Neil Wiernik - Contre X: against the unknown

This piece is the audio portion to an installation using low power FM transmissions presented at the Red Head Gallery in Toronto during the month Febuary 1996. This installation was the final portion of a work began during the winter of 1992, as part of a support campaign for the residents of the "artist-run" squat "couvent des Recollets", which suffered a fire on January 26, 1992. The installation was a combination of sound and visual elements which document the various actions by Neil in support of the group from the date of the fire till January 1996. The idea was to add a visual element to the story that was being told in the FM transmmissions from the gallery. The sounds used in the work were comprised of sounds associated with the fire, recorded interviews, letters, newspaper articles and personal discussions with the members of the group who lived worked and created in these now abandoned spaces accross the street from "Gare de l'est" in Paris, France.

Contre X: against the unknown - 34:42

Neil Wiernik (b.1967) is an audio contortionist, radiophonic engager and digital medium specialist from Montreal, presently living and working in Toronto. He studied Film and Fine Arts at York University in the late 80s but settled for an honors degree in Anthropology/Sociology from Concordia University in 1993. He has presented his work across Canada, the United States and Europe. Neil is concerned with various types of story-telling using the art of "phonography" for expression of these recorded ideas. He uses preexisting or self-developed radio frequencies for diffusion of these projects; most recently he has been developing radio diffusion systems for multiple transmitters and receivers for use in performance and installation situations. Some of his recent exhibitions have been presented at the Finland Contemporary Museum, Gallery Struts, The Medusa complex, The Center for Art Tapes, Gallery Optica and The Medusa Complex.

Neil Wiernik
naw@techno.ca

© Productions electro Productions (*PeP*) 1999