Conceptual Artist and Musician Ted Riederer to Make BAM Debut with NEVER RECORDS

New York-based conceptual artist and musician Ted Riederer makes his BAM artistic debut by exploring the social significance of record shops, vinyl lathe cuts, and recording studios with his site-specific project, Never Records. With a nod to Fluxus, Alan Kaprow's happenings, Alan Lomax, Harry Smith, and the collectivism of 80s and 90s DC punk scene, Never Records embodies Riederer's mission to build and galvanize communities based on the act of listening, and the visualization of sound. The BAM 2020 exhibition marks the 10th anniversary of the project which has recorded artists and citizens from around the globe including Liverpool, Derry, London, Lisbon, New Orleans, Victoria (Texas), Kansas City, and Amman (Jordan).

Never Records will convert The Rudin Family Gallery into a multi-use hub for creating connections and celebrating community through recorded sound. Throughout the exhibition community members and performers are invited to sign up for three-hour recording sessions during which they can record anything they choose-whether it be a song, a poem, a story, an instrumental work or any sound imaginable. During each session Riederer imparts what he calls the "transcendental science" of cutting a vinyl record, as well as leading participants on a mediation of the visualization of sound. At the close of each session, the performer leaves with a freshly cut vinyl record, along with a digital file, of their piece.

Each recording then goes into the stacks of the "record shop" where the public can experience both old and new Never Records recordings. Gallery visitors can also view the unique artwork in the shop which is designed to mimic a long-operating record store while watching performances being recorded and cut live.

A "one-time refugee from punk and sometime band member," Ted Riedererhas armed himself with painting supplies, electric guitars, amplifiers, old LPs, record players, drum kits, hard disk recorders,photography equipment, a vinyl record lathe, and long-stemmed roses as he's ambled artistically from the Americas to the Antipodes. His work has been shown nationally and internationally including exhibitions at PS1, Prospect 1.5, Goff and Rosenthal Berlin, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, Jack Hanley Gallery (San Francisco), Marianne Boesky Gallery, Context Gallery (Derry, Ireland), David Winton Bell Gallery (Brown University), The University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, the Liverpool Biennial, and the Dhaka Arts Center, Bangladesh. His Never Recordsproject has traveled to Liverpool, Derry, New Orleans, Texas, Amman, Kansas City, and London (sponsored by the Tate Modern).

Ted Riederer is the artistic director of Howl! Happening: An Arturo Vega Project, non-profit gallery/performance space/archivein the East Village. The New York Timeshas described Howl! Happening as, "Instrumental to the history of the area." Howl! Happening's thriving publishing imprint A/P/E has included essays byAi Wei Wei, Carlo McCormick,Dan Cameron, Anthony Haden-Guest, Robert Nickas, Michelle Grabner, Michael Musto, C. Carr, and James Wolcott.

Information:

Never Records

Ted Riederer

The Rudin Family Gallery at BAM Strong

(651 Fulton St)

Jan 15-Mar 15 Wed-Sun, 10am-6pm, (and one hour before shows in the Harvey Theater)

Recording sessions 10am -1pm (Wed -Sun) and 2pm -5pm (Wed -Fri) Opening reception, Jan 13 at 6pm Free