The Glasgow based artist Calum Stirling will bring his sound automaton „Remote Village" to Worringer Platz. This mechanical drum machine and lo-fi sequencer plays multipart compositions using electronic beaters on repurposed musical instruments, kids’ toys and workshop detritus. From angular staccato to loose swing, this machine plays beats reminiscent of familiar musical genres but infected by the mechanical quirks and limitations of this machine's unique construction. Stirling’s automaton is a synthesis of digital, analogue and mechanical technologies transforming digital sequencer notation directly into electromechanical action, forming a type of polyrhythmic dance music of lo-fi, mech-tech beats. It follows a long line of enquiry by artists such as Jean Tinguely, building sound and vision sculpture machines. In this case a mongrel update to the traditional fairground organ is constructed in an attempt to replicate the crisp sound of the classic 808 drum machine. In reality however the machine sounds more like the rhythmic bump and grind of a regional British train as it bangs, squeaks and rattles along. Remote Village is an object of machine-like precision and faltering fragility in equal measure.
http://www.calumstirling.com