Zubin Kanga premiering Answer Machine Tape, 1987 at Time of Music Festival, Finland, 2022.

Zubin Kanga performs Philip Venables’ Answer Machine Tape, 1987 at November Music in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.

This major new work for piano and multimedia has been 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.

Visit the November Music website for full details of the performance and ticket sales