At His Moment of Triumph, Arthur Jafa Is Looking for Trouble
What links Jafa’s art across mediums is the idea that items brought out of context and juxtaposed, whether metal pipes or appropriated YouTube clips, can develop expressive power beyond their original employ. It is precision work — obsessive micro-editing goes into the videos — that draws on a forager’s instinct for finding beauty in the ephemeral and mundane.
It invokes, as well, a particularly Black tradition — shaped by economic scarcity — of making art that transforms what is available. That impulse in Black creativity, in Jafa’s view, was a way to stake a claim in a largely hostile world. “It’s a form of radical determinacy in the face of the chaotic,” he said.
It connects, for instance, the craft of the D.J. — an analogy he offers for his video work — with the yard sculptures he saw in Mississippi, where he grew up between Tupelo in the hills and Clarksdale in the Delta, and where “people just felt compelled to make” things.
This is such a cool sonic composing prompt. Shut off the lights and give it an Isley Brothers twist.
Disquiet Junto Project 0491: Footsteps Sequencer disquiet.com/2021/05/2…
Black Thought on writing:
I think a writer should always be aware of his or her surroundings. The material is there. It’s already in the world. You have to be in tune with it to hear it and see it. The best essays, the best books, all wrote themselves. Same with paintings and dances—all of the best art, all of that shit just comes from the universe. You have to master the art of being in tune enough when it’s time to create.
From The Paris Review
Feeling this Tape Op interview with music engineer Piper Payne, where she hits on the body, feeling, and sound:
When I sit down to master, I’m trying not to think too hard about the process as much as I am trying to feel it. I’ll try to deal with the music somatically, to designate a body reaction to every sound. If a vocal has too much 900 Hz, my throat might tense up. If the kick drum feels like there is too much 110 or 120 Hz in the low end, my belly starts to tighten. Checking in with my whole body as I listen is invaluable.