Indeterminacies @ Zeigeist - May 10th, 2011 - Mark Volker w/ Erin Bradfield

Photo by Andrew Alexander

Zeitgeist and AIA Middle Tennessee are primed to host their third annual Indeterminacies this Tuesday night from 6-8 pm at Zeitgeist art gallery located at 1819 21st Avenue South in Nashville's Hillsboro Village.

This installation of the Indeterminacies schedule will present the works of professor Mark Volker, moderated by Erin Bradfield,  and concludes the Spring installment of Indeterminacies. The Fall schedule will be available at the gallery's/architecture firm's website soon.
Mark Volker is a composer. On the side he is Assistant Professor at Belmont's Music School. He appears on both Elemental Forces on Centaur Records CD, and Volume 3 of ERMmedia's Masterworks of the New Era. He is a highly awarded professional composer, having been performed and recorded across the globe, and being featured by numerous festivals. From a brief press release:

"Known for his colorful harmonic language and orchestration, as well as his facility with both electronic and traditional instrumentations...."

Our moderator for the evening, Erin Bradfield, is a Ph.D. candidate in the philosophy department who works on aesthetics. Her dissertation is about the role of silence in the production and reception of art and involves arguments about the work of Andy Warhol, Gordon Matta-Clark, and David Lynch.[from the Vanderbilt University department of art and science, Writing Studio staff page.]

About the evening's event, Volker is quoted:

“I will present a new work for two percussionists, flute, violin, and cello, a set of songs for voice and guitar, my flute piece “Deep Winter” and a very recent work for electric guitar, interactive electronics, and dance (I hope to have a video of the dance that I can play with the performance).”

Tony Youngblood's Theatre Intangible has a bit on the show as well HERE.
See the Facebook Event site HERE.

Newly installed works will be seen in the gallery by artists Brent Stewart and Patrick DeGuira.

Indeterminate and Intangible

The Indeterminacies series at Zeitgeist co-curated by Lesley Beeman and Lain York is yet another example of Nashville artists and professionals combining efforts alighting upon the presence of both the needs of our city and the ingenuity of/for original programming. Never recycling other local exhibit ideas, the series purports and sustains an edge not obfuscated by the possible comfort provided by the vetting situation. This situation is comprised of the location, half architecture studio half art gallery located next to Cotten Music Center, the presenting artists, the curators, moderators, and in most cases, the attendees (an extensive list I’ve done my best to keep short). When the events start, all constituent parts coalesce. The feeling is very progressive. That is to say, the pneuma of the events is one of an egalitarian sharing, though it is from respective perspectives that have been forged through various forms of rigor, research, and sacrifice, all which provide the launching pad for the present originality and creativity – a recognizable cocktail in the world of lasting arts.
This year’s programming is using music as its guiding theme or constraint. This theme, because of its approach, and dually due to the high level of creativity, originality, and accomplishment showcased by the performers is far from being cliché in Nashville. The events also earn their respect by constantly meriting recognition within a city with world-class music programming regularly available. As it might seem though, music is not always at the forefront of the events. By way of the structure of the event, the discussions can really lead to many places – part of the design. Often without moderation, artists are invited to present and discuss works. They are introduced, and then the attendees are free to engage and enquire – not only the artist(s) presenting, but each other oftentimes.
Another thematic characteristic of the series, and in part the more subversive element being aware of our location in Music City (a city which others often compare themselves to in the attempted workings of some invisible authority but quiet enough to keep influx down while it thrives and invents itself behind the seasons of university migration), is that the self-described indeterminate natures of these presentations intentionally keep the works presented and the preconceptions of the audience in stasis, a limbo at least, while the two hour (often longer) event develops to define and contextualize the work and the artist and audience’s place in relation to it. The events has greatly talented performers perform original pieces of music, most of which have not been heard by most if not all of the people in attendance. The idea is that the approach to the music can be kept fresh, temporarily free of predetermined values within aesthetic preferences and psychological projection. That the event is hosted, how and where the event is hosted, are promotion enough, opting out of the configuration of the exclusive and the high-profile – a respectable and reasonable way to go about the generation of economy in a culture.
Tony Youngblood, Theater Intangible founder and curator at Open Lot among other venues in Nashville, has been really coming through over the past years for the creative community here, and has provided us with yet another great podcast [available HERE] of the last Indeterminacies: Stan Link, with accompaniment, March 15th. [See Stan Link's Electro-Acoustic Music.] On Theater Intangible, there are great interviews with both curators and a great spotlight on Zeitgeist Gallery.

Photo by Kim Sherman, Cotten Music Center;
in photo: David Maddox and Stan Link, 2011.

Thanks to Lain York, Lesley Beeman, Tony Youngblood, David Maddox, and a very special thanks to Kim Sherman for permission to use her photograph.