Here’s a new version of our film for improvisers “Notations“, this time around performed by Blectum from Blechdom:
Notations & The Mirror, Santa Cruz
Indexical Presents Digital Alchemy in Fall 2019
28 September 2019 at 8pm
People Like Us Theatrical Screening of “The Mirror” (not a concert!) and artist Q&A | Blectum from Blechdom perform “Notations” by Vicki Bennett
https://www.indexical.org/events/2019-09-28-people-like-us-blectum-from-blechdom
Documented below, both the Q&A and performance – the event moved to Radius Gallery at the last minute due to a mass power outage in Santa Cruz:

We Edit Life: An Evening with People Like Us
We Edit Life is an evening of film screenings by People Like Us including the premiere live-score performance of Notations by Blectum from Blechdom.
A theatrical screening of The Mirror, a feat of research and craft, this new work is a spellbinding inquiry into editing and juxtaposition, a collage one can unthread allowing the viewer to discover hidden stories through familiar images. The soundtrack is made up from hundreds of preexisting songs, as well as particular sounds from the original film clips. This 35 minute screening will be followed by an artist Q&A.
A live performance of Notations, a film for improvising musicians and artists, Notations has been created by Vicki from hundreds of different film clips, where the content conceptually or literally portrays different kinds of ‘gestures’ or ‘instructions’ to be read by the improvising artists on stage as a visual score.
Notations has been performed in the past by an impressive international cast of improvisers, each with radically different approaches and, as each show features a different combination of artists, every performance is completely unique. This time around the performers with the film will be Kristin Erickson and Bevin Kelley, aka electronic music duo Blectum from Blechdom.
New Film for Improvising Musicians and Artists

We have made a new film for improvising musicians and artists titled Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear. This is part of our project The Mirror, which initially was and is an audiovisual performance by People Like Us, and the umbrella project also includes 3 new artist commissions and this film.
This is not the first film we have made of this type. Previous to this was Notations (which included a national tour in the UK (followed by further dates internationally) with a fantastic roster of improvisers, supported by Sound and Music), as well as some collaborations where we have made the film then made sections available to other artists and musicians to respond (Gesture Piece and CCCitations).
Much like the other movies, you can enquire about performing with this movie by way of our Contact Page. Our first performance will be in Newcastle, UK in June 2019, as part of a collaboration with Newcastle University Department of Music.
Performances:
14 June 2019 – Culture Lab, Newcastle
18 July 2019 – 7th Syros International Film Festival – Overexposure

Notations performance in Greece
NOTATIONS a film for live improvisers
(People Like Us, 2013)
Our film for live improvisers was performed at the School of Music Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece on 29 May 2018, and it’s just been put online.
Watch other performances of Notations here: https://peoplelikeus.org/2013/notations/
NOTATIONS at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Excerpts from a workshop and improvised performance by σ.π.Α.Μ.*
*experimental and improvised music ensembles
Artist Biography


Working under the moniker People Like Us, artist Vicki Bennett has been creating and distributing audio-visual work across multiple platforms since 1992. Her extensive output spans CD, DVD and vinyl releases, radio broadcasts, live performances, gallery installations, 360° immersive environments and online media. Vicki treats collage as a form of contemporary folk art—rooted in mass media and technology—championing its democratic, shared nature. Central to her work is the belief that everything is interconnected, rendering the notion of artistic ownership or originality both absurd and unnecessary. Through the act of collage, she opens up expansive, unexpected outcomes that exceed the sum of their parts.
Since 2002, the majority of the People Like Us back catalogue has been freely accessible online. Vicki is an advocate of the gift economy, highlighting that for many artists, free self-distribution can generate greater reach and impact than traditional publishing channels. This approach alleviates the pressures of production costs, while ensuring long-term availability. The discography and filmography of People Like Us are generously hosted by UbuWeb.
