Christian Marclay : « iconoclasme » musical et interrogation sur l’instrument

Abstract

Christian Marclay : Musical « iconoclasism » and an instrumental interrogative Christian Marclay a polyvalent/multiform artist who improvises and performs. His work systematically explores the artistic space where audio arts and visual arts (video, photos, installations and sculpture) merge. How can sound be considered in relation to tangible objects and visual representations that give it some actuality ? How can new sounds and new relationships with music be produced by any musical output for example of a turntablist ? This bilateral enquiry necessarily confronts the topic of the instrument. Is it a musical iconoclasism in the dynamic of both punk and Fluxus ? Or/and a questioning of the way the instrument works while a vivid musical practice has to be reinvented? It is suggested that such an esthetical approach may feed the ontological approach of the instrument and, to paraphrase Nelson Goodman, ask the question “When is something an instrument ?”.

Keywords

• audio arts and visual arts
• Marclay Christian
• Fluxus
• iconoclasism
• medium
• performance