NELLY KATE — STUDIO ARTIST

Expanded practice in sound treating access as a site for poetic translation.


CONTENTS

01 The Difference

02 nowisthe
03 Nevermind
04 FutureFluid

05 [Untitled] 6 Cylinders

06 I Hear You, But I Can’t Hear You
07 Transistors in Translation

08 ~~~~~”...derelict in uncharted space...”
09 pink moon

10 Into the Ground, Into the Body


STATEMENT

My work is motivated by care and a desire to make space for public imagination. I’m interested in ad-hoc solutions that create a sense of belonging. This can look like on-the-fly audio descriptions, live captions, provisional structures, and rearrangements of furniture.

My materials and methods are reflexive. I gravitate toward lo-fi mechanisms—such as reel-to-reel tape loops, transistor radios, photocopiers, and electronic synthesizers—because they reveal electromagnetic frequencies all around us. Their fluttering textures are like our complex embodiments, sensed differently by every being, from every position, in every moment.

For the last few years, I’ve made a lot of furniture, speakers, and screens with repurposed steel barrels. I like the labor, engineering, improvisation, care, and slowness this requires. I like the body-memory evident in the wear, tear, and filth.  And anyway, I believe our budgets reflect our values and I’d much rather pay people than generate more trash.

What if we have everything we need?


The objects I make set the stage for experiences that invite connection, drift, rest, and a relinquishment of clock time. When all these factors converge, I call that ecstatic magic and that’s what I strive for in my practice.


︎    ︎    ︎


H0ME • BIO • CV • ︎
NELLY KATE 07 — JAN 2022

TRANSISTORS IN TRANSLATION

MINT MUSEUM 




In preparing for this show, I wanted to pay homage to some of the devices and methods used by artists featured in the parallel film screening, Sisters with Transistors. The performance is comprised of long-form samples that were recorded and arranged using the following:
• ARP 2600
• 6 transistor radios
• 20+ music boxes
• Korg Minilogue
• Field recordings
• Stereoscope & Marantz tape decks

Two of the mixes were dubbed to tape and two to captioned videos presented behind me on stage. These source sounds were presented with live vocals and tape loops. The performance was the live blending, affecting, and arranging of these elements. This approach lends itself to chance and improvisation, which are core to my work. The audience was invited to mask up and come up to the edge of the stage to experience the tape loop up close and discover vibrating pools of water, affected by the music. 

Music becoming simple as the wind—traveling everywhere. We are listening to each other. —Maryanne Amacher



SPECIAL THANKS
Michelle Flowers, Nicole Driscoll, Jeff Jackson, Doug Davis, Scott Thompson, Brent Delventhal, Doug Jones, Annie Meyer, and my family.