Over her career, Vicki has produced over 50 audio recordings and more than 40 video works, released on labels including Illegal Art, Rough Trade, Soleilmoon Recordings, Discrepant, Sonic Arts Network and Touch. Her long-running radio show DO or DIY has been broadcast on New York’s fiercely independent WFMU since 2003. Her video work has been shown internationally at venues such as Tate Modern, Whitechapel Gallery, BFI, Barbican, ICA, V&A, Centre Pompidou (Paris), Sonar (Barcelona), MAXXI (Rome), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) and Centro de Cultura Digital (Mexico City). Works have also been broadcast on Channel 4 and featured in sessions for John Peel and Mixing It.
People Like Us has been commissioned by organisations including Arts Council England, Barbican, ACCA, BBC, WDR, Deutschlandradio, PRS Foundation, a-n, Great North Run, Sound and Music, Animate Projects, AV Festival, RML, Sonic Arts Network, Forma, LUX and Lovebytes.
Vicki has held seven solo exhibitions and participated in over 20 group shows across prominent international venues, including the Venice Biennale, MAXXI (Rome), HMKV (Dortmund), Hatton Gallery (Newcastle), Sheehan Gallery (Walla Walla), La Scatola Gallery (London), alt.gallery (Newcastle), Vitrine (London), Engramme (Quebec), University of Greenwich Galleries, Edinburgh Printmakers, Pallant House (Chichester), Millennium Gallery (Sheffield), and Hallwalls (New York), among others.
Her work has been discussed in numerous publications such as Sounds Like Silence – 4’33’’ Today (Spectre Books), The Journal of Writing in Creative Practice, Cutting Across Media (Duke University Press), The Fundamentals of Sonic Art and Design, Incredible Machines, Sensations of History (University of Minnesota Press), and Here To Go – Art, Counter-Culture and the Esoteric. She has also contributed to The Wire, including a feature in their “Collateral Damage” column (2012), and has entire chapters devoted to her in Kenneth Goldsmith’s Duchamp Is My Lawyer (Columbia University Press) and Carl Abrahamsson’s Different People (Trapart, 2021).
People Like Us has been reviewed or profiled in The Wire, Rolling Stone, Frieze, The Guardian, NME, Time Out, Sight & Sound, Film Comment, The Scotsman, The Independent, BBC Online, Bizarre, Record Collector, Metro, XLR8R, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Baltimore City Paper, and more. Interviews include The Observer, Filmmaker Magazine, Found Footage Magazine, Wired, a-n Magazine, RadioWeb MACBA, Sound and Music, and multiple features in The Wire.
Her radio interviews include Late Junction, Soundproof (ABC), WDR 3 Open Sounds, Cutting Up The Cut Up (BBC Radio 4), PM and Twenty Minutes (BBC Radio 3), and North by Southwest (British Council).
She has also curated a variety of events and publications, including First Person, Fourth Wall (2020), Optimized! (WFMU, 2016), Concert of Collage (Encounters Festival, 2015), Radio Boredcast (AV Festival, 2012), and Nothing is New, Everything is Permitted (2010).
Notable works include Notations, a touring film for live improvisation (TUSK/Sound and Music, 2013); two films for Channel 4’s Random Acts; Citation City (2015), an AV performance inspired by Walter Benjamin; Nothing Can Turn Into A Void, a documentary (2015); No One Is An Island (WDR, 2016); and The Mirror (2018), an AV performance and album ranked No.8 in The Wire’s Albums of the Year. Vicki also produced video content for The The’s 2018 comeback tour, and was part of the New Voices programme from Sound and Music, and received an a-n Artist Bursary in 2019. Her radio commission I Can Fly aired on WDR in 2020.
In 2020, she premiered two new works at her solo exhibition First Person, Fourth Wall, as Hallwalls Artist in Residence (HARP). The following year saw the touring of Gone, Gone Beyond, an immersive multi-screen and multi-speaker AV installation across venues including nyMusikk Oslo, SPILL Festival, ACCA Brighton, and London’s Barbican.
