Ari St Gallen DRAFT by Roma Publications

Ari Marcopoulos Upstream

Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen Roma Publications Roma Publications

Ari Marcopoulos Upstream

Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen 21.05.– 07.08.2022

ROMA 424

Ari Marcopoulos Upstream

The prints re-photographed in this book are the actual objects that will appear in the exhibition Upstream at Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen from May to August, 2022. I made these prints at home with a pigment printer. The process of printing was in many ways a continuation of the period of isolation in which most of the images were photographed. There were brief moments of collective events like the protests following the murder of George Floyd by the police and the celebrations in the streets of my neighborhood in Brooklyn after the election of Joseph Biden, but these were exceptions. As is my usual way of looking for images, I roam thru the work on my computer in a haphazard way, intuitively selecting what to print. In this way the editing process mimics the act of taking the photographs, leaving room for spontaneity and even mistakes. It also allows me to reflect upon my different moods as I am roaming. The approach was not chronological or at all logical and during my search I came upon a few images from the recent past that I included as a tribute to the way memories can offer a sense of strength and also longing. Sometimes I am tempted to try and explain why I chose a certain image, but the decisions often happen so quickly that words seem to defy the instantaneity of the photograph. The work in this book are all memories now. AM, March 2022

Title of Text by Giovanni Carmine Is atem estior sera dolupta tquunt id es quat as etus, nis ea dolla vent vitati utem doluptate posaecto odiatest, sit eos exceari onsecab iusam doluptat excerate aboreprendi commo imustem quodit omnihil int ape sum ipis molorum quis que porat ulloreptam rerate eaque res molorup tassect ionseque volupta quides dolorepe dolut undicim usdanimet qui verum quas eum quos et quidebis volorib usamus qui quo is alique voloribus coneceatis velitatiume pra dolent aruptae modio berumquat voluptate mo in res eos aut plissite ni ommo voluptatia nullab is nosam re nos et ma volum eume dis es dolore, iusa solecae. Itassim uscieni ssuntempor alis mi, sa sit, sinveli quamus ut eost peditibus deni utatur, quuntur, sinvelit estia num fugitis truntem porporatur? Inullenihil evendit, simintis voluptas molorep udignis aut qui aut quam enem rem everchicab imagnis dolori corruptae nat. Rate nobita sint audi volesse quiatia ndicae nis magnimet essim incia cullora tiantios auda que pliquiaero milita suntium aligentem fugia nam, volorent lacepre pudipsum vid el int laborer untiuntiores nis utas et eum nem nis dolupti anisimp orehent ipsus doluptat licatur amendis si doleniet res dia dero omnia nem fugiatur, ipsundiatur, con eum et vent, omnis ut qui aut fugitin toritatibus remporem ariam dolorum doluptus inist enimus. Et eatur abor simus, quod mincit verat qui ut ius siminul paribus res dus reperioreped quae. Odignimus acipsunt enimper aepudictur rectur sa delendam vitiumetur reriossi aliquidunti restorest, que comnihi llaborest ius et prehend iscillabo. Ut por aut eos rate restrum abores dolestiunt harcimo lorrovi dipsaperem am aspid qui consecaessin pedit fugitam quo te recuptatent et quaepuditat eate nam hillant isquate mquatur eptur? Dam aut aut dolum, con comnihit ex est, aut apiet officitam nim assitatis sequaecto qui con et endit, ipient doluptas aut alique ma volum cuptatemquis et quisque platis sequia adio ommolum intios quae consedit escitiuntis nemolorepel endi quam, qui bea dolo quaturibusam nonsedi psanitiae ommodi blab il ma pla necaboreria quatian digendit dolore voluptatquas eos siment molupitate natis essim quodis re exerum rehenimi, solupta quiam quunt ma sinusap elluptae pra sum quam eum ent faccullibus, eum eume nus sin prerro omniminctem et ut velecea rciunt exeribusam ero quiderunt. Us, quatur? Uptatquo blabore sciliquis alique enimos aliquiaturi omnis nihitat peliquistion endelesedi volupta atiberumetur sitat quibeaque nonsequam venient iatusandi quiatia ssequi doluptam fugitis ex et distrument re la nonsequas volorerrum, nonsequibus inihillaut int restiis nonsequ ament, nest omnihil ea secaectus ea consequos untiscit aute in con cor sam et iumquassus excerum hiciende alignima dicit magnis maxim utat. Cuptiis exerum velibus magnim fuga. Lit exerepti verate enitatem net volluptate et, te con pos conseni hilique nisitatem dus autem nonet am alit eum, nobisciam rem veliquis nis as mo invent quo blab ium ab iliatemquis parchilibus atemodit quisinv ellate nusamen dempor aut derferro que et mod mil magnisq uibero te dunt, con et estibus sunt. Harumquide cum que sanihicia plabo. Nam et, inihicia voluptio cuscipsam, consequo voloratius quo que qui occaectem faceritatum ario deliqui doles deliqua errorestint facernaturis aut harum doluptatur aut harumquid utestiur aut esequibus, nam, culluptas dolo coreprae. Itatiostem eost quia ducia es sit, sint a sum si nonsequi aperate apero quodi cus volo eveliqui coreruptaspe vel mincium fugitas iscid maiorit, aut omniet ut laborestio doluptae cone lab ipsam inulparum ditatur sunt que provitat. Nos que mi, totatquidi rerciur, con plignim secum corrum faceperunt et, sitissequis enimi, sum quae volessu sandae. Essit et qui tem. Puda vera quiandandis ut isitatem idem eicae doloressum erovid es excea dolestium es maximol orepellaut ommo temo ex ea doluptatur sam unt ut archit quos dolorehenem quam nem que voluptias ut 41

