Text/Photos by Aaron Richter
It seemed like few knew what to expect in the minutes before Gang Gang Dance’s performance at the Park Avenue Armory, in conjunction with the opening of the 2008 Whitney Biennial. Even more were confused as they were told that the room was at capacity and to please stop crowding the doorway.
But as the band started playing, an odd projection started to shimmer on the hallway wall outside the entrance to the performance space. Not being inside the room, it took a few minutes to realize that in the projection was the emerging outline of a man striking brush strokes against the wall and an image appearing on top of these brush strokes. As more brush strokes crossed the projection wall, the image became clear that it was a face wearing a metallic mask. As the painter eventually covered the entire surface, the performing band was revealed, an intriguing effect that, at times, had the intimacy of a Warhol screen test and, at others, the loose improv clusterfuckiness of a lost episode of TV Party.
Not being in the room, the logistics of the performance were difficult to suss out at first, but everything was quite simple—one of those “Oh, duh!” moments—when we figured out the room was divided by a large mirror. The audience in the room sat on one side of the mirror. The band began playing on the other. The band was being filmed and projected onto the mirror. The image of this projection only appeared when the mirror was painted with the white strokes of paint (creating a surface for a projection to appear)—the effect being that the painter was painting the performance, revealing more and more with each single brush stroke. Video of the mirror from the audience’s perspective was projected itself outside of the performance space, creating a screen on the hallway wall. Eventually the projection inside the room was revealed in its entirety when the brush strokes covered the most of the mirror’s reflective surface area, and the projection both in the performance space and outside on the wall revealed the actual performance going on behind the mirror.
Now part of us wants to believe that the band wasn’t even at the show, and the source of the performance was a recording. Which, from all we witnessed outside of the room, could be entirely possible. But the after-show chatter seemed to prove that the full band was indeed in action behind the mirror.
Simply put: This was rad as hell.
Some more shots …
3 Responses to “Gang Gang Dance @ The Park Avenue Armory (Whitney Biennial), 3.9.08”
mfdoom much? looks like a fun show.
on October 21st, 2008 at 9:01 am #
[...] Witnessing Gang Gang Dance live is a thrilling event. Once, at a sparsely attended Bowery Ballroom show, we tucked a few beers in our stomach and, by song three, promptly sent a mass text message proclaiming, “Gang Gang Dance is prog as fuck!” Saint Dymphna, on the other hand, is a different beast, one that’s difficult to build much enthusiasm for. Seeing GGD live is a spectacle of piles of electronics, futuristic guitar set-ups, aggressively thwacked percussion, a vocalist whose pop tendencies channel Madonna and even hints of unintended choreography as the band members start moving to the beat independent of one another. Obviously, you’re getting none of that here, and we can’t help but feel that something vital to Gang Gang Dance’s M.O. is missing. Don’t get us wrong: Many of the songs themselves are fascinating–”Vacuum” and “House Jam” are especially exhilarating. But presented in the format of an album, channeled through home-stereo speakers or headphones, the tracks sound unfinished, as if the band members were still working out the kinks as the record was being cut, and too often the group plods away on lengthy directionless filler–a drastic turn from the live shows, which tend to build, never wasting a second, toward an orgasmic release. Buy a ticket to see Gang Gang Dance. You’ll love it. But leave this record at the merch booth. [...]
on March 5th, 2009 at 6:07 pm #
[...] As they proved at yet another museum appearance last night—we saw them at the Whitney Biennial just a year ago—Gang Gang Dance performances are percussive, celebratory affairs that graze everything from dub [...]