as part of

I Take Part and the Part Takes Me

a group exhibition curated by Abigail Christenson
with Ulf Aminde & Shi-Wei Lu, Liz Glynn, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Adrian Piper, Martha Rosler, Katerina Šedá and Jacques Derrida

June 21 - August 02, 2014

press release




Ari Benjamin Meyers
DUET (2014)

Text/Script



Before

-Would you like to sing with me?

-Shall we sing this together?

-Etc.


Rehearsal

-This is a composition by Ari Benjamin Meyers. It is called DUET. It has 2 parts, for 2 singers. One part is labeled Me and the other part is labelled You. I will sing Me; I always sing Me. Since Ari wrote this composition the part Me is in fact him, Ari. But since he can’t be here, I am Me.
The part You is another, in this case you.
Ari would like you to know that the score you see in front of you is only one possible representation of a set of instructions that exists in order to produce the actual piece that we will now execute together. The piece is the music we will produce but also (and equally) the moment that is created between us and between us and whomever may be viewing the piece (although an audience is in no way necessary). The piece then is an ongoing series of fleeting moments mediated by a set of instructions (the score). Ari asks that to preserve the nature of the work, no recordings of any kind be made.

-Can you read music?
(That’s ok, neither can I…)

-There are 3 motives that you sing. Each motive is numbered and sung by me first.
[go through each one, by first singing and then repeating]

-Sing at whatever volume is comfortable for you.

-You can also sing the part one octave lower if it’s too high for you.

-This is the tempo.
[play metronome]

-This is the first pitch.
[play tone]

-Ok? Are you ready?


After

-Thank you for singing with me.