Despair

Notes from the DVD release of SPK – Despair:

THE WORK OF SPK COMPRISES A COMBINATION OF INDUSTRIAL SOUND, IMAGE CRITICAL THEORY, AND PERFORMANCE. THIS REFLECTS THE PAIN OF A TWISTED, BROKEN HUMANITY, WHERE THE PRICE TAGS OF HUMAN CREATIVITY ACCOMMODATE A SYSTEM OF DOMINATION, WHICH PURPOSELY FRAGMENTS THE SOCIAL WORLD.

OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO CREATE MUSIC ANALOGOUS TO A CRY OF DESPAIR, PIERCING THE CARAPACE OF A REIFIED, TOTALITARIAN SOCIETY.

WITHIN THE INTERSTICES OF THIS SOCIETY, WE HAVE SOUGHT TO LIBERATE THE IMAGINATION THROUGH THE CREATION OF ART FORMS DESIGNED TO EXPOSE THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF VIOLENCE, THE SEAMY UNDERBELLY OF AN INCREASINGLY ‘NORMALIZED’ HUMANITY.

THIS INCLUDES ATAVISTIC ACTS (CELEBRATION OF THE PRIMORDIAL, VALORISATION OF THE ART OF THE ‘CLINICALLY’ INSANE; AND THE DOUBLE EXPOSURE OF DOCUMENTED BRUTALITY).

THIS CONTENT IS SUPERIMPOSED UPON A LANDSCAPE OF INDUSTRIAL NOISE, WHICH EXPLORES THE SENSORY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF A MODE OF PERCEPTION COMMENSURATE WITH THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE HUMAN PSYCHE AND THE DISSOLUTION OF THE PERSONALITY. A CONDITION SYMPTOMATIC OF THE GLOBALISED POSTMODERNITY OF LATE CAPITALISM. SPK SEEKS TO ARTICULATE THIS STATE OF AFFAIRS THROUGH THE USE OF RHYTHM, FREQUENCY, JUXTAPOSITION AND COLLAGE.

OUR PERFORMANCES EVOKE A CONFONTATION WITH THE LISTENER. THE AUDIENCE IS NOT ONLY FACED WITH, BUT ALSO INCORPORATED INTO THE PERFORMANCE. WE SEEK TO SHOCK THE PARTICIPANTS BY ENGENDERING WITHIN THEM A RAW AND ALIENATING AWARENESS OF THE HUMAN CONDITION.

THE PHILOSOPHER JEAN-FRANCOIS LYOTARD WOULD DESCRIBE THIS AS ‘ANESTHETICS’ OR ‘AN AESTHETICS OF SHOCK’. IT IS A REACTIVE DEFENCE AGAINST A DOMINANT CULTURE’S TREMENDOUS CAPACITY TO ABSORB OUTSIDERS AND INGEST ITS OWN DISSIDENT ELEMENTS.

IN AN ATTEMPT TO AVOID THIS PROCESS OF ABSORPTION (‘RECUPERATION’), OUR PRODUCTIONS PRESENT THEMSELVES AS RUDELY ANTITHETICAL TO THE SACCHARINE, EUROTRASH/MTV VALUES OF THE POPULAR MAINSTREAM.

WE HAVE SOUGHT TO RENDER OURSELVES AT THE VERY LEAST UNPALATABLE – AND IDEALLY, TOXIC – TO THAT ALL-CONSUMING DIGESTIVE TRACT OF THE CULTURE INDUSTRY.