Jarryd Lowder

Vidician (video artist + musician) Jarryd Lowder, the recipient of a Jerome Grant for emerging artists, has created his sui generis video installation works and performances for venues throughout the world including the PixelAche Festival in Helsinki (Finland), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon (France), the MYV Video Music Awards, the Transamerica '99 Festival (San Francisco), and the Circulo de Bellas Artes (Madrid). In his performance of the enigmatical "Autoharp" for Roulette TV, the vibrating strings of Lowder's original instrument are picked up live and visually amplified onto a screen, while other images (rotating numbers) appear mysteriously between the beat frequencies (like those on a film soundtrack). The strings trigger viola, guitar, and mandolin samples. Following this gradually unfolded, evocation-like piece, Lowder explains how improvisation and chance elements help him keep the work fresh to himself after long hours of technical effort, how he freed himself from classical music, and he describes his history of involvement with computers and programming and his transition to interactive computer art. In the tradition of musician-performers who adapt scientific instruments and discoveries for their art (such as Alvin Lucier's brainwave piece, and works by Paul Di Marinis, Maryanne Amacher, David Tudor, Ron Kuivila, Tom Zahuranec, and others), Lowder discusses a new piece involving detection of epiglottal movement, and describes the kinds of venues available for new electronic art and music. Click here to view clip.