VOLUME presents a hybrid evening of sound art and video screenings on the occasion of Aki Onda’s first-ever performance in Los Angeles.
Volume is pleased to inaugurate its Fall/Winter 14/15 season with the Los Angeles debut of Aki Onda.
If the turning of the leaves were as much a hallmark of autumn in LA as elsewhere, one might be tempted to compare the splendor of their decay to the aesthetic fascination exerted by the degradation of cassette tape.
As it is, one is left with one’s memories of other cities, a circumstance particularly appropriate for Aki Onda, who for more than two decades has composed pieces from a sound diary recorded to cassette Walkman, often made during the course of his travels.
South of the Border, the artist’s most recent solo album and the third installment of the Cassette Memories series, was released on Important Records in 2012 and comprises field recordings made during the artist’s time in Mexico. Onda is also known for his collaborations with other artists across a variety of fields, and has recently worked with Loren Connors, Alan Licht, and Cocky Eek, among many others.
In celebration of the hybridity of this body of work, and in keeping with its twinned themes of precarity and persistence, as well as its investigation of the relationship between a given environment and a recording medium, the evening will feature a program of video screenings. There will be work by Jesse Fleming, Karen Lofgren, and David O’Brien, alongside selections from LINE’s audio/visual editions by Evelina Domnitch + Dmitry Gelfand and Steve Roden, courtesy the label.
In addition, there will be a live set by $3.33, the musical project of Celia Hollander, performing a four-channel version of material from her recent album “Draft,” accompanied by Matthew Doyle.
The event will take place at the Handbag Factory in Downtown Los Angeles. Tickets will be available at the door on a sliding scale of $5-$15, with no one turned away from lack of funds. Refreshments will be available at a cash bar.