Zabo ChabilanD
ANATOMS SONORES
Edition of 250 discs pressed on X-ray film
A tribute to bone records from the Soviet Union
2024
ANATOM SONORE III
Extract from the sound performance Microsillons X, 2:58 min. Mastering: Nicholas Bussmann
X-ray film, 18X18 cm. Edition: 1/12, 2/12, 3/12, 3/12, 5/12, 6/12. 2024
In 1997, my experiments with photographic printing led me to medical imagery. I established a cross over between the two techniques and started using X-ray film as a main support for an exploration that has continued to evolve ever since. The first installation, “Corps en Suspens”, consisted of a series of full-length portraits printed on a 1:1 scale. With the “Anatoms series”, the field of action was extended to landscapes and geological elements, apprehended as organs.
Early on in my research, a Russian friend visiting my studio in Brooklyn told me about another unusual use of X-ray film that took place during the cold war in the Soviet Union . Recordings of “unofficial” music, engraved on discarded X-ray films from hospitals were circulating illegally under the name “bones records” or “music on ribs” as an act of cultural resistance. They contained music from the West, in particular rock and jazz, but also Russian folk tunes, considered by the authorities to be “low culture”. Since 2014, English musician Stephen Coates has made it his mission to safeguard the memory of this unique episode in the history of music, still little known in the West.
The existence of these discs/objects inspired me to make my own version, replacing the exposed X-ray films with analog X-ray prints from my own production and the unofficial music with an extract from the sound performance Microsillon X, specially conceived to challenge the microgroove.
The edition of 250 Anatoms Sonores is composed of 20 images, each printed in 12 unique copies presenting variations according to the type of X-ray film (for veterinary or hospital use), negative or positive, as well as different brands and expiration dates, ranging from 1997 to 2024. A further 10 discs were pressed directly onto blank X-ray film, showing the differents types of emulsions.
Edition of 250 discs pressed on X-ray film
A tribute to bone records from the Soviet Union
2024
Extract from the sound performance Microsillons X, 2:58 min. Mastering: Nicholas Bussmann
X-ray film, 18X18 cm. Edition: 1/12, 2/12, 3/12, 3/12, 5/12, 6/12. 2024
In 1997, my experiments with photographic printing led me to medical imagery. I established a cross over between the two techniques and started using X-ray film as a main support for an exploration that has continued to evolve ever since. The first installation, “Corps en Suspens”, consisted of a series of full-length portraits printed on a 1:1 scale. With the “Anatoms series”, the field of action was extended to landscapes and geological elements, apprehended as organs.
Early on in my research, a Russian friend visiting my studio in Brooklyn told me about another unusual use of X-ray film that took place during the cold war in the Soviet Union . Recordings of “unofficial” music, engraved on discarded X-ray films from hospitals were circulating illegally under the name “bones records” or “music on ribs” as an act of cultural resistance. They contained music from the West, in particular rock and jazz, but also Russian folk tunes, considered by the authorities to be “low culture”. Since 2014, English musician Stephen Coates has made it his mission to safeguard the memory of this unique episode in the history of music, still little known in the West.
The existence of these discs/objects inspired me to make my own version, replacing the exposed X-ray films with analog X-ray prints from my own production and the unofficial music with an extract from the sound performance Microsillon X, specially conceived to challenge the microgroove.
The edition of 250 Anatoms Sonores is composed of 20 images, each printed in 12 unique copies presenting variations according to the type of X-ray film (for veterinary or hospital use), negative or positive, as well as different brands and expiration dates, ranging from 1997 to 2024. A further 10 discs were pressed directly onto blank X-ray film, showing the differents types of emulsions.
Microsillon X
An autonomous piece of music that already take into account the eventual degradation of the microgrooves
The set up for the performance consists of a roll of X-ray film placed between an electric massager and the soundboard of an upright piano.
X-ray film becomes an instrument in its own right, amplified by the vibrations of the electric massager and the soundboard. I play by swinging my body with force and restraint, in a regular movement, delicately directing the electric device in a rotating mouvement on a brass screw affixed to the piano's soundboard at the paste of one microgroove. The circular and repetitive sounds that this action generates will find their way naturally within the microgrooves , whatever their condition (wear, type of turntable, dust, etc.) will evolve in random loops.
This project was awarded the Aide Individuelle à la Création by the DRAC Pays de la Loire and the Aide au projet de création arts visuels, Région Pays de la Loire, in 2022.
Making-of the analog prints.
Spectral analysis of the track Microsillon X