About this project

    Touching Them, Touching Me - A Love Song for the Dead C is the first in a series of multimedia installation and performance works in which Helga Fassonaki situates herself in the position of a Hagiographer, visually depicting the lives of her musical heroes (deemed saints) - their culture and world that she has incorporated into her own (as fan, artist and musician).  By applying their concepts to her works, she explores her relationship to them and their music via a lens of their own creation. In painting them in an unfailingly positive light, this hagiographic portrayal also touches on bigger ideas of idol worship, the nature of fandom, and sub-cultural mythology - all of which can lead to misguided glorification. But this is a glorification that also leads to a pulsating energy from within, and an urge to destroy in order to create anew.    

     Fassonaki will be exhibiting the first work in the series at Human Resources Gallery in Chinatown, LA and will be needing funds to (A) transform the gallery space into a simulacrum of post-punk 1980’s Dunedin, New Zealand - more specifically, the Empire Tavern, a pub where the Dead C played their early shows and (B) to produce a vinyl record by yek koo (her solo music project) consisting of 5 composed pieces influenced by the Dead C and that explore aspects of their approach.   In conjunction to the exhibition will be a three day performance series called 'Trapdoor Fucking Exit' named after one of the Dead C's most phenomenal albums and featuring artists from the US and New Zealand who have been influenced or inspired by the Dead C.  The performance dates are April 20 - 22 and will take place inside the Empire installation. 

SHOW AT HUMAN RESOURCES GALLERY:

March 24th - April 22, 2012
Opening Reception: Saturday March 24, 2012
3-Day Performance Series: April 20 - 22, 2012

For more information about the gallery check out the Human Resources Website at: http://humanresourcesla.com/

SUPPORT:
All financial support goes directly to helping cover building and production costs:

• Mastering, plating, and pressing costs for 'Love Song for the Dead C' Album (300 copies)

• Printing costs for 'Love Song for the Dead C' LP - (300 copies)

• Building materials (to make the Pub installation)

• Installation and labor costs

THANK YOU:

So many people have reached out to help me with this project whether in terms of time, advice, talent, technical expertise, love, support, and/or home-cooked meals.  Thank you for being part of my life - I am so grateful for your generous support of my project. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

    Floating between worlds of experimental sound and visual art, Helga Fassonaki approaches each of these worlds with insights gained from the other. Her practice, including her music-performance projects, Metal Rouge and Yek koo, are informed by New York No Wave musicians and their defying of categorization, audience, and convention; the poetic, political and physical chants of Patti Smith; and the raw and damaged sounds of New Zealand’s free noise music of the Le Jazz Non era for stretching the parameters of improvised music.  Informed by such artists and their integration of art and music, she has created sound and art installations, group situations, films, and performances that utilize and question temporality, power structures, subcultures, fan cultures, and the human voice as a crucible for positive transformation.

    Fassonaki's work has been exhibited at UCLA's New Wright Gallery, Elysian Park Museum of Art, and LACE galleries (Los Angeles), Blue Oyster Gallery (Dunedin, NZ), Elam School of Fine Art (Auckland, NZ), Orange County Museum of Art (CA), and California College of the Arts (San Francisco), among others. She has performed in Open Melody Festival at UC Irvine (CA), Ear&Eye Festival (Auckland, NZ) alongside legendary sound artists Akio Suzuki and Phil Dadson, On Land Festival (San Francisco), Human Resources (LA), Public Fiction (LA), and a multitude of other galleries and venues throughout the country. She is also the cofounder of a record label called Emerald Cocoon, which focuses on experimental, psychedelic, and avant-garde music.

Helga Fassonaki (now): http://helgafassonaki.net/

Helga Fassonaki (past): http://olmhatch.com/
Yek koo: http://www.olmhatch.com/yek_koo.html
Metal Rouge: http://emeraldcocoon.com/MetalRouge_home.html
Emerald Cocoon:http://emeraldcocoon.com/

one of 20 different LA plays Dunedin 4" x 6" black/white digital prints -
A pledge of $10! 

LA plays Dunedin

Love Song for the Dead C - vinyl record by yek koo.  A pledge of $25!

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