ressitet doluptatem est, ium quae nissitaque ommodit adi omnima consenitatur auta voluptis acepero vitias eum quibus excearchicae et di que sam quia prestiur? Andamus evellan destemolendi ipist, simos exped quam simillu ptaest am fugianimus, sincim alit abo. Serrovi tatem. Ut quatem ad entore nis et, tempos et offic tem aut occum duciisquam dem eseque et elis porehen ditatem ut faccaborum que maximet min rerum quunt aut exeremp eritate odi ut aut experibus et odion nossinus doluptis dis et fugit laut ex et, que comni rem fugit est, nimillu ptatio. Nam, autat porepta quiaspiendem hillat pores eicitiberiam repro bea perum nullorpore consendae quat quaectiat prae pa voluptatur, quae voluptat re, eates ut accae porecum re porro qui to offic totatib usant, ut apis dolescimetur mint quam, inctur aut fugite velenis simoluptate veliandelit erum fugiand ucidempos aut quam volupti orerciet ent laut ipsape voloreptiis et dolupiene doluptiam, con pa volupti uscimincta am est adit asperferae explistis vendam, volent volum dolestotat que lacerae core, omnihitas excepedia parioritae por molupta temqui disim volorernam es ellorpos eiur ma ilit maximo mossimus, velis verfera pos simus et abo. Nem faccae. Hent ut magnat aut faceped mo to moluptatet lique debit, omnimus, quam et es sunto conet re velesciunt ped utecerfero ipic tectis adia quam ne quia consequi doluptatur? Osam qui toressi dolum accum, sediore modioressit essumendae in conet adis aut fugit eaquas alit esedio. Ut vendi dolum facea quo modis consedi cimincilique voluptio. Otam, con reribusae comnis rempos eum intemperum, aut apisquist, omnis exerundit, iliatem abo. Otat endamus.

Alone Together a film by Ari Marcopoulos and Joe McPhee

The video Alone Together was commisioned in 2021 by LAXART in Los Angeles. For the better part of its life, LAXART’s building was a recording studio. Home to Golden Sound Studios, Studio 56, and the legendary Radio Recorders, a veritable Who’s Who of musical talent has passed through its doors. Alone Together, featuring trumpeter/ saxophonist Joe McPhee as filmed by photographer Ari Marcopoulos, reinstates the gallery’s role as a recording facility. The following text, by LAXART director Hamza Walker, was originally written for that occassion.

