Loony in the Sky
Loony in the Sky with DJs extended remix installation
A meeting between art and club music is taking place in Prästgården (the Vicarage, transl. note) – without a single sound. The Norwegian artist Tor Magnus Lundeby expresses the ideas and concepts, dimensions and variations of club music in visual form in his installation. The project is a remix of one of his own paintings, “Loony in the Sky with DJ’s”. That is to say, a new version of an original, in analogy with club culture’s as bold as experimental treatment of original music.
In the same way as it can be difficult to catch an “original track” in a remix in music, it is also difficult to do so in Tor Magnus Lundeby’s project. And neither is it the main thing – either in club music or in Lundeby’s art. The installation should not be seen as a straight development from an original to abstractions of it, the artist points out, he would rather we move freely back and forth between the different parts. Club music developed in a subculture in the early 90’s and included music such as house, ambient and techno, and had its epicentre in London and New York. Characteristic of club culture is that DJ’s and music producers create the creative expression. Through their skill original music revives in a new version – a remix – and fills the dance floors. Club culture has now reached a wider audience, and that, in his own mind, also makes Tor Magnus Lundeby’s work more accessible than it would have been for example three years ago. Lundeby’s project contains new visual forms of the painting “Loony in the Sky with DJ’s” as well as of the Berlin based record label Bungalow.
Bungalow is run by two enthusiasts travelling around the world discovering more or less unknown talented DJ’s, producers and musicans. The label’s focus on experimental and polished garage music is another example of the countless varieties within the club genre. Its graphic symbol as well as the label’s focus on an exclusive and almost non-commercial style of music awakened Lundeby’s interest in Bungalow. Apart from the original work “The Bungalow Wall of More or Less Fame”, eight monochrome paintings, two so called turntables (the DJ’s table where the record players are placed), a small motorway with lorries on it, a hotel for CD’s, a record shop with self-service and a homepage, are included in the installation. “The Bungalow Wall of More or Less Fame” is composed of 150 “portraits” of producers, musicians, and DJ’s who are connected to Bungalow. Here are among others “Helene Love”, “Havanna Exotica” and Swedish “Doktor Kosmos” floating on small clouds in a light blue space. The monochrome paintings on the opposite wall are an extension of the colours in Bungalow’s symbol and recur in several places in the installation.
The CD-hotel is a “remix” of a CD-shelf and a Japanese so called box-hotel. The backs of the CD-collections have been transformed into velvet stripes on the shelves; ready to take in records for the night or longer. In the room there are also two objects resembling the twin towers on Manhattan, New York, as well as to the turntables of the club world. The motorway is an imaginary way for Tor Magnus Lundeby’s different projects and also for his personal taste in music.
The record shop is a “self-service DJ-shop”, a shop with self-service for DJ’s and other collectors. Here the audience can browse through fanzines and with the help of the home page can travel along a motorway to visit different record companies. Tor Magnus Lundeby’s multiple is also for sale here; a CD customarily presented in an attractive case. But this time the CD is as attractive as it is unplayable, it is a disc made of thick transparent blue plastic. This strange thing contains the fundamental idea of the installation: the remix of club music in the artist’s version.