For Immediate Release:
January 13, 2011

Beacon Arts and SASSAS Present
Ad Hoc #2: David Watson & David Grubbs
A Sonic Exploration of the Beacon Arts Building
With Joe Potts, Steve Roden, William Roper, and More
Saturday, February 26, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA —Beacon Arts and the Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound (SASSAS) present Ad Hoc #2: David Watson & David Grubbs, a site-specific sonic exploration of the Beacon Arts Building’s fourth floor on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 8:00 pm. This free event features a unique aural experience that encourages interplay between the musicians and the listening audience.  In realizing these new works, New Yorkers Watson and Grubbs will be working with several experimental sound artists and musicians from Los Angeles including Joe Potts, Steve Roden, and William Roper.

The evening consists of two works created specifically for Beacon Arts. Experimental music bagpiper Watson’s work revisits minimalism and uses processional movement as an inspiration for performance  – a concept he calls “ambulant music” – and features Potts and Roper as well other well-known Los Angeles area musicians. The second piece, authored by Grubbs and designed for the trio of Watson, Grubbs, and Roden, consists of three ten-minute sections which explore the dynamic range of both the space and the instruments employed.



Ad Hoc #2: David Watson & David Grubbs is produced by SASSAS in partnership with Beacon Arts.  Light refreshments will be served. Beacon Arts is located at 808 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, CA 90302.  For additional information on Ad Hoc events please visit http://www.sassas.org/adhoc or call 323-960-5723. For additional information on Beacon Arts please visit http://www.beaconartsbuilding.com as well as http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inglewood-CA/Beacon-Arts-Building/129817703733091?v=info.

David Watson
(photo courtesy of the artist)

David Watson –
Described by the Los Angeles Times as completely unconventional, highly original and relentlessly inventive, David Watson’s use of the Highland Bagpipes has been an ongoing project since the early ’90s, with Watson remaking this traditional instrument into a vehicle for contemporary sound. Originally from New Zealand, Watson has been a key player in New York’s downtown scene since 1987. Watson’s unique body of work knits together experimental improvisation, 20th century guitar playing, and vernacular music. He has made the bagpipe an ideal instrument to explore particular spatial nuances of performance.

Originally a guitar player, Watson has been a regular performer in John Zorn’s classic Game Piece, “Cobra,” putting him amongst the best of New York’s downtown musicians. Along with Watson’s solo work, he has a long-standing collaborative trio Glacial with Lee Ranaldo and drummer Tony Buck. A partial list of recording and performing credits includes Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle, Bang on a Can, Christian Marclay, Zeena Parkins, Andrea Parkins, Hans Tammen, Ikue Mori, Otomo Yoshihide, Rhys Chatham, and Anthony Coleman as well collaborations with numerous choreographers in New York, France and New Zealand on scores for dance. In addition to having appeared at virtually every venue for experimental music in New York, Watson has played in numerous international festivals, most recently at Cornelius Cardew / The Freedom of Listening (Portugal). His most recent CD, Fingering an Idea (released on Phill Niblock’s XI label) was described by the international music magazine The Wire as “magnificent …nobody has heard anything quite like this before.”

David Grubbs
(photo credit: Mirabelle Lagache)

David Grubbs –
Associate professor in the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, CUNY, and director of the graduate programs in Performance and Interactive Media Arts (PIMA), Grubbs has released eleven solo albums and appeared on more than 150 commercially-released recordings. He is known for his cross-disciplinary collaborations with writers such as Susan Howe and Rick Moody, and with visual artists such as Anthony McCall, Angela Bulloch, Cosima von Bonin, and Stephen Prina. Grubbs was a founding member of the groups Gastr del Sol, Bastro, and Squirrel Bait, and has been known to play in The Red Krayola. He directs the Blue Chopsticks record label. He is currently completing the book Records Ruin the Landscape: John Cage, The Sixties, and Sound Recording for Duke University Press.

