Artists Space

Yasunao Tone Concert #3

Concert
March 16, 2023, 8pm

11 Cortlandt Alley
Free RSVP's are at capacity.
For livestream, please click here.

Paramedia, 1990
The Seminar on the Purloined Letter, 1998, performed with Annea Lockwood and the Ghost Ensemble
AI Deviation, 2015

Color image of a figure looking to the left and leaning over a table filled with audio equipment. The figure holds sheets of paper with instructions, and manipulates an audio machine.
Still from video of Yasunao Tone performing Paramedia, Experimental Intermedia Foundation, 1990 [Color image of a figure looking to the left and leaning over a table filled with audio equipment. The figure holds sheets of paper with instructions, and manipulates an audio machine.]

This performance features a variety of works from the 1990s through the present. One of Tone’s technological-intervention pieces, Paramedia uses a device built in collaboration with Steve Giordano in 1990. Featuring multiple inputs routed to four CD players, the machine consists of a frequency-to-voltage converter with logic circuits that conjoin multiple layers of recorded found sounds while varying their pitch and tonality. The Fluxus-style The Seminar on the Purloined Letter (1998) is a looping, linear, a-logical composition performed by trombone, guitar, clarinet, and voice overlaid with an eponymous text written by Tone that results in a dizzying amalgamation of vocal and instrumental sound. AI Deviation (2015) elaborates on Tone’s MP3 Deviation (2007), in which the artist assigned samples to corrupted sound files that he then combined at different playback speeds. For AI Deviation, he collaborated with professor Tony Myatt from the University of Surrey UK, and a team of researchers including Mark Fell and Dr. Paul Modler, who helped produce the system. In the lab, performances of MP3 Deviation were captured and used to train with Kohonen Neural Networks to develop artificial intelligences that simulate his performance.

Color image of four figures seated in a row on a stage. Each figure sits behind a music stand.
Yasunao Tone Concert #3. Performance documentation, March 16, 2023, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color image of four figures seated in a row on a stage. Each figure sits behind a music stand.]
Color image of a figure reading into a microphone, sitting behind a music stand.
Yasunao Tone Concert #3. Performance documentation, March 16, 2023, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color image of a figure reading into a microphone, sitting behind a music stand.]
Color image of an audience watching a performance. In the middle of the crowd, a figure in a blue and white dress holds their hand to their chest with their eyes closed, listening to the performance.
Yasunao Tone Concert #3. Performance documentation, March 16, 2023, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color image of an audience watching a performance. In the middle of the crowd, a figure in a blue and white dress holds their hand to their chest with their eyes closed, listening to the performance.]
Color image of a figure working on a laptop, seated behind a white desk.
Yasunao Tone Concert #3. Performance documentation, March 16, 2023, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color image of a figure working on a laptop, seated behind a white desk.]
Color image of a figure seated behind a white desk. They are using a laptop, open to a computer program page.
Yasunao Tone Concert #3. Performance documentation, March 16, 2023, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color image of a figure seated behind a white desk. They are using a laptop, open to a computer program page.]
Color image of a figure seated behind a white desk on a stage. They face out into the audience, and controls a laptop that also faces out into the audience. Members of the audience wave their arms in the air so the laptop will capture their movement.
Yasunao Tone Concert #3. Performance documentation, March 16, 2023, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color image of a figure seated behind a white desk on a stage. They face out into the audience, and controls a laptop that also faces out into the audience. Members of the audience wave their arms in the air so the laptop will capture their movement.]
Color image of a figure on a black stage, seated behind a white desk. They are looking attentively at a laptop screen in front of them which is open to a computer program.
Yasunao Tone Concert #3. Performance documentation, March 16, 2023, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color image of a figure on a black stage, seated behind a white desk. They are looking attentively at a laptop screen in front of them which is open to a computer program.]
Color image of an audience listening to a performance. In the middle of the image, a figure sitting on a wooden chair holds their hands over their ears and looks downward.
Yasunao Tone Concert #3. Performance documentation, March 16, 2023, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color image of an audience listening to a performance. In the middle of the image, a figure sitting on a wooden chair holds their hands over their ears and looks downward.]
Color image of a figure performing on a black stage in front of an audience. The figure on stage stands behind a white desk with a laptop and other audio equipment on it.
Yasunao Tone Concert #3. Performance documentation, March 16, 2023, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Color image of a figure performing on a black stage in front of an audience. The figure on stage stands behind a white desk with a laptop and other audio equipment on it.]
Image of a white desk on a black stage. Layed across the desk is a laptop and a control pad, along with a paper with printed instructions and diagrams.
Yasunao Tone Concert #3. Performance documentation, March 16, 2023, Artists Space. Photo: Destiny Mata [Image of a white desk on a black stage. Layed across the desk is a laptop and a control pad, along with a paper with printed instructions and diagrams.]

Yasunao Tone is a multidisciplinary artist working in New York City. Tone graduated from Chiba University in 1957 with a major in Japanese literature and became an important figure in postwar Japanese art during the 1960s. He was a key member of Group Ongaku, Team Random, and the Japanese branch of Fluxus, and was involved with several other collectives and artists such as the Neo-Dada Organizers, Hi-Red Center, and Butoh founder Tatsumi Hijikata. Relocating to the United States in 1972, he has since been a crucial force in the philosophical and material advancement of durational art across myriad live forms, gaining a legendary reputation as a musician, performer, and writer. He has collaborated with a prolific range of dancers, visual artists, and musicians including Merce Cunningham, Blondell Cummings, Allan Kaprow, Senga Nengudi, Butch Morris, and George Maciunas.

    Black-and-white photograph of two figures sitting behind tables filled with audio equipment. They are focused on manipulating the audio machines in front of them.
    Yasunao Tone performing Paramedia, Experimental Intermedia Foundation, 1990 [Black-and-white photograph of two figures sitting behind tables filled with audio equipment. They are focused on manipulating the audio machines in front of them.]