Charlemagne Palestine "Body Work"

'At an early stage Charlemagne Palestine came to the conclusion that traditional musical composition methods were too aloof and vague, less tangible than within the visual arts. Through electronic music he came to Body Music wherein the sound stands in a close relationship with the physical activities of its producer. He learned to deal with sound as an object in time and space, a resonance produced in an exchange between the artist and his environment. Just as in improvised music the division between artist and executor disappears. In Evolution of a sonority and arpeggio style for Bösendorfer speed are translated into sound during a process of one hour. Also his voice is employed as an ideal medium. The actual Body Performances arose out of a need to to let bodily impulses play an ever greater role. The surrounding space is actively used through running in circles and bumping into walls, activities which deeply influence the character of the simultaneously produced sounds. During a performance in Villa Medici in Rome, Palestine ran through the rooms with a video camera on his shoulder, singing as he constantly increased his speed, thus producing an unusual relationship between image and sound. Physical limitations such as fatigue and shortage of breath are influential. The endless repetition of a tone, sound as a fountain - always identical but moving nevertheless as he himself says - is akin to the Minimal Music of Reich and Glass; however it distinguishes itself in that the nature of the sound is strongly determined by the physique of the producer and the different performance situations.' (Frank Gribling, invitation De Appel, May 1977.)