In 2022, she presented MIND MAPS: The Art of Vicki Bennett at Sheehan Gallery (USA) and Orfeó Lleidatà (Spain), and Gone, Gone Beyond was screened at Gray Area, San Francisco. Her 22-hour radio piece 108 aired via Radio Arts Zone, and she performed with Ergo Phizmiz and Gwilly Edmondez at The Wire‘s 40th Anniversary. She also produced a new radio work Changing Your Mind for Deutschlandradio and a mixtape for BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction. The lathe-cut vinyl Rhapsody in Glue (with Ergo Phizmiz) was released in November 2022.
In 2023, she launched a successful IndieGoGo campaign for the new live AV performance and album The Library of Babel, premiering at a three-day residency at Café OTO, London. A retrospective 2-CD set Sharity! Selected Works of People Like Us followed in April.
In 2024, People Like Us released a new album COPIA, created music videos for The The, Soft Cell and Marc Almond, and debuted a widescreen AV installation Mise en Abyme at Museu de Aveiro/Santa Joana in Portugal. Currently in development is Khroma, a new 360-degree work for RML CineChamber.
So far in 2025, People Like Us continues work on Khroma, alongside creating live visuals for Soft Cell’s performances of “Torch” and “Purple Zone”. Vicki is also collaborating with Kevin Hamilton (University of Illinois) on a text-based media project.
ALL COMMISSION ENQUIRIES OR BOOKINGS FOR GONE, GONE BEYOND ARE TO BE MADE DIRECTLY WITH US THROUGH OUR CONTACT PAGE.
Shorter Bio – Artist Statement
Filmography
Exhibitions and Editions
Selected Performances and Screenings
Commissions and Awards
Talks, Lectures
Discography
People Like Us on bandcamp




People Like Us/Vicki Bennett Filmography
ALL COMMISSION ENQUIRIES OR BOOKINGS FOR GONE, GONE BEYOND ARE TO BE MADE DIRECTLY WITH US THROUGH OUR CONTACT PAGE.
“Purple Zone” video for Soft Cell live show [2025]
“Torch” video for Soft Cell live show [2025]
“Khroma” 360-degree installation for RML CineChamber [in progress, 2024]
“Mise En Abyme” wide screen installation [2024]
“Some Days I Drink My Coffee By The Grave of William Blake” video for The The, directed by Tim Pope [2024]
“Elusive Butterfly” video for Marc Almond [2024]
“Linoleum Smooth” video for The The, directed by Tim Pope [2024]
“First Hand Experience In Second Hand Love” video for Soft Cell live show [2024]
“Cognitive Dissident” video for The The, directed by Tim Pope [2024]
“A Man Could Get Lost” video for Soft Cell live show [2024]
“The Library of Babel” new live AV performance [2023/4]
“Global Eyes” video for THE THE [2022]
“Gone, Gone Beyond” 10 Screen / 8 Speaker work, Stage One complete, Stage Two in progress [2016-2021+]
“Fourth Wall” for Hallwalls Artists-in-Residence Project (HARP) [2020]
“Cosmos Song” by Big Fresh [2019]
“Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear” (film for improvisers) [2019]
“The Mirror” (live performance), [Spring 2018]
“The The 2018 Comeback Tour” – video backdrop for the THE THE world tour [2018]
“Can’t Stop What’s Coming” video edit for THE THE [2017]
“Optimized! Expanded Radio & Artist Residency at WFMU with People Like Us & Let’s Paint TV” documentary [2016]
“Optimized! Special: The Dusty Show with Clay Pigeon – At Union Square, Manhattan” documentary edited by Vicki Bennett [2016]
“Ultimate Care II Excerpt 5” – official video for Matmos [2015]
“Nothing Can Turn Into A Void” – documentary film about People Like Us edited by Vicki Bennett and directed by Carl Abrahamsson [2015]
“CCCitations” [2015]
