What are these Artists Talks All About?
Praxinoscope is a new artist-led platform that curates a quarterly series of live short form performances by twelve or more artists whose work responds to a changing theme.
We document every live performance with a series of episodes of Live Audio Podcast, then we publish a textual record, PerformX Documents, and, finally, we host Artist Talks on Instagram Live with all the performers who contributed work to the event, the podcast and the imprint. We post videos of the Artist’s Talk on this Substack.
PerformX Documents: Phase One: Editing Live Audio for the Podcast
John Dawson records the performers during each of our events using a Zoom digital recorder attached to the sound board as well as micing room tone. John and I record introductions in my home studio both for the series and for each artist’s work. We edit the audio into episodes documenting the live performance of each one of the coterie of artists from a specific performance event, e.g., Season 1: Months of the Year or Season 2: Signs of the Zodiac. Up soon: Hours of the Day.
We believe audio captures the energy of live performance without the confusion of video that seems to mimic the magic of stage, but darkly and coldly. I wrote a whole essay about this preference for audio over video recordings of live performances in our next imprint, Signs of the Zodiac: PerformX Documents No. 2, available for purchase in September 2022.
What’s our Podcast release schedule?
We release episodes of the podcast twice each week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. First, we send the episode to paid subscribers who support our work (for either $5 per month or $50 per year). A few days later, we release the episodes to our free e-mail subscribers. And then, in a week, we release the episode to the viewing public.
PerformX Documents: Phase Two: Editing Text and Image for the Imprint
Next, we gather all of the texts from the live performance — poems, lyrics, essays, skits, scripts. If a performance did not have words — such as dance or instrumental music — then we ask the artists to provide us with a written statement about the work and its connection to our performance theme, their process in making the work, and their personal connection to it.
Our editorial team spends a lot of effort creating a visual harmony with the texts and graphics. We edit for legibility and for beauty. We add graphic elements, photos and the documents culled from the performance itself — a stained “Run of Show” and a sheet of paper on which an artist had written out her poem by hand.
Editing is a slow process — We release one PerformX Documents imprint every quarter — about the same time as the next performance event.
PerformX Documents: Phase Three: Artists Talks
After we have sent the imprint to press and it’s ready for release and sale, we invite all of the contributors to that volume to join Derek Denckla for an Artist Talk.
Artist Talks are usually scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays on Instagram Live, usually at 5:00 pm PST — so that East Coast viewers don’t have to tune in too late in the evening.
Our Artist Talks explore how the artist’s work relates to the theme of the overall event. Sometimes the artist will recite all or part of the artwork or we will play some of the audio recordings from the Live Audio Podcast. We analyze the artwork together, discussing how the elements in the work relate to their larger concerns and long-term interests. I ask the artists how they practice their craft and how they maintain a creative practice.
The Artist Talks helps us all get to know each other better, delve into the deeper investigation of the character of the artwork, and solidify our connections to a growing community of artists interested in developing a performance practice in the art spaces Los Angeles.
Please take a look, listen and a read to our PerformX Documents
We sincerely hope that you listen to our Live Audio Podcasts, purchase our imprint, PerformX Documents and watch our Artist Talks — either during our live stream on Instagram or, later, here on Substack. Please consider supporting our artist-led platform that presents and promotes emerging practices in live performance in Los Angeles. Paid Subscribers get all the imprints for free, mailed to their door. Thanks for taking a look at Praxinoscope Substack platform. We hope that you will return again and again.
Best, Derek Denckla
Editor+ Curator
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