Dada artist Kurt Schwitters's classic "Sonata In Primeval Sounds," also called "Ursonate," is performed by Andy Laties, Rebecca Migdal and percussionist Eric Blitz, with John Landino, Denis Luzuriaga, and Glove, plus special guests, invented-instrument-makers Mitch Ahern and Pronoblem, as part of GonzoQuest's Final Fridays Open Mike Night series. The open mike, interspersed with "Ursonate" movements, features performance poets, artists with slideshows, and musicians.

Published in 1932, Kurt Schwitters's "Sonata In Primeval Sounds" is the granddaddy of sound-art poems: a 45-minute nonsense opus that develops 26 abstract themes in classical sonata format. Andy Laties's rousing participatory interpretations were honored in Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art's major "Art In Chicago 1945-1995" retrospective.

Read Andy's commentary on Ursonate:

http://www.artistorganizedart.org/commons/2009/07/andy-laties-on-kurt-schwitters-dada.html

Listen to recent performances (7/31 is particularly great in my opinion):

http://www.fluxmass.org/music/ursonate/

Images:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29133656@N03/sets/72157621928648020/show/

The event is held a GonzoQuest and the space is the studio for Andy Laties and Rebecca Migdal as well as an open performance and the Ursonate this is also an open studio where you see Rebecca's paintings and an exhibit of NYC artist Valerie Blitz. GonzoQuest is a comics journalism publisher and reality travel company encouraging community economic development through self-expression. For information and videos of previous Final Fridays, visit http://www.GonzoQuest.com

GonzoQuest is located at Paper City Studios:

http://papercitystudios.wordpress.com/