“Citation City” (live performance) [2015]
“Art Heist” (film – under construction) [2015-]
“The Big Sleep” [2014]
“BLINK” [2014]
“Notations UK Tour Travelogue” documentary [2013]
“We Are Not Amused” [2013]
“The Golem – An Inanimate Matter” [2013]
“Notations” [2013]
“Gesture Piece” [2013]
“BWPWAP” [2013]
“Consequences (One Thing Leads To Another)” (live performance) [2012-13]
“Free Rod MckMoon” [2012]
“Variations On Jem Finer’s Slowplayer” [2012]
“The Zone” [2012]
“4’33” The Movie” [2011]
“Free (As A Chapel In The Moonlight” [2011]
“The Magical Misery Tour” (live performance) [2011]
“The Atlantic Conveyor” [2011]
“Magic” [2011]
“The Doors Of Perspection” [2011]
“Clean Your Room” [2011]
“The Keystone Cut Ups” (live performance with Ergo Phizmiz) [2010]
“Magic” (with Ergo Phizmiz) [2010]
“The Sound Of The End Of Music” [2010]
“Mull of Kintyre” (with Ergo Phizmiz) [2010]
“Genre Collage” (live performance) [2009-10]
“Induction Is A Draft Is A Gust Of Air” [2009]
“The Look” [2009]
“DrivingFlyingRisingFalling” [2009]
“Parade” [2009]
“In The Waking” [2008]
“Skew Gardens” [2007]
“Ghosts Before Breakfast” (with Ergo Phizmiz) [2007]
“Live Excerpts” [2002-2007]
“Work, Rest & Play” [2007]
“Trying Things Out” [2006]
“Story Without End” [2005]
“People Like Us At The Movies” [2005]
“Resemblage” [2004]
“The Remote Controller” [2002]
“We Edit Life” [2002]
“New Knowledge” [2000]
“Well If You’d Like To See” [1999]
“Burning” [1999]
“Discovering Electronic Music” [1999]
“Music Of Your Own” [1999]
Full video: Notations with M.C.Schmidt, Jason Willett & People Like Us
Here’s a full length video of possibly the best performance of Notations so far.
This time around by Jason Willett, People Like Us & M.C.Schmidt
at Monty Hall, WFMU – 13 September 2014
View the rehearsal to this same show here: vimeo.com/peoplelikeus/montyrehearsal
NOTATIONS live at WFMU with M.C.Schmidt, Jason Willett, People Like Us
Notations is a film by Vicki Bennett, created for performance by live improvisers peoplelikeus.org/notations
Thanks to High Zero and WFMU, filmed by Peter Knight and Ruth Hayduk (thank you!)
M.C.Schmidt vague-terrain.com Jason Willett thetruevinerecordshop.com
Notations at InMute video
Excerpt from NOTATIONS – a film for live improvisers, Athens 25 Oct 2014
Performed by Acte Vide
at InMute Festival, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens
peoplelikeus.org/notations
acte-vide.blogspot.com
InMute Festival, Athens
Notations and Consequences (One Thing Leads To Another)** will both be performed at InMute Festival, Athens Onassis Cultural Centre on 25 October 2014.
This time around Notations will be performed by the duo Acte Vide.
Festival Curation: Michalis Moschoutis
PROGRAMME
Friday 24 October
Rhythmus 21 (Hans Richter, 1921)
Rhythmus 23 (Hans Richter, 1923)
Duration: 8′
Live score: Giorgos Katsanos (analog synth, amplified objects)
Dog Star Man: Part I (Stan Brakhage, 1962)
Duration: 30′
Live score: Yiorgis Sakellariou (laptop, tapes)
Emak-Bakia (Man Ray, 1927)
Duration: 18′
Live score: Balinese Beast (Giorgos Axiotis: electronics, Ilan Manouach: saxophone, electronics)
Aleph (Wallace Berman 1958-1976)
Duration: 7′
Silent
Early Abstractions Nos. 1-4, 7 & 10 (Harry Smith, 1946-57)
Preserved by Anthology Film Archives, New York
Duration: 22′
Live score: Mike Cooper (steel guitar)
Saturday 25 October
**Consequences (One Thing Leads To Another) is not on the festival programme but will be a “parallel event” also on the 25 October at the same venue earlier the same evening at 7.30pm (25 October).
