Hello Central, Give Me Heaven, Hello Central, Give Me No Man’s Land was a collaborative new work that combined video images from the ‘between the wars’ years with audio clips from notorious and anonymous figures of the era, then set to an original musical composition. Original prints and etchings created a panoramic scroll of architecture and gesture.

For this newest installment, an audio-visual collage from Rob Millis and Fionn Meade complimented a suite of etchings by Mary Simpson affixed to wrap around the Tollbooth Gallery. Focused on the gestural nature of propaganda, Hello Central echoed the platform-like venue and looked into coercion, fervor, melodrama and retreat as part of our aesthetic inheritance.

Jared Pappas-Kelley: Your show was a really effective collaboration and fits nicely with the Tollbooth space. How did the idea for Hello Central, Give Me Heaven, Hello Central, Give Me No Man's Land come about?

Rob Millis: While throwing around ideas, Fionn started talking about the concept of propaganda. I suppose the (rather tenuous) connection was that propaganda often took the form of posters, public forums and so on. I started thinking about musical propaganda…Russian composers nervously glorifying Stalin…WWI and WWII popular songs…American songs from the New Deal era…We researched propaganda in general and began wondering how to make these materials connect to ourselves and to an audience in a non-didactic way. We all sort of realized simultaneously that an era we were interested in was the American Depression. Mary had been working with Walker Evans imagery. Fionn had recently curated a show at the Northwest Film Forum and had asked me to perform with my band that had just released an album that is abstractly steeped in music from the 1920s and 30s. Abstractly steeped? Does that make sense? Fionn and I put together a collage of depression era film that accompanied my band’s performance and that became the basis for the video component of Hello Central.  Along with that we shared an interest in Soviet “propaganda” artists like Lissitzky and Rodchenko and composers like Shostakovich whose relationship to the “state” was very—shall we say--complex. Anyway, we focused on US and Soviet propaganda sources from roughly that time period and that became the loose framework on which we hung the piece. The title comes from two US propaganda songs (actually from WWI, not exactly the depression but who’s counting?). To me the piece came to be more about gesture and repetition, curious sounds and images, than necessarily about propaganda…

Here’s a quote I had in mind while working on my portion of the project:

“It is well that we keep in mind the fact that not all of American history is recorded. And in some ways we are fortunate that it isn’t, for if it were, we might become so chagrined by the discrepancies which exist between our democratic ideals and our social reality that we’d soon lose heart. Perhaps that is why we possess two basic versions of American history: one which is written and as neatly stylized as ancient myth and the other as unwritten and chaotic and full of contradictions, changes of pace and surprises as life itself…” (Ralph Ellison, Going to the Territories).

A great thing about art is that it can address both histories: it can serve to create that stylized myth as well as fall headlong into the chaotic. It can even bridge the two.

Fionn Meade: I spoke with ArtRod awhile back (well over a year ago) about how great I thought the Tollbooth project was and they asked me if I’d be interested in contributing a piece. I said yes and then thought I’d ask Rob and Mary to be involved because we’re often hanging out, talking, and have many shared interests. Added to that is the fact that I think they’re both amazing artists and wanted to work with them on a project. So, we discussed what might be appropriate given the space/platform of the venue and realized we were all struck by its public disclosure format, the kind of “I’m talking to you, over here” element of the Tollbooth as it relates to passers by.

And so we got to talking about that dynamic and began to think around the idea of a soapbox/point of propaganda/site of coercion, etc. and how we could do something that explored the aesthetics of such rather than the overt politics (or cloyingly political intent of propaganda and much shrill protest as well) of this theme/point of inquiry. And so we talked some more and came to a mutually shared era of interest for all of us, namely the depression era (between the wars years) as a place to draw from for source material and inspiration. And the rest proceeded quickly from there.

