Philip Venables

Answer Machine Tape, 1987

Philip Venables’ Answer Machine Tape, 1987 is a major new work for piano and multimedia, commissioned by Cyborg Soloists for Zubin Kanga. The piece was created in collaboration with dramatist Ted Huffman, programmer Simon Hendry and Zubin Kanga. It focuses on New York visual artist David Wojnarowicz and the turbulent period leading up to the death of Peter Hujar, Wojnarowicz’s close friend and fellow artist, from AIDS-related illness in 1987. It uses a transcription of Wojnarowicz’s answering machine tape in the days leading up to Hujar’s death, featuring calls from Hujar, other artists, friends and lovers, to explore not just his life, but that period of the New York art scene, queer history and the AIDS crisis.

Using the KeyScanner, new sensor technology from the Augmented Instruments Lab, the piano will function both as an acoustic instrument and as a typewriter to transcribe sections of tape onto the screen, as well as acting as a controller to add electronic sound and light, combining in an integrated solo multimedia performance.

The result is a powerful and poignant work that reflects on queer history and what it is to be a queer person today.