To Weep with Anger by Hamza Walker Alone Together is a lean 25-minute video documenting a poetry reading and alto saxophone performance by McPhee, whose solo work, within the history of avant-garde jazz and improvised music, is canonical. McPhee is a consummate improviser. And while the performance is improvised, there are key phrasings and gestural flourishes serving as refrains that structure the piece, which runs a gamut of emotions, its beauty and lyricism sprouting from aggression and vice versa. Set in an empty gallery, the video is marked by a transparency of means as its three cameras not only capture McPhee but the barebones production apparatus—microphones, camera operators, and a brief glimpse of the gallery staff, which doubled as a meager live studio audience. There are many facets to Marcopoulos’s practice. A New York denizen since 1980, Marcopoulos (b. 1957) is perhaps best known for chronicling hip hop’s early days. Although it was never his intention, he went on to become a much sought after editorial photographer, covering the worlds of music, fashion, and art and their intersection. Rather than him looking for the work, the work often found him. He is drawn to sites of creativity and expression, with New York’s streets being an extremely fertile cultural petri dish. While the streets may compel Marcopoulos at times to be a street photographer, at its core, his is a diary practice, a tell-tale sign being the date stamp gracing much of his work. His subject is ultimately whatever captures his attention, wherever he may find himself. In short, his subject is life; it just so happens to be a life hopelessly enmeshed within the fabric of culture, high and low, popular and underground. Portraiture is a mainstay of Marcopoulos’s work and Alone Together is a prime example. Marcopoulos used a three camera setup while doing all the hand-held, close-up work himself. He is a big fan of the music, and it shows. He anticipated the performance’s peaks and valleys, gauging when to exploit such intimate access to his subject. In a game of come and go, Marcopoulos witnessed the performance’s most intense moments at point-blank range, soaking up the textures of both performer and performance, from McPhee’s moans, growls, and beads of sweat to the nimble fingering of the horn’s keys. McPhee is a stalwart tenor man. Upon learning Charlie Parker had recorded here, though, he thought the performance called for an alto. As for the make of saxophone, the white-and-orange polycarbonate Vibrato was no doubt a choice inspired by Ornette Coleman, who played a plastic saxophone to much notoriety. All this to say, McPhee stands on very broad musical shoulders. And he’d be the first to humbly acknowledge this. A long time Poughkeepsie native, McPhee (b. 1939) began his career as a trumpeter in a milieu where the figures brokering the advent of Free Jazz in the late 50s and early 60s were still highly active. McPhee took up the tenor saxophone in the late 60s after hearing Albert Ayler, a seminal figure whose playing expanded the tenor saxophone’s range so as to encompass screeches, squeals, shrieks, honks, and multiphonics above and beyond its traditional register. A bulwark of Free Jazz, this expanded technique was a fitting expression of the depth and magnitude of anger, grief, longing, and sorrow that accompanied aspirations for systemic change. It is, likewise, a standard part of McPhee’s vocabulary, being redrafted into service as the present demands.

157

Alone Together is named for a poem written by McPhee and recited in the video’s opening minutes. While the title’s immediate reference is to a collective isolation engendered by the pandemic, the poem itself is an invective whose sentiments are fueled by COVID’s death toll. It is a scathing indictment of the Trump administration, to the degree that the virus and the presidency are referenced interchangeably throughout the poem. The poem begins “On a day the world stood still / it arrived in the dead of winter / ushered in on a cold wind from hell.” It is not until a few lines later, when McPhee references “Morning in America,” the slogan for Ronald Reagan’s 1984 presidential campaign, that it becomes clear that winter as a season not only marked the arrival of the virus but also Trump’s inauguration. With or without COVID, under the auspices of Trump, Reagan’s morning in America has become mourning in America. The poem’s directness renders it a précis announcing a performance taking up the task of mourning. Courtesy of its integral connection to breathing, the saxophone already lends itself to a rhetoric of the soul. Abiding by these notions, McPhee grounds the performance in breath. But here, the essence of life is at the service of singing of and for the dead. McPhee’s brusque and strained vocalizing cannot help but come across as a form of channeling, his horn an instrument for all the souls who, unable to be in the presence of loved ones at the time of their death, “began their journey to forever / alone together.“

