EUROPE, ENDLESS / 2015
ABOVE: Europe, Endless (2015) Photograph by Eleni Kolliopoulou
SUMMARY
'Europe Endless' was a performance shown as part of the 'Love Letters to a (Post) Europe' event at BIOS, Athens, Greece in late 2015. The audience were presented with a series of vinyl records containing European National Anthems, played, scratched and remixed as a series of partially distinguishable dirges. The records that compiled these anthems were all purchased without reason – as noted at the beginning of the performance “…up until now, I couldn’t think of the circumstances under which I would ever play them - such is the life of the compulsive record collector.” On reflection,many of these tunes could otherwise have functioned as a perverse non-sequitur at the end of a DJ set – as a means of clearing the dance floor. Much of the material generated from my performance Europe Endless (2015) has been subsumed into a subsequent writing and performance projects, such as Vinyl Equations (2018 - 19). This overall project aims to uncover strange echoes and oblique similarities between the records chosen for analysis. The aim is to delineate an alternative, non-linear histories of recorded music, in strictly analogue terms. In this instance, my exploration of national anthems was an important development for the Vinyl Equations project, as a means of expanding frames of reference beyond mere vinyl nostalgia. The specially commissioned text that was included as part of the subsequent Love Letters to a Post Europe publication contained observations written in retrospect of the performance, in particular, exploring the disjuncture between American and European experiences of navigation, transportation and mobility.
See also 'Europe Endless' a later video version of this work that premiered in 2018.
SCHEDULE
Love Letters to a (Post) Europe, BIOS Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece: 10.03.2015
WRITING
An interview with Lisa Alexander, curator of the Love Letters to a (Post) Europe event can be found here.
