THE WHITE CUBE REMIX RESONATES

After the opening, The White Cube Remix resonates, the experience still felt, even if not fully understood.

SackJo22 shares some of her thoughts here.

Rolf Gerstlauer, the curator for the exhibition shared the following:

The response in the space was overwhelming. For the longest time, none of the visitors understood what it was we all were so very excited about -- but they knew that they did partake in something large and greater than us. When you [were] reading your poem life, they started to sense a nature of the explosion. . .and when we all went silent and the music came to us, they were open and ready for it. . .people split and wanted to be along. They sat down on the floor and went silent. Some smiling, others with wet eyes. The music took the space immediately and all were suddenly alone but connected. The cube contained in. This is what we all sensed.

The response yesterday was as powerful. I got mails and sms' from people who were not able to be with us at that time. Students and teachers at the school approached and wanted to know. . .something more. . .They have been told about a global event, mesmerizing and unique music, a powerful contaminating enthusiasm by extremely charismatic people who are poets, lawyers, musicians. . .but most of all poets. . .or people. . .connected people. The Chinese students who did write and speak their poems for WhiteNoiseNewCube came with wonderful gifts and used all night after the event on Thursday to download all the 96 tracks. They travel today back to Beijing and will not be able to connect to ccMixter.org anymore. Not if they don't want to break the law and risk a five y ears sentence in jail. I'm not able to describe their happiness for what they own now and can take home. The Chinese, like few others, and in contrary to what 'most of us believe,' do live contained in, and thy are as few others humble about it. . .

. . .Eli and a friend of hers were sitting in the window sill. . .they were completely mute, their mouths open, their eyes pointed towards the re-opening of James and Davidson. I just watched. Eli is beautiful. When "We Start' dies out Eli said 'hmmmm' and I said 'hello.' She was there all day and could not stop listening. Many visitors could not stop listening. . .The music is created in ccMixer.org but it plays beyond what is describable when it is played in front of people.

and so it begins! thoughts on the The White Cube Remix Opening.

Photo: Rolf Gerstlauer


The White Cube Remix opened at 7:30 p.m. on 17 December 2009 at the Ram Galleri in Oslo, Norway. The sound installation serves as part of the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Museum. The first event of the evening was the showing of the video for "The Mackerel Song", by Anchor Mejans and St. Paul. Kristine Fresvig, the gallery acting manager, began with an introduction. She presented mixter St. Paul, who had ridden the train in from Stockholm, with a Akvavit, in symbolic thanks to all the mixters.

Exhibit curator Rolf Gerstlauer then introduced the exhibit. He explained about the White Cube in art and in architecture, as a mental construct which the exhibit explores. The anniversary exhibit aims to "explode" this white cube. The sound installation by the mixters was part of this process.

A series of video interviews with the mixters ensued. Snowflake and Spinningmerkaba, from San Diego, California, in the USA, are not only mixters but also affiliated with Artisteh Media, the new owners of the ccMixter operations. They discussed the excitement of the ccMixter community.

The video then went to Gurdonark, in his law office in Garland, Texas, in the USA, who explained the concept of the White Cube Remix, of creative commons sharing and of the nature of the pieces.

Finally, a video link with Sackjo22 was made, in which she further explained the project, and concluded with a live reading of her poem "The White Cube".

The RAM Galleri then started the small mp3 player for which Sackjo22 had created the playlist and Gurdonark had loaded with the songs and transmitted on to Oslo. The recording of the poem began, and then the mixters' remixes began to play. The audience listened. The music plays on.

Gurdonark says "The experience of seeing the RAM Galleri via skype video-link as this event unfolded was among the great satisfactions of my artistic life. The hard work by the Rolf Gerstlauer and the museum personnel, as well as Artistech Media, showed through in everything in the opening which was a fascinating remote look into a vibrant gallery space. I sometimes say that I write music for daydreams. The opening was like the most pleasant daydream imaginable, made real. When Sackjo22's poem began to play in the gallery, the first tremors within the cube began. I am not sure if the foundations of the cube are shaken, but I am certain that the foundations of my imagination and sense of possibility are strengthened beyond all disrepair".

Sackjo22 says: "Our intention with this project was to bring an international community of artists into the gallery space as an explosive force. As the mixes came into ccMixter, the mixters' creative energy was apparent, but we had no idea, until the opening, how truly powerful we are as a community. When the music started playing at the opening, I saw via the webcam, the gallery visitors'rapt attention to the sound -- our sound -- and I did not know whether to hold my breath or to breathe -- as that moment was so full of attention and receptiveness to what The White Cube Remix brought to RAM Galleri that I was overwhelmed by what this event suggested. Through technology, we connected to each other in an unexpectedly intimate way, so that boundaries of space and time had been shattered."

THE WHITE CUBE REMIX OPENING

The opening of The White Cube Remix project at the RAM Galleri was truly an extraordinary event, bringing together participants from all over the world via technology, demonstrating, in the most practical way, how the means by which we can create and experience art is evolving.

Gurdonark, who was present at the opening via webcam, wrote about his impressions of the opening, and you can read them here.

St. Paul, who was physically at RAM Gallery for the opening, wrote about his impressions here. The photo above was shot by St. Paul and shows the gallery being prepared for the opening.

Additional thoughts and impressions of the opening are shared on the ccmixter.org forum here.

RAM Galleri has also been posting video of the various events for the exhibition. We soon hope to see video from the opening of The White Cube Remix. You can visit RAM Galleri's blip.tv page here.

VIDEOS INSPIRED BY THE WHITE CUBE REMIX

Video makers use the White Cube Remix songs to create new videos. We're fascinated to see the broad range of approaches, from abstract art to nature.