158

163

165

167

169

171

173

175

177

Noise A

179

Noise B

181

Noise C

183

Noise D

185

Noise E

187

Noise F

189

Noise G

191

193

195

197

199

201

203

205

207

209

211

213

215

Nova Scotia

217

219

221

223

225

227

229

231

235

Pink Siifu

237

A reduced version of the following text by Hamza Walker has been previously published in French by Numéro in 2018. https://www.numero.com/fr/ photographie/ari-marcopoulos-ainsi-soit-il-so-be-itnumero-art-paris-photo-sol-lewitt-noir-et-blanc-onkawara-sunrise-and-sunset-at-praiano

Ari Now by Hamza Walker USA Today debuted in 1982 and distinguished itself from The New York Times on every conceivable count—style, substance, demographics, and, last but not least, graphic design. Aimed at a more general readership, its national coverage did not privilege a coastal vantage point, one presumed to be the province of any and all elites. And its articles on average read three grades lower than those of The Times. Most telling, however, was its look. USA Today boldly embraced color, color photography in particular. When it came to transitioning to color, newspapers were something of a holdout relative to film and television. For newspapers, printing in black and white was a cost decision which, in turn, became a convention-cum-aesthetic. Journalism, like the facts on which it is presumably based, was a black and white affair, one whose sobriety distinguished it from the fields of commerce and entertainment. This distinction was actually highlighted within newspapers themselves, where color was reserved for coupons and the funny pages. Unconsciously or not, newspapers had drawn a color line around and within themselves, a line USA Today decidedly and decisively crossed, making it a paper that a readership of The Times’s ilk was loathe to take seriously. As a standard bearer, The Times has always been inherently slow to adopt change, even slower where color photography was concerned, given how much it defined USA Today’s identity. Market research conducted at that time, however, suggests that USA Today was ahead of the curve. By 1982, the question of adopting color photography was one of “when” not “if.” Eleven years later, The New York Times began phasing in color photography gradually, from the inside out. By the time color photography reached the cover on Thursday, October 16, 1997, The Times was one of the last major newspapers to give up the ghost of black-and-white. The era of small black-and-white print photography lingered on in the fine arts for several more years before digital technology brought down the curtain. Color photography is now the default. Black-and-white registers as color’s absence, since one chooses to remove color in order to generate a black-and-white image. For the better part of its life, however, photography was de facto black and white. Having been there since the medium’s inception, black-and-white occupies an ontological place color cannot. Black-and-white was photography’s given state, its natural state. But with black-and-white having been relieved of command, there is no more nature, only drop-downs listing effects, with some being more special than others. Marcopoulos is a monster of a shutter bug. His output can’t be diced by genre (editorial work, street photography, documentary) or subject matter (portraiture, still life, landscape, architecture). It’s all of a piece that is his life and times, the majority of which were lived before the advent of digital photography. Equally enamored of the spectacular and the mundane, Marcopoulos photographs on a ritual basis, so that the quotidian becomes solvent to spectacle. Snow and skate boarders and iconic musicians are dissolved within a sea of humble snapshots of interiors, street views, or everyday encounters with strangers, loved ones, friends, and friends of friends in settings private and public. The sheer volume of pictures he has taken over the years, however, allows his practice to assume the contours of a biographical project in the conceptual sense. In what now amounts to an archive, Marcopoulos’s images, even when viewed individually, are to be understood as belonging to a loosely systematic cataloguing of experiences high and low which are chronicled visually. His obsession with the date stamp recalls none 239

