Blank Forms is a not-for-profit arts organization based in New York City. It was founded by Lawrence Kumpf in 2016 as a platform for the preservation and presentation of experimental and time-based performance practices.[1] Blank Forms frequently works with individual artists on a long-term basis in order to create "in-depth public programs and educational materials that provide a range of perspectives on inherently ephemeral practices."[2] In 2017, the organization established Blank Forms Editions, a platform for disseminating texts and recordings related to their programming through anthologies, books, and audio releases.[3][4][5] Blank Forms has additionally organized exhibitions by Catherine Christer Hennix, Loren Connors, Henning Christiansen, and Graham Lambkin.[6][7][8][9] Although Blank Forms presents events on a largely nomadic basis through partnerships with a variety of spaces, in 2020 the organization opened their own exhibition space in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood.[9][10]
In 2018, Blank Forms began the ongoing project of preserving and promoting the work of Swedish polymath and minimal music composer Catherine Christer Hennix. That year, Blank Forms co-curated two exhibitions of her artwork—Traversée du Fantasme at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Thresholds of Perception at Empty Gallery in Hong Kong—and released Selected Early Keyboard Works, the first volume in their series of archival releases of her unheard music.[6][20] Subsequent volumes have included The Deontic Miracle: Selections from 100 Models of Hegikan Roku and Unbegrenzt.[21][22] In 2019, Blank Forms anthologized Hennix's writing in the two-volume set Poësy Matters & Other Matters.[23]
In 2019, Blank Forms announced Intermediate States, a series of listening sessions, installations, and performances of the work of the French composer Éliane Radigue. The ongoing program has included diffusions of Radigue's tape works Trilogie de la mort, Adnos I-III, Chry-ptus, and Vice-Versa, etc... in addition to touring performances of her instrumental composition Occam Ocean.[24][25]
Exhibitionsedit
In 2018, Blank Forms co-curated Traversée du Fantasme, Catherine Christer Hennix's first solo museum exhibition since 1976, at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.[6] Later that year, Blank Forms occupied Artists Space's former space at 55 Walker St. in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood for two art exhibitions with accompanying performance programs. Wildweeds, Loren Connors' first solo art show, was supplemented with performances by the guitarist as well as by Charalambides.[7]Freedom Is Around the Corner was the first retrospective of Danish Fluxus artist Henning Christiansen's work in America, with sculpture, painting, video, sound works, objects, works on paper, self-published magazines, and other work shown. The exhibition also included the presentation of performances by Werner Durand, Mark Harwood, Ute Wassermann, Thorbjørn Reuter Christiansen, Lucy Railton, James Rushford, Stíne Janvin, Graham Lambkin, Áine O’Dwyer, Lau Nau, and Apartment House, in addition to a screening of films by Ursula Reuter Christiansen at Anthology Film Archives.[26] Although Blank Forms continues to work using a roving curatorial model to present performances and exhibitions without a fixed space, in 2020 the organization opened their first dedicated exhibition space in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood.[27] That winter, they presented Time Runs Through the Darkest Hour, an exhibition of drawings, mixed-media works on paper, and a sound piece by Graham Lambkin.[9]
Blank Forms Editionsedit
In 2017, Blank Forms began publishing an anthology in book form, consisting of interviews, essays, poetry, newly-translated texts, and artwork and envisioned as "a platform for critical reflection and extended dialogue between scholars, artists, and other figures working within the world of experimental music and art."[28] That same year, they released a cassette by Charlemagne Palestine, inaugurating the record label branch of Blank Forms Editions.[4] The label has also released music by Catherine Christer Hennix, Hairbone, Loren Connors, Maryanne Amacher, Graham Lambkin & Joe McPhee, Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit, Patty Waters, and Afuma.[29] In 2019, they expanded their publishing wing by publishing three single-author books, by Loren Connors, Catherine Christer Hennix, and Joseph Jarman.[5] In 2020, they announced the publication of a book of selected writings and interviews by Maryanne Amacher and a collection of poetry about music by Thulani Davis.[30][31] In 2021, Blank Forms Editions published Alan Licht's book Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995-2020.