Grubbs was a 2005-6 grant recipient from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and has been called one of two “Best Teachers for an Indie-Rocker to Admire” in the Village Voice and “le plus Français des Américains” in Libération.

Beacon Arts Building 4th Floor
(photo courtesy of Beacon Arts)

Ad Hoc –
Ad Hoc is a new SASSAS program designed to accommodate short-term requests by national and international touring musicians seeking to perform in Los Angeles and is presented in collaboration with other Los Angeles organizations such as Beacon Arts and Human Resources.

SASSAS –
The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art & Sound (SASSAS) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that serves as a catalyst for the creation, presentation and recognition of experimental art and sound practices in the Greater Los Angeles area. In addition to Ad Hoc, SASSAS programs include the sound. concert series; online concert archives at http://www.soundnet.org and http://www.youtube.com/sassasdotorg; soundNet recordings, CD compilations drawn from sound. concerts; and soundShoppe, a monthly open jam for experimental musicians and sound artists. For further information on SASSAS visit http://www.sassas.org or phone 323-960-5723.

Beacon Arts –
A brand-new, risk-taking fine arts enterprise, housed within the iconic Beacon Arts Building, the venture offers innovative art programming to enrich the cultural landscape of Los Angeles. Its primary directive is to provide and maintain the integrity of an exhibition space for contemporary art by Southern California artists working in all media, including painting, sculpture, installation, video, and performance art. Works by both emerging and established artists will be presented in an effort to provide a variety of ideas in different forms that both challenge and inspire. As a catalyst and advocate for new ideas, the endeavor enriches public understanding and appreciation of contemporary fine art by creating conversations through special events, lectures, symposia, and panel discussions with intellectual commentary on exhibitions. Exhibiting artists are encouraged to forge new relationships and learn from arts professionals through programming such as the gallery’s inaugural Critics-as-Curators series – consecutive shows conceived and curated by art writers and critics. This series runs through the first year of the space, from October 2010 to October 2011.
 Regular gallery hours are from 1:00pm to 6:00pm Thursday through Saturday, Sundays 1:00pm – 4:00pm.  Most events are free.

Beacon Arts Building –
The 32,400-square-foot Beacon Arts Building is an iconic four-story, solid reinforced concrete structure located in the heart of the burgeoning Inglewood Arts District. Having stored inanimate items for close to sixty years, originally as the legendary Bekins Moving and Storage Company, this dramatic, 1951 edifice is now transforming into a springboard for artistic expression.  In addition to ground floor gallery and retail spaces, the building offers a gorgeous New York warehouse-style environment for professional artists, with spaces in various sizes up to 8,000 square feet with 11’6” ceilings.  It has a high rear loading facility, large freight elevator, WiFi availability, and sprinkler system throughout. Beacon Arts Building sits prominently on La Brea Avenue, located just 11 minutes south of the 10 Freeway (I-10). On-site parking is available or found on the adjacent streets. For further information about availabilities in the Beacon Arts Building, please contact Scott Lane at 310-576-3543 or scottlaneco@yahoo.com.

2011 Beacon Arts Exhibition & Event Schedule –
•    12/10/10 – 1/30/11 – Densities: Line Becoming Shape, Shape Becoming Object curated by Peter Frank
– press release:  https://www.greengalactic.com/2010/beacon-arts-densities
•    2/5/11 – 3/20/11 – Pieceable Kingdom curated by David Pagel
– press release: https://www.greengalactic.com/2010/beacon-arts-pieceable-kingdom/
•    

2/26/11 – Ad Hoc #2: David Watson & David Grubbs, a sonic exploration of the Beacon Arts Building
•    3/26/11 – 5/22/11 – ARATALAND: A Mid-Career Survey of Artworks by Michael Arata curated by Doug Harvey
•    5/28/11 – 7/3/11 – TEL-ART-PHONE curated by Mat Gleason
•    Future BAB exhibitions TBD

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For more information, images, and interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.