Negativland is sad. You might say that would be implied by their name, but that incorrect. For the past 40 years, the ragtag troupe of self-proclaimed “culture jammers” has pushed the boundaries of copywrite law by cutting and pasting the world to reveal their irreverent take on commercialism, Christianity, climate change, and countless other topics that don’t start with “C”. The current lineup has Mark Hosler on bass and electronics and Jon Leidecker on laptop samples. A third member, “TheWeatherman”, a reclusive likeminded freak, also makes a ghostly appearance which is fitting for Halloween. On this evening, they are joined by the visual artist Sue C. While Mark and Jon handle the sound collage, Sue creates real-time video that is projected on six large screens behind the performers. The CCAM clubhouse is a perfect setting for this wonderful mashup of sound and vision. It appeared Sue had a lightbox, she swirled and slid household objects on the box that were refracted and projected on the six panels. Cardboard TP circles, marbles, feathers, a piece of screen, a glitter-infused iPhone case, were just some of the objects I could discern. She did have some words and images that focused the culture jamming. I learn that Sue is part of the Meow-wolf collective, a loose group of visual artists who perform trippy video installations in galleries and museums. Introduced by CCAM head Ross Wightman, the three perform an hour long collage. Ross says Negativland were a dream score for the excellent CCAM Sound Art Series, and I concur. “Playing” to a full house dotted with pirates and ghouls, the performance ensues. It is largely improvised, but touches on Negativland themes. “Which Side Are You On” and “Christianity is Stupid” were a few of the “hits” that were interspersed. Towards the end, The Weatherman appears on screen to explain to us how to change the lightbulb in our refrigerator, this somehow involves putting a transistor radio in the freezer and taking a bite out of a Mennen speed stick, don’t ask. Seems the Weatherman doesn’t travel, but is “phoned in” from his Seattle living room. After the performance, the Q and A usually has some gear heads that want to elucidate transformers and transducers et al, but you can tell that Mark and Jon are sad at the current state of the world. The current rapid fire destruction of the US dwarfs the nibble round the edges subversive approach that is the essence of this band. They even implore any budding law students (I guess those not destined for SCOTUS) to talk to them about their take on regulating AI. Negativland has been sued by everyone from U2 to Casey Kasem, and that was the point. It must be jarring for them to see the Wild West of AI blow past their philosophy on copywrite law. These guys don’t perform much but must realize that spreading their irreverent gospel might infect some future culture jammer in the audience. Once again,I was happy to enjoy he ride.
