Marco Fusinato / SPECTRAL ARROWS:Singapore (LP)

Spectral Arrows 是一項系列實驗音樂計畫，由澳洲聲音與視覺藝術家Marco Fusinato使用吉他與電子樂器構成的一場徹頭徹尾的音樂勞動，在計畫期間每日按工時上工設置器材，打卡演出、按時下班，拒絕讓排練與預演為演出內容增添工時以外的細節打磨，嚴格將所有的聲音產出限制在工作時段的即興演出之中，挫敗了觀眾對於音樂展演形式的掌握，迫使最堅強的觀眾也只能窺探整項計畫的一小部分，就如前衛作曲家Morton Feldman晚期的作品一般，將觀眾與演出者之間的常態的互動方式剝離，讓聲響保持純粹，透過空氣的震動充滿整個空間，Spectral Arrows成為了一件不需要鋼筋混凝土的聽覺雕塑。

在新加坡獨立50週年的國際藝術展當中，Marco Fusinato受邀將這項傳奇的系列表演帶到了這座城邦，由新加坡實驗廠牌Ujikaji Records所發行的這張LP捕捉了8小時的巨大能量與情感，並保留了之中的精華片段，機智轉折的噪音與充滿緊張的沈默反映了這個慶典長達一年的無情喧囂，並將這個時刻封印在乙烯基的凹槽之中，無限的輪轉播送。

（text by Spazz Society）

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Tracklist

A Untitled 14:02
B Untitled 10:52

Spectral Arrows is an ongoing series of long-duration performances for guitar and electronics. In Spectral Arrows, Fusinato arrives at the venue when it opens for business, sets up his equipment facing a wall and proceeds to play for the whole day until the end of business hours. Fusinato presents himself here in the guise of a worker, clocking on and unceremoniously clocking off at the end of the working day, refusing to allow the behind-the-scenes mystery of rehearsals and preparations to lend an aura to the performance, and affirming the deskilled ethos of his work. For the audience, the length of the performance frustrates the expectation of a manageable form, forcing all but the hardiest audience members to content themselves with only a fragment of the whole. Even for those who stick it out, the extended duration, like in the late works of Morton Feldman, destroys the listener’s ability to retain and assess the structure of the performance. Breaking with both the traditional form of the musical performance and, through Fusinato’s resolutely anti-social position facing away from the audience, the standard affective relationship between audience and performer, the sound of Spectral Arrows becomes a monumental aural sculpture, filling the space, not with steel or concrete, but with vibrations travelling through air.

In Singapore, the year 2015 will for evermore be remembered as “SG50” – the state-led yearlong celebrations of Singapore’s 50th year of independence, marked by scores of heritage projects, commemorative merchandise (SG50 fish cakes, anyone?), festivals and more. 2015 was also a big year for Marco Fusinato. The sound and visual artist was selected to exhibit at the prestigious Venice Biennale’s headline international art exhibition, All the World’s Futures. Right smack in the middle of his Venice stint, Fusinato’s path intersected with that of Singapore’s, as the Australian artist installed his first major solo exhibition, Constellations, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (ICAS). This also brought Fusinato’s by-now legendary Spectral Arrows series of performances to the city-state, which saw the artist in an improvised durational performance using guitar and electronics. This LP-length documentation captures the immense energy and emotions of the 8-hour performance, marked by passages of eviscerating

noise, abrupt shifts of tact, and tension-filled silence. Recorded live at the ICAS in the same month of Singapore’s national day and the culmination of SG50 festivities, Fusinato’s performance mirrored, and yet shattered, the relentless noise of the city-state’s yearlong golden jubilee celebrations. Locked grooves on both sides of this vinyl release mean that the audio can repeat ad infinitum.