London Interzone
Burroughs & Beats Rewired
Long before sampling, remix culture and algorithmic disruption, American writer William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) was cutting language apart and rebuilding it into something startlingly new. Armed with a pair of scissors and scalpel blade, Burroughs transformed writing into an act of sabotage and discovery.
His revolutionary cut-up technique—developed alongside artist Brion Gysin who I recently wrote about—fractured conventional narratives, and in so doing exposed hidden connections and unexpected meanings lurking beneath the surface of words. The results were chaotic, disorienting, prophetic, poetic and often astonishingly contemporary.
So, it’s an absolute honour that I have been invited to present new work as part of this amazing event at The Horse Hospital in London in September. The line-up is impressive, bringing together artists, writers and scholars inspired by his cut-up techniques, experimental spirit and uncompromising vision. Here’s a guide to what’s happening
I’ll be presenting new work, using extremely rare unreleased recordings of Burroughs, alongside Adi Newton of Clock DVA in his TAGc alias, Nova Ghost (John Gosling of PTV/Zos Kia), Isabelle De Jour and Jill Westwood), Graham Duff, Iain Sinclair, Barry Miles, Oliver Harris, Jack Sergeant and many more.
It’s happening 4-6 September.
Hope to see you there! And yes, it’s being recorded, don’t worry!
“The future leaks out through chance”
that looks like such an awesome event!
“It’s being recorded” … but will it be cut-up? :) I just picked up a cassette tape splicing kit and I’m excited to try out the technique.