make "rock" music with 8 bit instruments as much of what I've heard in the past had to do more with experimental electronic music, due to the the limited capabilities of what are probably 30 year old atari circuit boards. I also found it interesting how focused the show was on demonstrating the interdisciplinary capabilities of electronic media. It sounds like that if you are able to continue finding these types of really unique opportunities you'll tons to focus on in your final post.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a pretty fun time, I had no idea what an 8-bit concert would be like, though your notes are strangely how I would have imagined it. I'm interested in the role of masculinity in 8-bit culture. Obviously, video games have a greater audience of males, and tend to focus on more masculine material. How does this manifest itself in the shows? With this in mind, I thought it was interesting that the mosh pit was blocked off.
ReplyDeleteI'm delighted to see your notes and several of the comments draw attention to aspects of embodied performance at this show (a favorite theme for me, as I'm sure you've noticed). Two things jump out from your notes: your observation that "irony disappeared", and the Art-with-a-capital-A angle. Of course, this show was at a museum, so this treatment of 8-bit culture could be an anomaly -- but it's interesting to consider what cultural work was required to render arcade games intelligible as art objects/artifacts of cultural heritage.
ReplyDelete