Mary really pointed the direction with her printmaking as she brought isolated figures into relation with the imposing yet beautiful architecture of the period. The rambling man (itinerant but also seeking) figures you then encounter in the etching panorama she has created stand as kind of a lightning rod to the collage aesthetic that Rob and I adopted for our part of the installation. In other words, as you view the maelstrom of film images/snippets taken from propaganda films and newsreels of that era (our collage is organized by physical gesture, i.e. arms raising into arms, etc. and is taken from a number of sources) that Rob and I gathered and edited, you start to identify with the solitary/isolated figures or at least look at them differently in contrast with the fitful nature of the collage.

In effect, the need for the individual to stand alone, come to their own, seek out a balance, is offset by the images of zealous crowds, exhorting figureheads, and rebellious/violent interaction between the elements/sides, etcetera. This is the tension that makes the piece work as well as it does in my opinion. So, Rob and I worked on the collage together, quite closely, as the footage began to concretize around different gestures and reactions. We also played a lot with podiums, stages, lecterns, places of supposed authority, etc. being contrasted with both the sea change, solidarity, and fright of conforming quickly that can occur in crowd reactions, etc.

It’s important to mention here that we together (all three) decided to draw from/respond to not just US material but also Europe (and the Soviet Union in particular) as the similitude yet shades of contrast and tension between the two styles of coercion were fascinating to all of us (i.e., WPA propaganda alongside Soviet poster art).

Anyhow, so Rob and I worked on this collage for a number of weeks while also working on a song and sound collage (Rob is the architect and poet of the collage aspect to the audio/video collage, as he’s a genius when it comes to compelling audio collage, see www.climaxgoldentwins.com) that would accompany the moving image collage. As regards the song, I wrote up lyrics and came up with a melody of sorts that really responded to this rambling man notion, i.e. the solitary figure at sea in a rough going time and/or society, placeless but aware of the games being played out around him, power struggles and coercion, roles held on to, aspersions placed wholesale on entire groups, strata, etc. This place of poetic skepticism was conjoined in the song with an early country folk song structure break wherein the singer breaks into a kind of mini-sermon, gospel style. Only here, in our song, the sermon is one of the rambling man shouting out what to beware of, “the eternal State…” “the new morning train” and all such promises.

So, the melody and lyrics to Hello Central only found final form when Rob and I sat down and a lovely tripartite song structure that he devised met up with the melody, et voila... the song was done. Rob worked with snippets from his audio grab bag alongside newly found snippets of radio speeches from figures as various as Stalin and FDR to the infamous racist theories of 30s radio figure Father Coughlin, while also incorporating bits of an actual sermon from the time as well as a bit of Shoshtakovich (who was compelled—or complicit depending on what you read—to compose Soviet symphonies by Stalin)…. Anyhow, that’s kind of the gist of how this came together. All in all, this has been the most gratifying and rewarding collaboration I’ve done to date.

JPK: How would you describe your work?

FM: My own work involves writing innovative essay forms, poetry, playing music and singing, as well as working with video/film formats and collaborating with artists working in misc. media. I’m also quite involved in curating and organizing art across disciplines. I’m fascinated with how artists make, i.e., the ‘in practice’ element of making art more so than the so-called trends of art and making work to fit into such.

RB: Essentially I am a musician and composer…I work a lot with found sounds, collage, ambiance…a paltry few people may know my work with the band Climax Golden Twins…or maybe not…

JPK: Mary Simpson’s etchings looked immaculate in this show and it all came together nicely. How did you each engage the separate elements for your installation at the Tollbooth Gallery?

FM: I think the above answers this. I hope anyway. Mary’s work on the tollbooth is a mix of etchings made from shaped copper plates (i.e. etched and then cut from larger sheets of copper to be printed according to the artist’s layout design) and printed on vertically arranged strips of heavy grade printmaking paper, and, then complimented with similar strips of monoprint images transposed from stills of the video collage that Rob and I worked on. These were chosen by Mary after we had finished the collage and so reflect another layer of collaboration between the media employed, i.e. printmaking, audio and moving image in an edited, re-contextualized within-the-piece way.

RM: There was a lot of independent work, once we had gotten the basic framework down. Other than that, we just had to trust that we were all on the same page and would produce work that was compatible. The collaborative element added a sense of improvisation and surprise that made the project even more interesting to me: all the elements came together with almost no time left to change anything.

