Tetraphonics: Lea Bertucci's Quadraphonic Cello
A live concert recording of Lea Bertucci’s Quadraphonic Cello, an instrument outfitted with a customized pickup designed specially for 4-channel sound. Noise rather than pitch dominates the aesthetic approach, with texture and timbre in the foreground. Interdisciplinary artist and avant-garde cellist MV Carbon performs the composition by Bertucci, with programming by Tommy Martinez.
This performance was part of the Clocktower's March 2016 Tetraphonics event presented in collaboration with Lea Bertucci at Pioneer Works where four artists explored quadraphonic sound and its mesmeric effects in performance alongside 4-channel video work.
An instrument, multichannel installation, and platform for audio-visual composition, the Quadraphonic Cello re-imagines a classical cello as a vehicle for surround sound. A customized pickup using piezo-electric component technology is attached directly to each of the four strings. When the cellist bows, plucks or taps, four discrete signals are produced and routed to a quadraphonic array of speakers. Developed through the Harvestworks New Works Fellowship, this instrument is a three dimensional musical apparatus tailored to multi-channel composition and the sculpting of acoustic space.
Lea Bertucci is an American sound artist, composer and performer whose work incorporates acoustic phenomena, biological resonance, multi-channel speaker arrays, electroacoustic feedback, extended instrumental/vocal technique, and tape collage. As an instrumentalist, she uses an idiosyncratic approach to the amplification of woodwind instruments, creating organic yet electrified sonic interventions.
MV Carbon is a New York City-based, interdisciplinary artist and composer. Her work is comprised of sound, installation, projection, and performance. Embracing a non-traditional approach to music, she plays cello, amplified objects, vocals and crafted instruments through circuits and electronics, analog synthesizers and oscillators.
Recordings by Alex Thompson in partnership with Harvestworks.
RELATED PROGRAMS
Clocktower Exhibits & Events
RADIO SERIES
Clocktower Exhibits & Events is home to an archive of interviews with artists, curators, musicians, organizers, and more who have participated in Clocktower exhibitions and events throughout our organization’s history.
Many of the below recordings were documented while Clocktower was in the midst of a transformation. The original name, The Clocktower Gallery, was given to the exhibition, residency, and performance space in TriBeCa, founded by alternative spaces movement pioneer Alanna Heiss in 1972. After 2001, the Clocktower Gallery re-inaugurated its exhibition programming in 2005 as part of MoMA/PS1 and, after 2008, under the auspices of Art International Radio. In 2013, we moved on from our downtown Manhattan location, and have since renamed the organization Clocktower Productions, a title which encompasses our radio, exhibition, and event programming.
For more Clocktower history, listen to The Clocktower Oral History Project, in which such figures as Vito Acconci, Bill Beirne, Colette, Jeffrey Deitch, Mary Heilmann, Jene Highstein, Ann Magnuson, Richard Nonas and Joel Shapiro reflect upon their experiences with this unique New York space. Organized by artist Nancy Hwang for the Fall 2009 AVANT-GUIDE TO NYC: Discovering Absence exhibition at apexart.
NB: Clocktower Radio was launched by MoMA/PS1 in 2004 as the Web's first art radio station. It has been independent since 2009 and is licensed to host content created under PS1 management. Programs produced prior to 2011 may refer to our earlier URLs and station IDs, including WPS1.org, artonair.org, and Art International Radio. For the complete history of Clocktower Radio, read our Mission & History section.
more Many of the below recordings were documented while Clocktower was in the midst of a transformation. The original name, The Clocktower Gallery, was given to the exhibition, residency, and performance space in TriBeCa, founded by alternative spaces movement pioneer Alanna Heiss in 1972. After 2001, the Clocktower Gallery re-inaugurated its exhibition programming in 2005 as part of MoMA/PS1 and, after 2008, under the auspices of Art International Radio. In 2013, we moved on from our downtown Manhattan location, and have since renamed the organization Clocktower Productions, a title which encompasses our radio, exhibition, and event programming.
For more Clocktower history, listen to The Clocktower Oral History Project, in which such figures as Vito Acconci, Bill Beirne, Colette, Jeffrey Deitch, Mary Heilmann, Jene Highstein, Ann Magnuson, Richard Nonas and Joel Shapiro reflect upon their experiences with this unique New York space. Organized by artist Nancy Hwang for the Fall 2009 AVANT-GUIDE TO NYC: Discovering Absence exhibition at apexart.
NB: Clocktower Radio was launched by MoMA/PS1 in 2004 as the Web's first art radio station. It has been independent since 2009 and is licensed to host content created under PS1 management. Programs produced prior to 2011 may refer to our earlier URLs and station IDs, including WPS1.org, artonair.org, and Art International Radio. For the complete history of Clocktower Radio, read our Mission & History section.
