Theater of Cruelty
In 1986, when experimental vocal artist Jaap Blonk was asked to open for the Stranglers in the Netherlands, he chose Kurt Schwitters’ epic sound poem Ursonate. Infuriated, the 2,000-strong crowd hurled invectives, full pints of beer, and the occasional fist. The following day, a headline read: “Jaap Blonk Shocks Punk Audience with Dada Poetry.” (It was an agreeable affirmation for the math student that such work could stir emotion.) Blonk’s own compositions, like “Songs of Little Sleep,” a dangerously memorable collection of songs about insomnia, might hinge on a hilariously exaggerated snore or a bout of glossolalia and some fiendish grunting. Tonight, Blonk performs pieces from this series, along with Antonin Artaud’s To Have Done with the Judgment of god, a scatologically rich radio performance that was commissioned soon after Artaud’s release from a mental asylum, and immediately banned. Dramatic, versatile, and unabashed, Blonk is uniquely qualified to interpret Artaud’s final work — which, while not suited to delicate dispositions, will make for a very unusual Halloween. Coral Remains, a “post-industrial sound and sculptural installation” that specializes in styrofoam and musique concrète, opens the evening.
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