In Relative Obscurity (2023)
In Relative Obscurity I is a site-specific audio and video work recorded in Rhyolite, Nevada at the Goldwell Open Air Museum’s Red Barn Arts Center. The piece marks the beginning of an ongoing series centered on improvisation, environmental sound, and the act of documenting work created in isolation.
The project draws from Albert Szukalski and his improvisational approach to art, and his reputation as a “situation maker” in his hometown of Antwerp, Belgium. Not just producing objects, but setting conditions of a space that welcomes the arrival of spontaneity / surprise to occur. I love that he brought that practice to Rhyolite, Nevada; as there’s few places on earth that have such few visual influences while also being the exact opposite of his hometown. I like that he brought his culture here to the American Southwest.
Arrival
We arrived at sunset, around 7:45pm on July 14th, during a stretch of excessive heat warnings across the region. At the same time, people were traveling toward Death Valley to experience record-breaking temperatures. There is something difficult about that. A kind of curiosity toward extremes that sits somewhere between fascination and risk.
By the time we entered the Red Barn, it was still 111 degrees; not quite the traditional venue and definitely an experience you had to push through. The temperature inevitably became a major factor that helped shape nearly everything, and I often like to think of the fuzzy/distant guitar tones as mirage-esque in regards to how a hallucination of this music might sound before you faint from heat sickness.
The Work
The original plan was to document three separate sound artists performing live, site-specific works in the space. What actually took place was more focused. A collaboration between myself and John McVay, shaped by the environment and the limitations of working without additional crew or artists to add to the trip/experience.
Improvisation was a necessity. Since recently filming the third installment of this series; there is no fixed approach or “plan” that survives in this kind of setting. The space/environment pushes back. The heat slows things down, and the acoustics stretch and flatten sound in unpredictable ways. What comes out of this always seems to “bake” this aesthetic into the composition (pun sort of intended).
Process
The video was captured using a single stationary camera, placed directly in front of the performers. One frame, uninterrupted. This was intentional. I wanted the performance to exist in duration, without being broken apart through editing decisions made too early.
Audio was recorded in parallel. A field recorder was placed at a distance to capture the environment as it actually sounded, slightly washed out and diffused through the space. At the same time, a direct signal was recorded into my laptop. The final piece moves between those two perspectives, never fully settling into one.
The guitar work was processed through GarageBand, layered over slowed recordings of my own cello playing captured in Calico Basin the year prior. That material carried into this piece naturally, linking different locations and timeframes into a single thread.
Collaboration
John McVay’s performance introduced a visual and conceptual element that connected back to Szukalski’s work. He performed draped in a white sheet, gently rocking while manipulating tape loops built from previous recordings at the site. It was simple, but it held. It did not feel staged. It felt like something that belonged there. This was our fourth collaboration, though the first where sound and performance were the primary focus rather than painting or visual work.
Location
The Red Barn Arts Center has functioned as both a studio and temporary shelter for artists participating in Goldwell’s residency programming. It has also been used by UNLV classes, including architecture students working through proposals for future structures in the area.
What matters is that the space remains largely unchanged. It carries traces of use, but nothing is over-defined. That condition was a large part of why such a remote location was chosen.
Research + Context about Szukalski & Verbeke Foundation
During my time as Secretary of the Board at Goldwell, I reached out to the Verbeke Foundation regarding access to material on Albert Szukalski. What began as a request to scan a few pages turned into them sending the full publication Szukalski: Eenvoudig dus moeilijk.
The book includes high-resolution images of early works and portraits that are not widely available online. I have since been slowly digitizing portions of it, learning how to handle and process that material as I go.
With permission from editor Marie Verboven, portions of this material are incorporated into my work.
Spending time with that archive shifted my understanding of Szukalski’s practice away from finished objects and toward the conditions he created for things to happen in the first place.
Limitations
This first recording session was done without a crew. Everything was handled independently, which imposed clear limits on both audio and video quality.
At the same time, those limits became part of the structure of the piece. There is always a pull toward better equipment, cleaner recordings, more control. But the tools used here had been with me for years. There is a continuity in that, and I believe it carries through in the final result. Plus, this process was proof to me that “better” equipment, cameras, mics etc doesnt matter if you can’t at least problem solve enough to make something powerful with gear that leans towards minimal.
Editing the footage from that night has felt closer to painting than anything else. There is room to move, to make decisions without overcorrecting, to follow something without fully knowing where it leads.
Support
This project was supported in part by the Nevada Arts Council Project Grant for Individual Artists (FY23). That support made it possible to approach the work with a level of structure and follow-through that would have otherwise been difficult to maintain.
