This is the blog of Kal Spelletich. CONTACT: Spellkal (at) gmail.com + Art, technology, humans and robots, and, well, the journey http://www.kaltek.org/
An ambient piece performed at the San Francisco Public Library March 2, 2024. I wrote the score for this while watching the fog roll over Twin Peaks here in S.F.
Sound waves emanate from vibrating objects and move through the air, water, or solids, as long as there are particles to bounce off of. It is usually performed with a video Projection of the fog as a score.
I am opening for the band The Residents!
Next Saturday, March 2nd.
*For Free*
In the Electronic Music Sound Garden room at the SF Library
In the Steve Silver Music Library,
There are around one hundred acts, talks, films, and more.
Sound waves emanate from vibrating objects and move through the air, water, or solids, as long as there are particles to bounce off of. A score was written viewing a grove of trees blowing in a blustery wind on Candlestick Hill.
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Sara Toby Moore’s Atomic Comics
Richard Marriott’s Bahaya with Dewa Berata
Tenderloin Queens Drag Show
Guillermo Gómez-Peña & Balitronica of La Pocha Nostra
David James’ GPS Jazz Sextet And local buskers on Larkin Street and more.
No one knows when the Residents go on but after me!
I have a wonderful catalog for sale at the phenomenal Catharine Clark Gallery. In their Bookstore, titled Significance Machines and Purposeful Robots.
Inside the recently expanded Catharine Clark Gallery is a series of new exhibition spaces, viewing rooms, bookstore, media room and more. All 9,200 Square feet of art to view. All for free!
In the bookstore is the wonderful catalog Katie helped produce in conjunction with Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art, For sale.
The exhibit originated at the CC Gallery in 2015. The question I asked was, “Can technology do Spiritual Work?” It included guest DJ spots by Paul Kos, Chris Johanson, Scott Hewicker, a live soundscape by Tom Greenwood, a tequila pouring machine that poured down the leaf of a live agave plant, photos of the sun and the moon, a bunch of other works and an exhibit in the backroom by Jo Allen Harvey! An amazing talk by Buddhist deacon Allister Shanks, which was deep and the gallery was more than overflowing with folks spilling into lobby listening in.
The catalog was designed by the brilliant local and great Chris Carlson. There are several essays, by Katie, Lauren M. McDonald, a short statement by yours truly, the extremely insightful Tanya Zimbardo and Anuradha Vikram. The exhibit originated at Katie’s gallery and expanded, grew and moved to Saint Mary’s University in 2019. Much of this work has been shown at multiple venues since then.
The catalog has a lot of photos of the two exhibits and a couple of drawings. I made a harp that was played played by Strawberry Creek in Berkeley, California, a breathing pillow praying robots, a briefcase with a spinning Buddha and a soundtrack.
https://www.sfaq.us/2015/05/kal-spelletich-in-conversation-with-chris-cobb/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Established in 1991, Catharine Clark Gallery exhibits contemporary art in all disciplines. In response to each exhibition, the gallery curates changing presentations of video and time-based genres within a dedicated media room.
There are dozens of other books catalogs and artworks in the bookstore all worth checking out!
ALSO! I have a pair of robotic praying hands from the exhibit on view back at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art 1928 St. Marys Road Moraga, CA 94575 Opening Thursday, February 15, 2024, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Live, Oakland California October 20 How To Destroy The Universe Festival, At Spire Church Two videos are projected as scores of the Sun & the Moon that I will follow..
Performing the brilliant piece I have been inspired by. 1. Terry Riley’s In C Sun Score: The Moth Flew Into The Sun. -and then our spaceship flew into the sun, like a moth. There will also be a closeup video projection of my machine sound robots I will create the sounds from. It is going to be fun and hard. There will be no electric guitars, synths, backing tracks nor drums. I will most likely destroy these 2 masterpieces, though I will do my best to remain faithful. We are angels, rascals, visionaries and dreamers. Please attend and we will inform on HOW TO DESTROY THE UNIVERSE. ++++++++++++++++++++++ Section #1 Kanon by Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki https://youtu.be/GigZW7nq460 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Section #3 https://youtu.be/7IiM7J91irc ++++++++++++++++++++++ Section #5 https://youtu.be/kHzqAOOJiTs?si=IMxcHrOoApOtTyFj ++++++++++++++++++++++ Section #4 Pendereccki’s Kanon https://youtu.be/cDlPmklDHyA ++++++++++++++++++++++ Section #6 https://youtu.be/W3Ch6pk-lgs ++++++++++++++++++++++ Section #8 https://youtu.be/97IUciNhDyU ++++++++++++++++++++++ Section #9 https://youtu.be/vRkZW3pIX7U
Light sensors read the light of the Sun, Moon, and Fog activating custom-made sound machines. +++++++++++++++
FOG
I videotaped the fog on Twin Peaks in San Francisco, California. A light sensor reads the changes in the light reflecting off of the fog. The sensor activates a motor activating mechanical bellows which blows air through a custom 3-D printed pipe organ.
