Last year I wrote in brief about Issue Project Room, the avant performance space on the Gowanus Canal. This month the Room is presenting an ambitious festival entitled The Independents, presenting artists in various disciplines (experimental composition, free jazz, noise rock, electronic, and beyond category). The lineup includes such famous names as Tony Conrad, Rhys Chatham, Phill Niblock, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Zeena Parkins, and Charles Gayle. Of particular interest is an event on Jan. 24 — a presentation of Leif Inge's 9 Beet Stretch, a twenty-four-hour-long hyper-extension (de-telescoping?) of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Mark Swed wrote eloquently about that installation when it played at Vienna's Wien Modern festival. In 2004 there was a rendition at Zeke's Gallery in Montreal. Make reservations early for all these events, Issue Project Room advises. The other big experimental event of the month is Robert Ashley's new opera Concrete at La MaMa, about which more later.
Picture courtesy of Zeke's Gallery.
