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The Wire Salon at Cafe OTO

The third in a series of events hosted by The Wire magazine looking at the impact of AI on contemporary music making. Tickets

Generative music systems were around long before generative AI. This event looks at a previous history of music as a series of inputs, workflows, and rules-based processes, from Fluxus onward. What are the choices that inform generative music systems internally (in scores, programming, and technical possibilities) and externally (in power structures between performers, users, and corporations)?

Generative AI also generates its outputs from massive datasets, and can be ‘trained’ on the work of thousands of anonymised creative artists. Debates are heated about copyright, ownership and originality, and the consent of artists and creators to be used in these massive datasets. What does Generative AI say to the rules we have about what constitutes agency and identity, and the distinction between self and other in relation to information transmission and exchange? Looking into plunderphonics, folk, sampling and copy cultures, were or are other paths possible?

Loré Lixenberg and Elaine Mitchener are both vocalists, composers and improvisors working in the realms of new music, experimental music, music theatre, performance and visual art. For this Salon they will perform a selection of early process-based scores in which the rules are transparent and all too human. 

Vicki Bennett (People Like Us) is a multidisciplinary British artist recognised for her immersive audiovisual collages and unique approach to mass media as contemporary folk art. Her contribution to this Salon will lift off from her ongoing advocacy for open access to creative content, and her practice of freely sharing her work online and championing the principles of the gift economy. Bennett regards sampling as a potent metaphor for culture and consciousness’s interconnected and ever-shifting nature. In her view, everything exists in a state of flux, and meaning is always relational rather than fixed. Through her practice, she draws attention to the fluid dialogues woven throughout cultural production, challenging conventional ideas about originality and the boundaries of artistic ownership.

Mattie Colqhoun (Xenogothic) is a writer, researcher, and biographer of Mark Fisher. For this event they will be presenting on the implications of AI for blogospheric topics from the 2000s-2010s, regarding hauntology, salvagepunk and accelerationism as three different approaches to the cultural production of the new and how the recombinatory processes of AI sampling are changing our relationship to appropriation and sampling in music. 

The event will conclude with a panel moderated by writer and Wire contributor Robert Barry.

https://www.lorelixenberg.art
https://www.elainemitchener.com
https://peoplelikeus.org
https://xenogothic.com
https://www.thewire.co.uk

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New Merchandise Website! New Merchandise!

People Like Us now have an additional official website, for handling t-shirts, tote bags, greeting cards, postcards, prints and mugs. We’re continuing to use the same supplier but this time directly, so this change allows us to offer the same high-quality organic cotton t-shirts but at significantly lower prices.

Additionally, we have a brand-new t-shirt and tote bag design featuring a sneak peek of artwork from our upcoming CD, called “Copia”, set to release in May 2024.

Explore this and more at https://people-like-us.teemill.com/.

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The Library of Babel

People Like Us – The Library of Babel (2024)

Performances:
17 May 2025 – Screening (not performance) of The Library of Babel, Other Cinema, ATA, San Francisco, US
10 May 2025 – donaufestival, Krems, Austria
5 April 2025 – Screening (not performance) at Surrey Poetry Festival, Guildford, UK
13 March 2025 – WFMU Radio’s Monty Hall, SCREENING not performance
4 December 2024 – Reihe, Cologne
11 November 2024 – Screening (not performance) of The Library of Babel
17 October 2024 – Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle with Gwilly Edmondez and Jorge Boehringer 
13 September 2024 – Vostell Museum Malpartida (Fluxus Museum), Caceres, Spain 
13 July 2024 – Con-struct Festival, London
10 May 2024 – Flatpack Festival, Birmingham Black Box Theatre
28 October 2023 : Cafe OTO, London as part of a 3-Day People Like Us Artist Residency – in progress performance
14 November 2023 : CineCity at Attenborough Centre, Brighton – in progress performance
17 January 2024 : The Wire Magazine takeover of IKLECTIK, London
30 March 2024 : Colchester Arts Centre
10 May 2024 : Flatpack Festival, Birmingham Black Box Theatre
13 July 2024 : Con-struct Festival, London

First there is experience. 
Then we attach a story to it.

The Library of Babel is a vast library of words. Some combine to make stories of consequence, others are nonsensical.

The library is complete.
Yet searching it is futile.

Using dense collage and splintered narrative, “The Library of Babel” is a new audio-visual performance by People Like Us, a journey through cinema and sound where the actors are set adrift from their story, left with pure experience.

The title is inspired by a 1941 Jorge Luis Borges short story, exploring themes related to the complex interplay of infinity, knowledge, and the cosmic fabric, presented through the metaphor of a vast, seemingly infinite library. In the story, the librarians are isolated, focussed on an almost religious or existential quest, struggling to find meaningful texts amidst an overwhelming number of nonsensical or irrelevant books. The library itself has no goals or intentions; a canvas onto which searchers project their quests for meaning. The narrative delves into the angst and crises of those that explore its depths, raising questions about our ability to manage, navigate, and find meaning from vast amounts of information.

In this new work by People Like Us, traditional storytelling gets a modern twist through the amalgamation of audio-visual collage and intricate editing techniques. The digital narrative reconfigures, decomposes, redirects, and recombines images with sounds that are often already ingrained in audience’s collective consciousness due to their prior associations within the selected materials. Initially, they sail on a journey of previous associations and memories. However, the extensive fusion of source materials evolve them into a unified whole, severing past affiliations and pioneering uncharted territory that transcends memory to become a singular, immersive experience. Rather than adhering to a linear progression of events, the thematic narrative unfolds in layered complexities, offering a fragmented but coherent tale achieved through a blend of various sources and an ‘exquisite corpse’ approach.

