Oursler's longtime exploration of sound and music has led to numerous collaborations with acclaimed musicians and sound artists. Sound Digressions in Seven Colors is the single-channel version of the multi-channel projection installation of the same name, and features performances by Kim Gordon, Tony Conrad, Stephen Vitiello, and Ikue Mori, among others. The original installation, exhibited at Nyehaus in New York in 2006, was the culmination of several projects that Oursler had been experimenting with for many years. Oursler first became engaged with the idea of a perpetually changing piece of music while at CalArts and attending lectures by John Cage. For this project, seven performers were recorded and then recombined in an installation setting, in an experiment with chance recombination. The performers were not told what the others would play, only that they would be mixed with six other players. In this way, an exquisite corpse was developed between the players. The single-channel version is a layered sound and image collage of the seven performances, each assigned a specific color.

Want, Tony Oursler

1994, 5:58 min, color, sound