Details here http://www.sgt.gr/en/programme/event/2142
Notations (Vicki Bennett, 2013)
Duration: 30′
Live performance: Acte Vide (Danae Stefanou: piano, Giannis Kotsonis: electronics)
Cowards Bend the Knee (Guy Maddin, 2003)
Duration: 60′
Live score: Philip Jeck (turntables, electronics)
Sunday 26 October
Social Decay (audio-visual performance based on Stelios Tatasopoulos‘s 1932 film)
Duration: 25’
Live music & video: Voltnoi & Quetempo
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
Duration: 82′
Live score: Jacob Kirkegaard (laptop)
Video of M.C. Schmidt, Jason Willett & People Like Us at Monty Hall
This is the rehearsal for our Notations performance at WFMU’s Monty Hall in Jersey City on 13 Sept 2014.
Thank you Martin and Jason for one of the best versions of Notations yet. And thank you WFMU for being the best place to play in the world.
More about Notations here: peoplelikeus.org/2013/notations/
(video edited on the Bolt Bus)
High Zero Festival Baltimore full concerts
Stop press: here are films documenting the full performances at High Zero:
People Like Us at High Zero Festival in Baltimore on 19 and 20 September, 2014
Friday 19 September is a night of improvisation, in which People Like Us performs two sets with other improvisers, the first time Vicki has done improvisation of this type in more than 10 years.
Doors open 7.30pm, performances begin at 8.30pm
Group One:
Jack Wright (saxophone)
Dafne Vicente-Sandoval (bassoon)
Paul Neidhardt (percussion, friction)
M.C. Schmidt (store-bought electronics)
Charles Dube (electronics)
Group Two:
John Kilduff (multitasking, live art)
Vicki Bennett (found footage sample collage)
Bob Wagner (percussion, friction)
Group Three:
LaDonna Smith (violin)
Paul Neidhardt (percussion, friction)
Harry Walker (electric bass)
Michael Fischer (saxophone)
Group Four:
JD Zazie (turntables, CDJ, mixer, found sounds)
Charlotte Hug (viola, voice)
Jenny Gräf (electronics, guitar)
Stewart Mostofsky (electronics)
Vicki Bennett (found footage sample collage)
Notations at the Saturday Matinee, on 20 September 2014 at The Theatre Project, 45 W Preston St, Baltimore.
Doors open Noon, performances at 1pm.
This time around, the performers to this live score are:
Bob Wagner (drums)
LaDonna Smith (violin)
Jenny Gräf (electronics, guitar)
“Notations” is a film by Vicki Bennett for live performance by improvising musicians and artists. It has been created using collected and edited found footage from hundreds of different films, where the content conceptually or literally portrays different kinds of ‘instructions’ and content that can then be interpreted by musicians and artists with unique audio accompaniments. Notations contains edits of the movies and sounds from the source films, separated into ‘sketches’ or stories that segue into one another, and it exists with a list of instructions (score) on how artist(s) working with this choose to work with these particular elements.
People Like Us, M.C.Schmidt & Jason Willett Live at WFMU
People Like Us, M.C.Schmidt (Matmos) and Jason Willett will perform at WFMU‘s own performance space at Monty Hall, New Jersey on 13 Sept 2014 at 8pm. Tickets must be bought in advance to ensure entry:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/819123 – there should be some tickets on the door but you have been warned since they are selling well and it’s a small venue.
We’ve not decided the order of the evening but it will include People Like Us with Consequences (One Thing Leads To Another), and then a joint improv performance by all three artists to Notations.