JPK: What was your primary response when the Tollbooth approached you for an installation?

FM: I thought it would be great as it’s a challenging space to work with but in a good way. Sometimes the limitations of a format make you be more decisive and I think that was the case here. I also knew a bit about the organizers of the Tollbooth and thought it would be a great project to support by contributing something to it.

JPK: What appeals to you about a project like the Tollbooth?

RM: It is great to have different and new environments in which to experience art.

FM: It is independent, clever without being too much so, economically savvy, part of renewing the downtown Tacoma location where it is located away from just the retail end, inclined toward contemporary work from interesting artists, organized by genial and smart folks, and just quirky and cool in the end. Also I am very attracted to its artsoapbox nature, especially when there’s some subtlety to the art shown and explored there. The more look-at-me kind of work is not as appealing to me given the context.

JPK: How did you approach your project at the Tollbooth gallery, and did you have any concerns about the nature of the venue?

FM: I think this too has been addressed above. The only worry I had was the audio for this project, and affixing the paper, both of which turned out great. And we had nice assistance from ArtRod. The vandalism that I kind of expected hasn’t occurred which is kind of cool though I’ll admit to being curious what any such alteration would look like.

RM: I suppose the only concern was how much hooligans, roustabouts, rounders,  and so on might interfere with the piece, but I expect that just means one has to be conscious of that element and embrace it.  The prints on the Tollbooth have so much tempting white space for people to draw and doodle on. If it is “interacted” with, I hope it will be done in an amusing or thoughtful way.

JPK: How do you think video and paper based work lend themselves to a public art space?

RM: Paper, I don’t know. That’s Mary’s area of expertise. Video is eye-catching…the old television in the store window idea…the key, perhaps is to make it somehow engaging for the casual passerby. It needs to be long or varied enough to withstand repeated passings…

JPK: What kind of work is exciting to you lately?

RM: I’m the wrong person to ask. I work in an art gallery.

FM: Lots of things. I’m working on a sound art show that I’m organizing with Rob Millis and find the work of Steve Roden, Stephen Vitiello, and Loren Chase, in particular to be really exciting. I’m also excited about experiments with paper animation that I’ve been coming across, Lucy Raven, Laleh Korrahmian, Susan Graham, and others. In fact, Mary Simpson is putting together a SOIL group show on just that—experiments with paper and film. Cabinet is a great magazine.

Also, the work that Dust-to-Digital records http://www.dust-digital.com/ is doing is amazing, re-issuing lots and lots of American music from the 1910s-30s that is truly amazing. Rob Millis, in fact, along with Dust-to-Digital is putting out a selection of “Victrola Favorites” from his 78 record collection that will no doubt prove great. I like the programming at the Sculpture Center in NY as well as the Drawing Center in NY. I think Western Bridge has been a great addition to the Northwest. Clear Cut Press down in Oregon is doing important things. And the list goes on…

JPK: What's one person whose work hasn't been shown at the Tollbooth project that you think it would be important to include?

FM: You might consider asking Jesse Paul Miller if he’d be interested. He’s an amazing artist and would do great things with the format no doubt. (http://www.gogoweb.com/jpm/) It also might be nice to ask him to do something in conjunction with the Woolworth windows. His work is worth it. I could come with an entire list of other artists if you like?

JPK: How would you describe the current art climate and how do projects like the Tollbooth fit into that?

FM: Tollbooth is one of the cooler independent things in the area. Keep it up.

RM: Again, I work in an art gallery. Next question!

JPK: What have you been working on lately?

FM: The above-mentioned sound art exhibit that will be at Bumbershoot 2005. It will be a large-scale exhibit with a sound art forum at the Henry Art Gallery as well. So, folks should come check it out, August 30 – September 5th…

RM: All sorts of crap. A documentary film of a strange Thai festival that involves drinking and music and masks and general carrying on…numerous musical projects with Climax Golden Twins (www.climaxgoldentwins.com)…compilations of music from the 1920s and 30s on CD called Victrola Favorites…