steve roden: oionos

A note from Lawrence English: "I can't tell you the first time I heard, or heard about, the work of Steve Roden. In my mind he has always been there, inspiring and surprising in equal amounts. Steve's work is utterly personal, quietly provocative, and quite simply spellbinding. Operating between installation, collage, electronics, improvisation and fine art, Steve has carved out a profoundly individual and porous approach to his art practice . . . Steve Roden's work is a poetic recital of sound in time and a celebration of the wonders of sound unfolding, moment to moment, and accumulating in our collective memory. This edition celebrates him, and Oionos captures his acoustic methodologies in full. The accompanying book acts as a disparate map, charting out the many facets of Steve Roden. It includes artworks, images, documents, and texts from Steve, as well as an essay from his long-time collaborator Stephen Vitiello. The edition also features an interview conducted by Robert Takahashi Crouch." Notes from Steve Roden: "Oionos was created for the exhibition The Grand Promenade, in Athens, Greece. The exhibition took place in various archaeological and historical sites in central Athens, creating a situation for contemporary site-specific works to be in dialogue with their historical surroundings. While it was not originally offered as a possible site, I pleaded with the curator to allow me to work with architect Dimitris Pikionis's Church of St. Dimitris Loumbardiardis, about a ten-minute walk from the main path of the Grand Promenade. Pikionis designed the original promenade which is still visible in several areas, but much of the area's original designs were altered during the 'restoration' before the 2004 Olympics . . . When I first saw the small church it totally took my breath away, and I immediately began to think about a work that could exist in resonance with it -- but not distract from it . . . The audio was built from field recordings and small 'poor' objects such as tin whistles, toy harmonicas, and the like. These 'instruments' suggested by the museum of musical instruments in Athens, where the proper instruments take up most of the museum, but there is a wonderful display case in the basement with musical toys, religious objects, and other sounding devices not considered musical instruments. I felt that these simple things related to Pikionis's ideas about architecture and craft, and his interests in indigenous culture in conjunction with intellectual and modern culture. I felt there could be a relationship."