The Echo/Narcissus Interval   (2011)

The Echo/Narcissus Interval   (2011)

A page from the South Wales Echo, July 7th 2011, showing an advert placed by Chodzko
(27cm x 42cm)
and 61 minutes of music to be played, 10 years later.

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Ten years from now  (July 7th 2021), from 10.00pm until 11.01pm, in the Caffi Bar at Chapter, Cardiff, the following sequence of music will be played;

One Day – Nobukazu Takemura – 2001
Maniac – John Maus – 2003
Da Oriente ad Occidente – Franco Battiato – 1973
The Duck and the Butcher – Tyondai Braxton – 2009
Cosma Shiva – Nina Hagen – 1982
Meadow – Thomas Brinkmann – 2008
Evolution – Giorgio Moroder – 1978
Even Dogs in the Wild  – The Associates – 1980
The New Activite – The Focus Group – 2007
The Roman Age – Jeff Mills – 2005
Look at that Old Grizzly Bear – Mark Mothersbaugh – 2001
Out of Limits – The Marketts –  1963
Shadazz – Suicide – 1990
Vacuum Packed – Louderbach –  2006
Dearest Friends – Von Südenfed – 2007
Follow me – Amanda Lear – 1978
Eugenic Device – Creation Rebel/New Age Steppers – 1981
You’re all Over my Head – Jesse Rose – 2009
The Sign –  David Axelrod – 1970
Don’t Stop till you Get Enough – Derrick Laro and Trinity – 1980
Macau – Monolake – 1997
The Orchids – Psychic TV – 1983
Wetland – Belbury Poly – 2006
Most of All – Gloria Gaynor – 1977
Headphonics 0_0 – Ryoji Ikeda – 1997

For The Echo/Narcissus Interval   (2011) Chodzko placed an advert in the South Wales Echo newspaper on 7th July 2011, the day of the opening at Chapter, Cardiff of the group exhibition A Fire in the Master’s House is Set, curated by Simon Morrissey.  The advert promises to play a certain sequence of music (ranging in style and spanning 46 years) in ten years time, at Chapter’s Caffi Bar. The textual list of titles, musicians and years operates in the present as a silence, a vacuum, a delay deferring the eventual auditory experience of their composition.  The musical sequence was selected by Chodzko simply by wondering what he would most like to listen to in that future moment.
The title The Echo/Narcissus Interval alludes to the myth of Echo and Narcissus from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and its psychological meanings as well as the coincidence with the name of the Welsh newspaper chosen for the advertisement. The ‘Interval’ is the 10 year gap between the echo and its repetition or reflection.  Like the making of a ‘mix tape’, the process of this piece is based around the (usually male) traditional romantic gift attempting to communicate the giver’s emotional and intellectual identity to a lover. Despite the public declaration in the newspaper there is a risk that the interval of ten years will render the music meaningless when played on July 7th 2021 from 10.00pm until 11.01pm. Indeed, who, after ten years, is likely to remember the vow in the first place, or where the cd itself was stored, or even if a CD player can still be tracked down in 2021?

7 mins 49 secs excerpt as compressed mp3;

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Related works:

A Plan for the Perfect Night    (1992)
And the City Grew Quiet… (2011)
Ants Choose Position for Sequins – 2 Seconds Interval   (2003)
April – May 2000 Arc Ark   (2010)
Flashers       (1996-)
In culo alla balena!   [“Into the ass of a whale!” ]  (2012)
Involva         (1995)
Next meeting: Beside the TV transmitter on the highest part of Szechenyi Hill…    (2010)
Play Play Play   (2011)
Runners  (2013)
We love you here, even though you are there        (2012)
Test Tone for Landscape    (2005)
Transmitters    (1991 – )
We are Sorry    (July 9, 2013)