AUGST & BECK
THE RADIOSHOW / 1992
Wie der Krieg im Äther beendet werden kann
First public performance by Augst und Beck: December 11, 1992 / Institute
for New Media / Frankfurt / D
Oliver Augst (voice/electronics)
Stefan Beck (voice/electronics)
Their material is pure speech under live conditions on stage. Since this
time they have performed on various festivals and for selected radiostations
in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
AUGST & BECK use radio as a structuring format, but may appear in front
of an audience live on stage ( = as if on air) as well. Radio is seen as
the perdominant media for speech as sound. Augst und Beck use its various
formats (talk radio etc) as references, examples, materials sets, as a quary
for their employment of speech performance. They use, reuse, sample, destroy
and rebuild what they perceive as language in contemporary radio. It is persuasive
speech as found in propaganda, agitation and political theatre they like
most.
An Augst und Beck performance is first of all built on texts, like books,
papers, receipts, leaflets, flyers and so on. All of this is piled up on
stage or in the studio. This does not define a plot, but rather a stimulation
to read and lecture from various passages of the material. By performing
in realtime errors and deviations are possible and necessarily contribute
to the performance's density and swiftness.
Oliver Augst and Stefan Beck have collaborated on radio broadcasts since
1992. Initially, the joint transmissions featured a wide range of instruments
(live electronics, tapes, CDs, drum computers, keyboards), but in the course
of time the focus gradually shifted towards purely oral improvisation. Their ‘talk
radio' has gone on the air – for the most part live – in Dresden,
Hamburg, Frankfurt/M. Vienna and Zurich since 1995, and also been presented
live to festival audiences. Using texts as raw material, and partially deploying
live electronic voice distortion, one presenter responds to another as if
in the course of a jam session, and in this way both gradually talk themselves
into a frenzy.
Augst und Beck
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