Spinning a Tale

With this experimental audio piece (and resulting video), I was paying homage to a somewhat obscure post-war East German artist, Carlfriedrich Claus (1930-1998). Despite the political context, his body of work demonstrates boundless creativity and ground-breaking experimentation. He was truly an artist's artist. A creative polymath, his interests included philosophy, concrete poetry, drawing, painting, and sound creation. I've only recently learned about him. Despite possessing the depth of invention of a Joseph Beuys, he's relatively unknown outside of Germany.

Using an old radio documentary about Claus's work, I've taken bits of phrases and placed them, rhythmically, alongside a convoluted musical background. Visually, I used footage from one of my security cameras of a relentless spider doing what spiders do. Like many of my projects, I didn't set-out with anything particular in mind. I just responded to what occurred along the way.

The audio aspect is also part of an upcoming sound album which explores the use of words as rhythm.