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The MOON
I videotaped the moon. As the video plays back a light sensor reads the light of the moon. The sensor activates a motor as the light changes rubbing against a UFO-shaped cymbal.
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The Sun
I videotaped the sun. A light sensor reads the changing light of the sun triggering a motor with a stone attached to it. The motor rubs against a stringed instrument amplified.
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Listening To The Cosmos I am exploring how we perceive and scale the universe Hearing Light and Terrain Time as a dimension traveling across it Deciphering the nature and condition of our origins Seeing sound Capturing Light. To hear and feel things, rather than to just see them. Sonification.
A sound trio performed by the sun moon and fog, if you will. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.
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“The Changing Light”
The changing light at San Francisco is none of your East Coast light none of your pearly light of ParisThe light of San Francisco is a sea light an islandlightAnd the light of fog blanketing the hills drifting in at night through the Golden Gate to lie onthe city at dawnAnd then the halcyon late mornings after the fog burns off and the sun paints white houses with the sealight of Greece with sharp clean shadows making the town look like it had just beenpainted But the wind comes up at four o’clock sweeping thehills And then the veil of light of early evening And then another scrim when the new night fog floats inAnd in that vale of light the city drifts anchorlessupon the ocean
Deep in his Mission studio, Spelletich says, “Here we have 3 stones vibrating. At different speeds, tempos, and with different masses.”I slowly turn on and off the stones, they shake, literally hum, vibrate. I tell him, of course, you live on a fault line, he slyly smiles.
These sonified stones make up a trio. Every surface of his workshop is covered with contraptions, gadgets, robots. Some in the works, many “finished”. Micro-controllers, sensors, and motors turn on and off a myriad of linkages and objects. Dark paintings by robot made while mourning the Ukraine war, a literal orchestra of sound machines, other contraptions to listen to the sun, moon and fog even.
Spelletich uses locally sourced Bay Area geology. “I found these stones on Thornton State Beach, Daly City. Foggy and windswept, on the fault line, they are, literally, tumbling into the sea.”“The story of nature’s elusive phenomena, one that stretches millennia, geologic processes and time” he says.
Sonification I think. Then, ahh, Rock Band!A three-piece, a trio. ala The Jam, Husker Du, The Ahmad Jamal Trio. He thinks he is clever. Well, maybe he is… I can play the stones for hours. They are mesmerizing. He lets me go and he wanders off, tinkering on something. I speed up and down the motors attached to the stones. I am jamming with the earth. It can get offensively loud, ambient, peacefully low, and pleasant. Like heartbeats.Intoxicating. Deep, primal. I speed one up and the other stone and then another start humming in cadence, in step if you will. I lose the track of time, 3 minutes? 6 minutes? I don’t know.
Kal muses on “The geological features of our planetary body. I Study and experiment with the Earth using technology”. “To reference Geological Time, we look at how the earth was and is formed, its structure, composition, the types of processes acting on it.
He shows me a hand-scribbled notebook passages,
Diagenesis Earthquakes erosion glaciation hydrothermal processes isostasy land subsidence liquefaction metamorphism sediment transport sedimentation tectonic processes volcanic activity Earth tides deformation soil formation magnetic storms mass wasting. Pages and pages of notes and drawings, plans and indecipherable scribbles.
Pages and pages of notes and drawings, plans and indecipherable scribbles.“I am working on and in conjunction with these.”Where I ask? “Here in the studio, in my garden, soon out in an actual landscape. “Soon”, he muses.
I videotaped the sun. A light sensor reads the changing light of the sun on the monitor triggering a motor to spin that a stone attached to. The motor rubs against a stringed instrument amplified.
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself. I am exploring how we perceive and scale the universe. “Mankind is desperately trying to understand the inner workings of the universe while trying to understand ourselves at the same time.” Carl Sagan
The catalog contains an introduction by curator Clark Buckner along with an essay by art critic Max Blue (@maxblueofficial). It will be released at this week’s SF Art Book Fair (@sfartbookfair)! We’ll have a signing with the artist on Saturday at 2pm. At Minnesota St. Project, 1275 Minnesota St.!
I may be operating an apparatus that recreates the speed of light and speed of sound experiments. With smoke, mirrors, a subwoofer and lasers! And, Buy a limited order catalog and I will personally sign it to you.
In this body of work, Spelletich responds as an artist to science’s extraordinary, transformative contributions to visual culture and knowledge. Reconstructing scientific tools and experiments with light, stones, sound, metal, video, and machines, his kinetic sculptures and installations explore the sublime dimensions and durations of astronomy, geology, and physics. He highlights their explosion of experience’s everyday parameters, evoking wonder in the face of nature and raising the question of our place in the universe. At a time when the authority of science has been crudely dismissed, and critical thinking has given way to groundless conspiracy theories, Spelletich explores fundamental scientific discoveries and the weight of their hold on the world.