Using collage as a medium democratises the content, making it resonant not just for aficionados of art, film, or music, but for a broad cross-section of the community. The technique is a universal entry point that appeals to both young and old, presenting elements that can communicate varied messages about film, music, culture, or society. Alternatively, the collage can stand alone as an extraordinary experience devoid of an overt narrative. Indeed, the aim is to use storytelling as a tool to transcend the preconceived notions and internal stories that audiences may bring with them.

The Library of Babel is an incredible work. Beautiful and dreamlike as ever but I particularly enjoyed the pace of this one as well – it felt like there was a bit more breathing space which allowed me to appreciate it all the more. And because there were fewer references that I instantly recognised (maybe I just don’t watch enough films!) I found myself intellectualising it less, (ie thinking about the original texts and the juxtapositions between them) and enjoying the images in and of themselves instead … Gone, Gone Beyond was amazing and certainly psychedelic – blew me away as an experience – but Babel felt more emotionally affecting and yes definitely immersive … I felt the same way about the music as the visuals, with less familiar reference points to digest it felt more about the immediate experience and less about semiotics – Tom Mugridge, November 2023

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The Library of Babel at WFMU’s Monty Hall / cohosting with Hearty White

Friends of and friends at WFMU! I’m cohosting with Hearty White this Thursday 13 March as part of our wonderful fundraising marathon – pledge here!
Update – Hearty had covid!
So Pseu Braun stood in for the Q&A, and Ken cohosted as Hearty!
https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/150057
https://pledge.wfmu.org/donate

Then straight after the show we will rush downstairs and are delighted to present The Library of Babel, followed by a conversation with Hearty White.

Get your tickets here.

WFMU Radio’s Monty Hall, located at 43 Montgomery Street in downtown Jersey City (mere steps from the Exchange Place PATH station).
Thursday, March 13 · 8pm EDT. Doors at 7:30pm

First there is experience.
Then we attach a story to it.
The Library of Babel is a vast library of words. Some combine to make stories of consequence, others are nonsensical.
The library is complete.
Yet searching it is futile.
“The Library of Babel” is a new musical movie by People Like Us (aka Vicki Bennett), a journey through cinema and sound where the actors are set adrift from their story, left with pure experience.

All proceeds from this event benefit WFMU

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The Library of Babel screening and discussion

Monday 11 November, 6pm

Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
600 South Gregory
Urbana

View on Map

https://cas.illinois.edu/node/2915

Introduction by special guest Hearty White

Inspired by a 1941 Jorge Luis Borges short story, The Library of Babel (2024) explores themes related to the complex interplay of infinity, knowledge, and the cosmic fabric, presented through the metaphor of a vast, seemingly infinite library. In the story, the librarians are isolated, focused on an almost religious or existential quest, struggling to find meaningful texts amidst an overwhelming number of nonsensical or irrelevant books. The library itself has no goals or intentions; a canvas onto which searchers project their quests for meaning. The narrative delves into the angst and crises of those that explore its depths, raising questions about our ability to manage, navigate, and find meaning from vast amounts of information. In her film inspired by the story, artist Vicki Bennett relies on an amalgamation of audio-visual collage and intricate editing techniques to reconfigure, decompose, redirect, and recombine images with sounds that are often already ingrained in audience’s collective consciousness. Rather than adhering to a linear progression of events, her thematic narrative unfolds in layered complexities, offering a fragmented but coherent tale achieved through a blend of various sources and an ‘exquisite corpse’ approach.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Bennett and White on their independent and collaborative creative journeys in seeking meaning, social connection, and joy through the mediums of radio, video, and performance.

Hosted by: College of Fine & Applied Arts. Thanks to Kevin Hamilton.

In conjunction with: Department of Media & Cinema Studies, Department of Musicology, Department of Philosophy, Department of Psychology, Illinois Public Media, School of Art + Design, Spurlock Museum, University Library

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Mise en Abyme – new AV installation at Museu de Aveiro

“Mise en Abyme” by Vicki Bennett (October 2024)
Museu de Aveiro/Santa Joana, Avenida de Santa Joana, 3810-329 Aveiro, Portugal
2-20 October 2024 https://www.aveiro2024.pt/en/

In this widescreen, multi-speakered spatial cinema installation created for Aveiro 2024, Vicki Bennett (People Like Us) delves into the existential depths of human experience, using dense collage and a recursive narrative to explore the intricate dance between dualism and interconnectivity. Entitled “Mise en Abyme,” the installation thrusts viewers into a realm where actors are liberated from the confines of their scripted existence, navigating a sea of pure, unmediated sensation. Traditional storytelling is reimagined, employing a fusion of audio-visual collage and sophisticated editing techniques to dismantle and reassemble digital narratives, creating a tapestry woven from images and sounds that resonate deeply within the collective unconscious through their historical associations. The thematic narrative, unbound by linear constraints, unfolds through a series of layered complexities, offering a fragmented yet coherent tale forged from a myriad of sources and the innovative ‘exquisite corpse’ technique.

“Mise en Abyme” aims to use storytelling as a vessel to navigate beyond preconceived notions and internal narratives, inviting audiences into a space where the boundaries between self and other, between individual and collective experience, begin to blur.

The Artistic Technique

Vicki Bennett creates a sophisticated blend of audio-visual collage, layering historical and contemporary images and sounds to create a rich, immersive experience. The recursive narrative structure allows for a non-linear exploration of themes. The use of the ‘exquisite corpse’ technique further enhances this experience, as disparate elements are juxtaposed and interwoven, creating a seamless yet complex narrative tapestry. This method not only highlights the beauty of randomness but also demonstrates the interconnectedness of seemingly unrelated elements.

Brochure for Aveiro 2024