Click on this link to see the White Cube Video page. If you make a White Cube video, please let us know.

ARTIST STATEMENT & BIOS

You can read our artist statement and the bios for Gurdonark and SackJo22 here.

Image by Hepepe.hu

THE WHITE CUBE REMIX PROJECT

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: December 7, 2009


INTRODUCTION

The RAM Gallery, founded in 1989, is a free-admission non-profit museum in Oslo,Norway. The gallery displays modern art and handi-crafts. The gallery presents six to nine exhibitions a year, devoting itself to the excitement in the intersection of fine art, arts and crafts, textile art, architecture and design. As the gallery completes its twentieth year in operation, a celebration of this integrated space for art is the order of the day.


“The White Cube" is an exhibit to take place in the RAM Gallery. Exhibit curator Rolf Gerstlauer approached Sackjo22 and Gurdonark to ask whether members of our CCmixter sharing music culture might soundtrack this exhibition. Thus, the "White Cube Remix Project" was born.


“The White Cube” is a concept in architecture to describe the traditional gallery space. Through this exhibition, it is the goal of the curator to broaden this construct, and to explode “the white cube” by using light and sound. As “The White Cube” takes place in a winter season in Norway, the idea of art as white lights amid a dark night on a seemingly moonless sky motivates the background of the piece.

HOW THE MIXTERS CAN JOIN IN

Sackjo22 created an a capella track called "The White Cube". Gurdonark created an ambient track called "Winter Lights", and an ambient sample pack with short drone and tone material for the creation of ambient/chill pieces by the remixer.

Sackjo22's sample is to be used in songs for the "foreground" of the piece, seeking remixes suitable to a dynamic museum space, with the melodies the mixters know how to make. The "foreground" pieces may be in any of a variety of styles (and of course may use beats). These songs should incorporate the spoken word track and should be appropriate to the artspace, but are not bound to any one genre.

Gurdonark's section is the "background" of the effort, seeking beatless ambient and downtempo pieces to be used as soundtrack music in the spaces between the songs. The goal is to create a mega-mix of CCmixter music that will be continuously looped to wish a happy birthday to the intersection of art and design through weaving music into the mix.

Each mixter chosen for the megamixes will get attribution. We are also considering ways to create tangible documentation of the project as well, which can be provided to each participating mixter. We believe this will be an exciting matter.


Sackjo22 and Gurdonark will be assembling the mega-mix. We hasten to assure you that we put our trust in the community rather than in some artificial "submission" process. Hence, while we reserve the right to moderate the submissions, and omit submissions entirely off the mark (or, also, outside the rules), our intent is to welcome all comers, and show the Mixter community in its glory.

We do hope you will participate in this very special event.


HERE ARE THE RULES

A. All uploads must be Attribution only, so any samples you use should either be your own or attribution samples (i.e., CC-BY). Please do not use attribution non-commercial or sampling plus samples for this project, because although the gallery is a non-profit, we do not want to worry with possible licensing issues.


B. All uploads must use either the Sackjo22 sample or the Gurdonark sample, or both. We value diversity in the submissions, but wish to have each upload tie back to one of the "thematic" original pieces.


C. Please tag your upload: whitecube. This will let us easily find your upload for the purpose of curating the mega-mix.


D. Please write about how you made your song, and, if you wish, your thoughts on the theme the White Cube/White Lights.


E. The "foreground" songs made with the Sackjo22 material should be the song you'd want to hear if you visited a really cool art museum in Norway in the dead of a wonderful winter.


F. The background songs should be like soundtrack music--beatless, ambient/chill, and a set of atmospheres in which to immerse oneself in new images and new ideas.


G. Important: Deadline for upload: December 7

THE WHITE CUBE by SACKJO22

You set the tea light on the table
its flicker a delicate tease of what you might see
the early shadows barely breathe in that intimacy
as you look, as you reach
recognition bursts!
its brightness the brightest sun reflected on fields of snow
so in that moment the whole room explodes.

We start as a white cube
with a floor and walls
where we put up our ideas
and watch them hang,
and then we take them down again.

In this space, we speak of the color white
the color of all colors combined
the color of all of our options
the color of our connection that traverses space and time.

December in the north
the darkness lingers
so that even the shade of the moon seems bright.
You reach out and grab that light
the palpable, tangible meaning of life.

-- SackJo22

CAN WE IMPLODE/EXPLODE THE WHITE CUBE?

"The White Cube" is a traditional concept used in architecture to describe an ideal gallery or museum space. Through the use of simple lines, white walls, specific placement of entry ways, lights, etc. "the white cube" is meant to create an environment that supports the optimal conditions for the encounter between the perceiver and the work being perceived in the gallery space.

Architect Rolf Gerstlauer, and curator the the RAM Gallery anniversary exhibition, suggests the time has come to explode "the white cube" -- to expand the concept of the neutral viewing space to a space that encourages relationship and connection to the larger world, the world outside the pristine space of the gallery or museum.

One way in which "the white cube" can be opened is through the use of light which can completely alter the gallery experience. The quality of the light itself can be a medium of "...transition, transmitting, transformation, transmutation and transcendence." Traditionally, light in the gallery setting is used to enhance the art on display. Here, the atmosphere and mood created by the light are integral to the experience of the space. "Light is the matter that has the power to explode the space -- or have it implode on itself."

Light also comes into "the white cube" through other mediums that foster a shift in awareness and perspective, so that the energy within the space vibrates with possibility. Broadly interpreted, light is the moment of recognition. It is feeling connected. It is inspiration. It is vitality.

Through our contribution, we explore the meaning of light, and intend for our sound of light to be part of the transforming energy in the RAM Gallery space that will help explode "the white cube."