[spectre] missed this?: On archiving, digitizing and collecting sound works: MEMORABILIA. COLLECTING SOUNDS WITH... Kees Tazeelar. Part I

[Radio Web MACBA]

*missed this?: MEMORABILIA. COLLECTING SOUNDS WITH... Kees Tazeelar. Part I*

Link: http://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/memorabilia_kees_tazeelar/capsula
Playlist: http://rwm.macba.cat/uploads/20130311/Memorabilia_Kees_eng.pdf

Produced by Roc Jiménez de Cisneros and Rubén Patiño

For several years, Kees Tazelaar (1962) has been the head of one of
Europe’s most important electroacoustic music archives, but he shies away
from the label collector. As he explains, his interests are informational
rather than exclusive, and he has more of an archaeological urge than an
urge to completion.

Tazelaar's artistic and academic career is closely linked to the
prestigious Institute of Sonology in the Netherlands, one of
longest-running research and production hubs on the European
electroacoustic music scene. The Institute, which has been based at the
Royal Conservatory of The Hague since 1986, was born from the ashes of the
Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven in 1967, and inherited an
extensive collection of tapes by electronic music pioneers in the
Netherlands. As a result, the archive is an interesting snapshot of the
burst of activity and experimentation that took place mid-century – not
just in the Netherlands but also in many other studios around the world –
under the auspices of universities and private labs (Bell, IBM, Philips),
during a fascinating period of transition in which industry research into
acoustics mingled with the early milestones of electronic music.

A composer and teacher (lecturer in Sonology since 1993 and Director of the
Institute since 2006), Kees is also known for his work on the restoration
and conservation of essential works of twentieth century electronic music.
He has participated in reconstructions of works by Gottfried Michael
Koenig, Jan Boerman (who taught him composition), Iannis Xenakis, György
Ligety and Luctor Ponse, although his star project remains Edgar Varèse's
'Poème Électronique'. As an artist, restorer, administrator of the Sonology
archive, and an expert in all things related to the history of the
legendary 1958 Philips Pavilion, in this interview Tazelaar discusses the
challenges of restoration, the limits of intervention and the concept of
artistic responsibility in reconstructions, the importance of the medium
and its maintenance, and digitalisation. And although he inevitably ends up
circling back to the word collection every now and then, there’s no doubt
that he uses it in the open rather than restrictive sense. Tazelaar’s
approach is ultimately pedagogical, closer to the test tube or the
microscope than the butterfly net or auction house. As we can see from
ambitious restoration projects such as 'Popular Electronics: Early Dutch
Electronic Music From Philips Research Laboratories' (1956 - 1963), his
2004 four-CD project that unearthed forgotten and unreleased works by the
pioneers of early Dutch electronic music, Tazelaar does not stop at
creation and dissemination, he also sets up links between generations which
would otherwise probably remain cut off from each other.

You can find the complete series here:
http://rwm.macba.cat/en/memorabilia_tag/

You may also be interested in the following podcasts:
*MEMORABILIA. COLLECTING SOUNDS WITH... Kenneth Goldsmith. Part I *
Kenneth Goldsmith, founder of Ubuweb, takes us on a journey through his
personal history as a collector of sounds that spans from his childhood to
adult life and the creation of Ubuweb.
Link: http://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/memorabilia_kenneth_goldsmith/capsula
*SON[I]A #168. Wolfgang Ernst* reflects on the possibility of going beyond
the concept of the archive by exploring some of the practices around what
is now being called the 'anarchive'.
Link: http://rwm.macba.cat/en/sonia/wolfgang_ernst/capsula

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