Katherine Liberovskaya remembers Phill Niblock on the day that would be his 91st birthday through a selection of video-audio works they created together over their 22 year relationship. Plus, a musical interlude featuring Niblock's field recording work.

A 3-part evening.

 

(All video by Katherine Liberovskaya and sound/music by Phill Niblock except Wind Waves / Rumble Mumble where soundtrack is by Niblock + Francisco Janes)

 

Part 1

Peindre La Peinture / Painting the Painting (2002-2003) - 15:30

Four-Wheel Drive (2008) - 5:00

Tilting at Windmills (2015) - 9:00

 

Part 2

David Watson live music set.

​

David Watson on electric guitar improvising with Phill Niblock''s field recording materials that Phill wanted him to have a copy of to use at his discretion (copied to David at the hospital the day before he died (!))

 

Watson remembers: "I went to Big Ears with Phill and Katherine. A very memorable trip, with Phill’s almost insatiable appetite for a going out to shows at all hours. Among other pieces in a two-hour program we did this piece, with Katherine showing live video, me playing guitar and Phill playing his field recordings. I couldn’t get over how enthused he was by it all. So much fun. Stopping and starting files. Play two at once. Changing the volumes. Reacting. He was loving it."

 

Part 3:

LockStorm (2020) - 13:25

Wind Waves / Rumble Mumble (2023) - 22:00

 

--

​

Katherine Liberovskaya

Katherine Liberovskaya is a Canadian intermedia artist based in NYC. Involved in experimental video since the 80's, she has produced numerous single-channel video art pieces, video installations and video performances, as well as works in other media, that have been shown around the world. Since 2001 her work predominantly focuses on the intersection of moving image with sound/music in various both ephemeral and fixed forms (projections, installations, performances), notably through collaborations with many composers and sound artists in improvised live video+sound concert situations where her live visuals seek to create improvisatory "music" for the eyes. For over 22 years she collaborated with composer/intermedia artist Phill Niblock on various live, video and installation projects. Other frequent collaborators include: Dafna Naphtali, Keiko Uenishi, Shelley Hirsch, Barbara Held, Mia Zabelka, Al Margolis (IF,BWANA), David Watson, among many others. In addition to her art work she curates events in experimental video/film, sound/music and A/V performance, notably the yearly Screen Compositions evenings at EI NYC since 2005 and, since 2006 the OptoSonic Tea salons (co-curated with Ursula Scherrer) in NYC and various nomadic locations in North America and Europe as well as on-line during the Covid pandemic. In 2014 she completed a PhD in art practice entitled "Improvisatory Live Visuals: Playing Images Like a Musical Instrument" at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). She is currently the artistic director of Experimental Intermedia NYC.

 

David Watson

David Watson is a guitarist, bagpiper and all-around music person. Originally from New Zealand, he has lived and worked in New York City since 1987. His work comes out of the practice of improvisation but includes composition and also curating and organizing. He has worked intensively, performing and recording with a wide range of extraordinary artists including Chris Abrahams, Robert Ashley, Frisner Augustin, Tony Buck, Che Chen, Frode Gjerstad, Shelley Hirsch, Chris Mann, Christian Marclay, Sean Meehan, Phill Niblock, Ikue Mori, Bill Nace, Andrea Parkins, Lee Ranaldo, Marc Ribot, Yasunao Tone, John Zorn, $75 Bill, amongst many others. With his bagpipe work has sought to create a new vocabulary and context for the instrument. For many years he worked closely with composer Phill Niblock, creating several pieces together, notably Bag (2015) and Exploratory (2021). The trio Glacial is his long-standing collaboration with two acclaimed collaborators, Lee Ranaldo and Tony Buck. Always drawn to drawn to the wild combinations of order and disorder inherent in processions and parades, he has created new experimental works for this form, including for two marching pipe-bands in Hobart, Australia, a musical game piece for brass performed in an empty storage facility in Los Angeles, and a sonic progress through the city of Wellington, N.Z.