Ben Bazalgette (IT) > < The 181 (USA)

Ben Bazalgette in Bologna (IT) / The 181 in High desert of eastern Oregon (USA) –  April. 24. 2021 h. 9-11 am USA / 6 -8 pm ITALY

Here are the sounds exchanged during the Freesbeesong Match:

THE FREESBEESONG COMPOSED BY THE 181:

Ben Bazalgette was on a piece of land near Bologna (IT) >

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Ben Bazalgette was born in London in 1974 and has lived in Italy for the last 23 years. He currently lives in Modena with his son. He works as a translator and a teacher of translation technique, and spends as much time as possible out of the city, in the hills and countryside, or exploring Italy and the Mediterranean basin, deadly pandemics permitting. Apart from languages, his main interests are playing and listening to a range of types of music, and concocting original culinary preparations. He loves cats, but prefers other people’s to actually having one of his own – the idea of being able to shut the house and set off elsewhere for a month or two is too important to him. 

The 181 were in High desert of eastern Oregon (USA) >

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The 181: as a collective the 181 is interested in creating situations that generate experiential spaces which expand, contract, or reassemble as information sloshes about. Imperfect approximations of the universe as a whole. Artists, a physicist/electronic engineer/musician, a mushroom forager/rockhound, and a linotype operator—any attempts to formalize their practice they view with distress. As far as they can tell, the 181 has been working together since 2007 when they found themselves gathered by the Pacific Ocean with a glim glam golden Q, roughly 10 yards of transparent lavender vinyl, and a broken hold on the sea’s reflection. Since then they have gathered and appeared in places like the Arthur Cravan Foundation, Milan, Italy; Stockholm Fringe Festival, Stockholm, Sweden; SPACE Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA; an alley in Eugene, OR; the ICA Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA; transmissions beamed from Maine to Sao Paulo, Brazil; the National Centre for Contemporary Art, St Petersburg, Russia; Slingshot Festival, Athens, GA; Herrick Cave in Lake County, OR; High Desert Test Sites HQ at the Sky Village Swap Meet, Yucca Valley, CA; and most recently a parade of sorts with Mission Street Arts, Jemez Springs, NM.

Currently the collective is engaged in realizing reST stOP, a yearlong, non-linear series of situations to be composed at rest stops across the continental United States.  In 2022 they will bring The Ballad of Joe Plateau to Locust Projects in Miami, FL.

(the absolute value of infinity on its side)

Brandon Boan – Abby Donovan – Tom Hughes – Jason Rhodes