Artistsedit
Some of the artists with which Blank Forms has sustained extended relationships include:
^ ab"Blank Forms Editions to publish books by Loren Connors, Catherine Christer Hennix and Joseph Jarman". Fact Magazine. 2019-08-27. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^ abc"Catherine Christer Hennix". stedelijk.nl. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^ abc"Catherine Damman on Loren Connors at Blank Forms". artforum.com. 10 October 2018. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^ abFarago, Jason; Schwendener, Martha; Heinrich, Will; Steinhauer, Jillian (2018-10-24). "What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^ abcdRecidoro, Zeny May (2020-02-05). "Graham Lambkin". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Battaglia, Andy (2016-12-22). "Sound Disposition: A Personal, Peculiar Top 10 of a Memorable Year in Art". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Mike (2018-02-04). "Maryanne Amacher in New York and New Jersey, March 30 and 31". Avant Music News. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^ ab"Maryanne Amacher Adjacencies". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^ abWalls, Seth Colter (2017-05-19). "Reviving the Ghostly Sounds of Maryanne Amacher". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"Maryanne Amacher: Adjacencies, Petra, Supreme Connections ::: Friday, April 12, 2019 at Holy Apostles and the Mediator". Bowebird. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"Maryanne Amacher: An Introduction ::: Tuesday, April 7, 2019 at the Kislak Center". Bowerbird. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"New York Public Library Acquires Archive of Sound Art Pioneer Maryanne Amacher". artforum.com. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"Empty Gallery – Thresholds of Perception". emptygallery.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"Archive releases of the year". The Wire. 431: 49. January 2020.
^"FFFoxy Podcast #161: Blank Forms feature". 2020-06-13. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Battaglia, Andy (2019-12-24). "The Year in Sound: Writings, Recordings, and Performances of Artful Aurality in 2019". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^ ab"Eliane Radigue". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"Blank Forms to host performances of four Éliane Radigue works in NYC". Fact Magazine. 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"Blank Forms opens first institutional survey of Henning Christiansen's work in America". artdaily.cc. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^ ab"What to Do in N.Y.C. This Weekend: "The Women Behind Hitchcock," Lekka Burger, Dry Cleaning, and "Dana H."". The New Yorker. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Reising, Sam (2018-04-30). "This week: concerts in New York (April 30, 2018 – May 6, 2018)". I Care If You Listen. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"Special Event: Observations At Night x Blank Forms - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"News » Return to Hoffman Estates This week! | Drag City". dragcity.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Dalachinsky, Steve (2017-09-07). "Outtakes". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"Prismatic Park exhibition coming to NYC's Madison Square Park: Matana Roberts, Joe McPhee, Graham Lambkin, and more to perform with a blue tint". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"The Month in Weird: December's Best Avant-Garde Concerts". Observer. 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Battaglia, Andy (2017-07-27). "Bells and Bears and Beings, Oh My!: Charlemagne Palestine Takes New York". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Coley, Byron (February 2018). "Size Matters". The Wire. 408: 62.
^"Artist support network Blank Forms launches its first annual benefit concert - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Heinrich, Will (2019-09-18). "TriBeCa, the New Art Stroll". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Downey, Walker (2019-12-11). "Reappraising Luc Ferrari and Éliane Radigue, Two Renegades of French Music". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"New York Classical Review". newyorkclassicalreview.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Petrossiants, Andreas (2017-11-14). "Annea Lockwood, Aki Onda, and Akio Suzuki: Presented by Blank Forms". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"Blank Forms Announces Volume 2 of Journal: Music From the World Tomorrow". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Mike (2020-05-03). "Blank Forms Upcoming Releases". Avant Music News. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Gotrich, Lars (18 June 2019). "Viking's Choice: Japanese Free Jazz, Psychedelic Hardcore, Doomy Drone". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^Russonello, Giovanni (2018-05-02). "Live Jazz: 5 April Standouts, From Andrew Cyrille to Linda May Han Oh". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"Sasha Frere-Jones on Patty Waters". artforum.com. 23 September 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
^"On the Record: February 15, 2019 – Page 13". National Sawdust Log. Retrieved 2020-06-24.