Project Room: The Sound of White Columns

November 4, 2017–January 27, 2018 320 West 13th Street Project
Seven record sleeves mounted on two adjacent walls. In the foreground, a table with speakers and a stack of records on it is partially visible.

TSOWC, installation view, 2017-2018

Eleven record sleeves mounted in a row along two adjacent walls. Below them there is a table with a stack of records, a record player and two speakers on it.

TSOWC, installation view, 2017-2018

Twelve record sleeves mounted in a row along three adjacent walls. Below them there is a table with a stack of records, a record player and two speakers on it.

TSOWC, installation view, 2017-2018

Press Release

Tussle, Martin Creed, Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire, Julianna Barwick and Ikue Mori, Eric Duncan and Thomas Bullock (aka ‘Rub N Tug’), Malcolm Mooney, Kim Gordon, David Van Tieghem, Meredith Monk, Karl Holmqvist, David Robbins, Emily Sundblad & Matt Sweeney, Richard Hell and Robert Quine, and B. Wurtz.
 
In our Project space White Columns is proud to present the first exhibition dedicated to the organization’s vinyl-only record label ‘The Sound of White Columns’ (2006 – present).

‘The Sound of White Columns’ (TSoWC) releases recordings by artist-musicians and artist-performers. To date some fifteen records – in both 7” and 12” vinyl formats – have been released.

The first release in 2006 was by the San Francisco-based group Tussle, who wrote a specially commissioned song entitled ‘White Columns’, which became a “theme tune”, of sorts, for the gallery. Since then TSoWC has released new and archival recordings by artist-musicians-performers including: Martin Creed, Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire, Julianna Barwick and Ikue Mori, Eric Duncan and Thomas Bullock (aka ‘Rub N Tug’), Malcolm Mooney, Kim Gordon, David Van Tieghem, Meredith Monk, Karl Holmqvist, David Robbins, Emily Sundblad & Matt Sweeney, Richard Hell and Robert Quine, and B. Wurtz. The next release – a live recording of Christopher Knowles reading his poetry – is forthcoming this December.

Named for the legendary 1970s soul and disco label ‘The Sound of Philadelphia’, TSoWC seeks to gently re-animate a key aspect of White Columns’ history, i.e. the gallery’s connection to the downtown New York art and music scenes of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Under the directorship of Josh Baer White Columns hosted two legendary music festivals at the gallery: 1979’s ‘Noise Fest’ (organized by Thurston Moore) and 1983’s ‘Speed Trails’, in addition to Kim Gordon and Barbara Ess’s 1981 curated exhibition of art by artist-musicians, among other related projects. (Josh Baer would later go on to cofound with Glenn Branca the groundbreaking Neutral Records, which released seminal recordings by Jack Goldstein, Sonic Youth and Swans, among others.)

The Sound of White Columns exhibition will include examples of all the recordings released to date as well as a listening station where visitors can play the records. A select number of titles will also be available to purchase from the gallery.

The launch date (and related event) for Christopher Knowles’ forthcoming live recording will be announced later.

For further information about this exhibition contact: info@whitecolumns.org

Checklist

Seven record sleeves mounted on two adjacent walls. In the foreground, a table with speakers and a stack of records on it is partially visible.
Eleven record sleeves mounted in a row along two adjacent walls. Below them there is a table with a stack of records, a record player and two speakers on it.
Twelve record sleeves mounted in a row along three adjacent walls. Below them there is a table with a stack of records, a record player and two speakers on it.

TSOWC, installation view, 2017-2018 (Seven record sleeves mounted on two adjacent walls. In the foreground, a table with speakers and a stack of records on it is partially visible.)

TSOWC, installation view, 2017-2018 (Eleven record sleeves mounted in a row along two adjacent walls. Below them there is a table with a stack of records, a record player and two speakers on it.)

TSOWC, installation view, 2017-2018 (Twelve record sleeves mounted in a row along three adjacent walls. Below them there is a table with a stack of records, a record player and two speakers on it.)