other than On Kawara. But Marcopoulos replaces Kawara’s dictum “I went, I met, I read” with “I saw, I saw, I saw.” The photographs are an index of Marcopoulos’s being in the world, a record of what he sees and when he has seen it. But they are arguably not so much about what is depicted as they are about the person, namely him, behind the camera. To look at Marcopoulos’s photos is to see him seeing over and above merely seeing that which is depicted. In other words, Marcopoulos’s work, at this point, offers itself up as a model of subjectivity. As a photographer, Marcopoulos cannot help but assert the primacy of vision. In that respect, his work, despite its insistence on the indexical nature of the date stamp, finds its corollary less in On Kawara and more in Sol LeWitt, whose photo-based artist books and page-works are seminal precursors, Sunrise and Sunset at Praiano (1980), Autobiography (1980), and On the Walls of the Lower East Side (Artforum 1979) being key examples. Like LeWitt, whose principal inspiration was Eadweard Muybridge, Marcopoulos is no stranger to seriality, shooting consecutive images to capture an event as it unfolds over a series of moments. And like LeWitt, Marcopoulos privileges the book as a form for his ideas. Indeed, both artists think in book form, LeWitt from the perspective of seriality and Marcopoulos from the perspective of a photographic tradition in which the book, over and above the print, was the work’s logical destination. But it is the model of subjectivity offered up through photography that is the basis for this comparison. Needless to say, Marcopoulos and LeWitt are very different photographers. The comparison between them in this instance is methodological rather than formal, centering on the construction of an archive and its presentation. (That said, there are striking parallels between LeWitt’s On the Walls of the Lower East Side and Marcopoulos’s EXARCHEIA ATHENS, SUNDAY FEB.5.2017, 13:07-16:51 (2017), as well as between Sunrise and Sunset at Praiano and Marcopoulos’s images of the heavens offered up in this spread.) More generally, both artists’ work is perceived in relationship to a catalog or archive of images which entails the systematic documentation of one’s experiences. The presentation in various parts and permutations of an inventory which is that of a self given over to seeing, recording, and classifying all through the means of photography simultaneously instigates the death of the author and the birth of a witness. This could only come about through adopting a systematic approach from the outset as LeWitt did or through sheer dent of a sustained practice resulting in thousands of photographs as is the case with Marcopoulos. It is the volume of photographs taken by Marcopoulos and their categorization and configuration in books and zines that allows him to be framed in relationship to conceptual art. He could just as easily be characterized as a resolute materialist. He believes in the printed image with a remarkable degree of concreteness, flirting with abstraction through the images’ degradation. Reveling in toner, he embraces a full spectrum of printing from the highest to the lowest techniques. Clearly, Marcopoulos, unlike The New York Times, has not given up the ghost of black-and-white. With respect to making pictures, Marcopoulos is anything but ideologically driven. Rather than subscribe to the death of black-andwhite as outlined in the first three paragraphs, Marcopoulos would prefer to embrace this moment in all its messiness. Between the distribution of images via social media and the ability to print photographs at any scale and on anything, photography is a heterogeneous grab bag with black-and-white photography relegated to an effect, one that first and foremost signifies the whole of a past in which it was the de facto mode of photographic representation. Marcopoulos doesn’t object. He indulges black-andwhite photography because it has the capacity for self-reflexivity. The quintessential fact that when you look at a black-and-white photograph, you are aware that you are looking at a photograph is something Marcopoulos doesn’t want you ever to forget. 240

List of Works Pigment prints on paper, ## x ## inches each Alone Together, digital video, 24:19 mins Noise A, digital video, 4:44 mins Noise B, digital video, 3:34 mins Noise C, digital video, 2:01 mins Noise D, digital video, 1:00 mins Noise E, digital video, 7:58 mins Noise F, digital video, 4:31 mins Nova Scotia, digital video, 1:14:30 mins Pink Siifu, digital video, 56:52 mins

Ari Marcopoulus Upstream Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen 21.05.–07.08.2022 Curater: Giovanni Carmine Publisher: Roma Publications, Amsterdam Texts: Giovanni Carmine, Hamza Walker Design: Roger Willems & Ari Marcopoulos Prinbting and binding: Wilco Art Books, Amersfoort (NL) Distribution: Idea Books, Amsterdam (NL) ROMA 424 ISBN 9789464460155