“Disallow” is an art-record presenting the recording of a collaborative performance by poet-artist-architect Vito Acconci and New York group New Humans. Taking place within the sculpture installation “Disassociate” by artist Mika Tajima at Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, the release also includes the complete aural components that were present during the exhibition and live performances.
For the public performances and private sessions within the exhibition, sculptures in the space were reconfigured to create divided recording spaces drawn structurally from Jean Luc Godard’s “Sympathy for the Devil”, an experimental film documenting the contentious making of the Rollings Stone’s legendary song and its parallel politics. During this improvised public performance with New Humans, Vito Acconci read permutations of text from a set of seminal audio works from the 1970s, recombining lines and phrases on the move against New Human’s acute and minimally deadpan sonic and rhythm progression.
Vito Acconci has been a vital presence in contemporary art since the late 1960s; his confrontational and ultimately political works have evolved from writing through conceptual art, bodyworks, performance, film, video, multimedia installation and now architecture and design.
New Humans is a New York-based noise band and moniker for artist Mika Tajima’s collaborative music, art, and actions. NH’s recent releases continue a working use of piercing drones, sheer static, and low bass frequencies. Members are currently Howie Chen, Mika Tajima, and Eric Tsai.
The release also includes two subtle sound pieces by New Humans that were the ongoing sound elements in the “Disassociate” installation in which the performances and recordings occurred. The first, a popular song stripped leaving only the minimal register of static noise, it now resembles the anonymous crackling prelude of a vinyl record. The second, the humming drone produced by a guitar amp in waiting becomes substance without performance.