Electric Cafe, 2004

Electric Cafe 2004

Electric Cafe
13.02.04 - 28.02.04

An exhibition concocting connections between the sonic and culinary arts.

If you journey to the crossroads that connect the respective avenues of electronic music, unconventional cooking and new media arts, you will find an odd diner known as the Electric Café. Playfully exploring relationships between the sonic and culinary arts, Electric Café is an exhibition featuring the artists George Chang, Andrew Clifford and Mark Harvey. Taking its title from a Kraftwerk album, Electric Café applies an anachronistic approach to techno-romanticism in order to parody the uber-hipness of electronica and to infect the sleek, vacuous grooves of so-called “café music”.

Chang, Clifford and Harvey sharing a similarly irreverent approach to art-making and have teamed up to concoct a show of sensory installations that will intrigue your eyes, ears and nose. Curated by Clifford, the exhibition ocupies the last two weeks before the Moving Image Centre moves from its Arch Hill home to a temporary K Rd office. Exploiting this almost ephemeral brevity and the transitory nature of the show, there will be performance events taking place throughout.

On the second Saturday there is the electronic music night, Atomic Soup, and on the final day of the exhibition there is the performance event Rotisserie.

Atomic Soup pays homage to Kraftwerk, the German godfathers of electronica whose ninth album provides the exhibitions title. Released in 1986, Electric Café came out at the apex of the electro-pop era, by which stage the rest of the world had overtaken Kraftwerk‚s technical prowess. The culmination of their 15-year journey from futurist avant-gardism to quirky anachronistic pop, the title track extols the poetry of synthetics in an atomic age, relating technology to culture, politics and even modern diet foods.
In response, Atomic Soup combines some of Auckland’s more analogue oriented musicians and sound artists for a tasty brew of electro grooves. Performers include Dadsonic, Empirical, and Richard Francis vs. Andrew Clifford. Expect tape loops, synthesis, and all manner of yesteryear music-making.

Finally, to celebrate the closing of the MIC’s last exhibition in its Arch Hill premises, Electric Café presents Rotisserie.
Curated by performance and installation artist, Mark Harvey, the first Rotisserie took place in 2001 and inspired Clifford to curate Electric Café. Just like its previous manifestation, Rotisserie will feature a diverse collection of performance artists.

Electric Café runs from 13 February ˆ 28 February 2004 at the Moving Image Centre.
Opening Thursday 12 February from 6pm.

Atomic Soup - an evening of tasty analogue electronica
Saturday 21 February from 8pm.

Rotisserie ˆ Performance event and MIC closing BBQ
Some refreshments will be provided but BYO additional beverages and BBQ fodder
Saturday 28 February from 8pm