„Kal Spelletich ist ein anarchistischer Aktivist und Witzbold. Er ist ein technologischer Visionär, Fabrikarbeiter, Gewerkschaftsorganisator, Pädagoge, Guerilla-Gärtner, hat auf der ganzen Welt ausgestellt: von Afrika bis Indien und überall dazwischen, kam aus dem amerikanischen Rostgürtel, lebte auf der Straße, gaunerte und dealte, ging in die Fabrik und erwarb zwei Universitätsabschlüsse, arbeitete mit Leuten wie den Butthole Surfers und der NASA zusammen, wirkte mit in Spielfilmen und im Fernsehen und ist ein preisgekrönter verrückter Wissenschaftler.”
Machine Philharmonic: We will build a robotic ensemble orchestra that the students and sensors operate. A video of the Kalrsruhe landscape will be created for a score for us to follow for a final performance…the score will start underwater and soar into space via drones and telescopes.
Cologne, Odonien Art Compound: May 12-14-2023 Scaling the cosmos: The audience and I will be sending audio signals on a laser beam up to several kilometers and installing up to 100 tubes of neon for Inter galactic communication. This work will be visible from DEEP space and to be interpreted by higher order organisms.
Berlin: May 20-2023 Robotic sound machine live performance.Berlin Performance-I am creating soundscapes to videos (landscape video as score) using sounds machines I have made.. I will create new videos in each city. The videos are of the sun, stars, moon, waterways, trees, grass, ants. So we will hear the moon, sun and ants. This is a form of Celestial art and sonification inquiry into Landscape. The Audience will get to operate the sound machines with me.There WILL be Special Guests!-Deutsch – english below
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DIENSTbar presentsElektronischer Hörgenuss XV
CiTiZEN KiNO & Kal Spelletich’s Machine Philharmonic with Guests
Saturday – 20. May 2023 – Doorsr: 19:30 – Events: 20:00Jugend[widerstands]museum Galiläakirche – Rigaer Str. 9/10 – 10247 Berlin-Friedrichshain
Kal Spelletich’s Machine Philharmonic with Guests
The Machine Philharmonic are artist-built sound robots the audience collaboratively operates.A video score shot locally works as a prompt to operate the robots.Some local materials, stones & branches, are used to build the Machine Philharmonic.Kal Spelletich is considered one of the pioneers of machine art and is musically known for Seemen and collaborations on Survival Research Laboratories, Butthole Surfers, dancers, filmmakers, poets, Danielle Depiccioto and Alexander Hacke.With programmer and hacker legend Mitch Altman, creator of TV-B-Gone, is working on brain-machine interfaces under the name Split Brain Robotics.„Kal Spelletich is an anarchist activist, prankster. He is a technological visionary, factory worker, union organizer, educator, and guerrilla gardener, has exhibited all over the world: from Africa to India and everywhere in between, came from America’s rust belt, lived on the streets, hustled and dealt, joined the factory line and earned two university degrees, collaborated with the likes of the Butthole Surfers to NASA, been in feature films and television and is a award-winning mad-scientist.
DIENSTbar präsentiert Elektronischer Hörgenuss XVCiTiZEN KiNO & Kal Spelletich’s Machine Philharmonic with GuestsSamstag – 20. Mai 2023 – Tür: 19:30 – Aufführungen: 20:00Jugend[widerstands]museum Galiläakirche – Rigaer Str. 9/10 – 10247 Berlin-FriedrichshainLive Soundtracks Elements von Paolo PodrescuKal Spelletich’s Machine Philharmonic with GuestsDie Machine Philharmonic sind von Künstlern gebaute Klangroboter, die mit dem Publikum gemeinschaftlich bedient werden.Eine vor Ort aufgenommene Videopartitur dient als Aufforderung um die Roboter zu bedienen.Für den Bau der Maschinenphilharmonie werden lokale Materialien wie Steine und Zweige verwendet.Kal Spelletich gilt als einer der Pioniere der Maschinen-Kunst und musikalisch bekannt durch Seemen und der Zusammenarbeit an Survial Reserach Laboratories, Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, sowie Danielle Depiccioto and Alexander Hacke.Mit dem Programmierer und Hackerlegende Mitch Altman, dem Erfinder der TV-B-Gone, arbeitet er an Gehin-Maschinen-Interfaces unter den Namen Split Brain Robotics.„Kal Spelletich ist ein anarchistischer Aktivist und Witzbold. Er ist ein technologischer Visionär, Fabrikarbeiter, Gewerkschaftsorganisator, Pädagoge, Guerilla-Gärtner, hat auf der ganzen Welt ausgestellt: von Afrika bis Indien und überall dazwischen, kam aus dem amerikanischen Rostgürtel, lebte auf der Straße, gaunerte und dealte, ging in die Fabrik und erwarb zwei Universitätsabschlüsse, arbeitete mit Leuten wie den Butthole Surfers und der NASA zusammen, wirkte mit in Spielfilmen und im Fernsehen und ist ein preisgekrönter verrückter Wissenschaftler.”https://kaltek.wordpress.comhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal_Spelletichhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Altmanhttp://dienstbar.nethttps://widerstandsmuseum.de/kultur-am-dorfplatz
Kal Spelletich's Art 