AN INVITATION
A time has arrived where we can (in theory and almost in practise) listen to any recorded music, from the entire history of recorded music, wherever, whenever, while doing whatever we want.
This has meant our relationship with music is rapidly and fundamentally changing, faster than it has done for many decades.
This is good for numerous reasons.
But a by-product of this is that recorded music will no longer contain the meaning it once held for us. This will entail that it no longer gives us what we need and desire from it.
Once a music has lost it’s meaning it has no value.
Thus as we edge our way deeper into the 21st Century, we will begin to want music that can not be listened to wherever, whenever, while doing whatever. We will begin to seek out music that is both occasion and place specific, music that can never be merely a soundtrack. We will demand music where we are no longer just the consumers, unwitting or otherwise.
The era of recorded music is now passing and within the next decade it will begin to look and sound like a dated medium. Recorded music will be perceived as an art form very much of the 20th Century.
The above notions excite me. This excitement has brought about The17.
The17 rejects all that the era of recorded music had to offer and attempts to embrace the unknown opportunities of what lies ahead.
Please accept my invitation to embrace the unknown opportunities of what lies ahead, in whatever way excites you.
Bill Drummond
Drummond’s latest performance work, The17, will be performed over a series of dates at the gallery in November and December 2007.
