|
|
|
| In the late 60's and early 70's a band of visual artists painted images on large screens, accompanying many of the era's greatest contemporary music groups, and also playing on their own to prerecorded sound or music - or even to ambient sound from microphones hung over a busy boulevard nearby - for audiences looking for something quite different ... welcome to the Single Wing Turquoise Bird website -
SEE some images below
Coming along ...a chronicle, moving pictures, shapes, sounds, and more ... begun: 2 November 2002 for a good write-up of the group and its history see pOoTerLand at http://www.pooterland.com/index2/lightshow_menu/lightshows/single_wing/single_wing.html another nice description can be found in the pioneering work on modern multimedia, Expanded Cinema by Gene Youngblood. A downloadable PDF version of the book is available at http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/PDF_ExpandedCinema/ExpandedCinema.html and the SWTB write-up is in Part 6. ALSO - see some related photos below: Announcements ...Cindy Keefer of the Center for Visual Music just screened the Single Wing Turquoise Bird film piece at the Tate Modern Museum in London as part of the Expanded Cinema Symposium, on April 19, 2009. For details of the program please visit: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/symposia/18016.htm Larry Janss organized a REVIVAL LIGHT SHOW PERFORMANCE on February 27, 2009, in conjunction with the release of SWTB Member Jeff Perkins' excellent documentary film on Sam Francis, celebrated artist and a patron of the light show. See the announcement PDF for details. From the show announcement:The Single Wing Turquoise Bird Lightshow (SWTB) was
famous for its wide screen lightshows for the legendary “Pinnacle Productions
Series” held at the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles in 1967 and 1969. SWTB
performed with the Chambers Brothers, Velvet Underground, Grateful Dead, Big
Brother and The Holding Company, Pacific Gas & Electric, Steve Miller Band, Taj
Mahal, Dr. John, Sons Of Champlin, BB King, The Yardbirds, Cream and Quicksilver
Messenger Service. The SWTB later performed a series of evocative multimedia
performances at various venues, most notably in the loft above the Fabulous Fox
Venice Theatre, 1970 - 1975. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
The article provides the most comprehensive history of the SWTB to date - a must-read!
Visual Music" - Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (opens February 13, 2005) and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC (opens June 2005). The exhibition features painting and photographs; installations; and films, videos, color organ and light projections by artists including Stephen Beck, Jordan Belson (Allures, Samadhi, plus a new film premiering at the Hirshhorn), Mark Boyle and Joan Hills, Larry Cuba, Charles Dockum (1952 Mobilcolor Performance), Oskar Fischinger (Study No. 7, Allegretto, Radio Dynamics, Lumigraph film, Ornament Sound), Viking Eggeling, Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Hy Hirsh (Eneri), Len Lye (A Colour Box), Stanton MacDonald-Wright, Elias Romero, Hans Richter (Rhythm 21), Walter Ruttmann, Dan Sandin, Single Wing Turquoise Bird, Harry Smith (Film No. 3), James Whitney (Yantra, Lapis, Film Exercise No. 4), John Whitney (Permutations), John Whitney, Jr., Thomas Wilfred, and Joshua White. CVM provided numerous films and videotapes, plus research and assistance, for this exhibition.
March
24, 2006 - An Evening of Visual Music Films curated by CVM.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. 6:30 pm.
Please
check the calendar on the MOCA site for additional screenings and events related
to the exhibition: Art Talk by David James (March 31); performance of Stanton
MacDonald-Wright's "Kineidoscope" color organ.
Link to information at the Hirschorn: http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/visualmusic/index.html
Here is also a link to Doug Harvey's LA Weekly review of the VM show :
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/14/features-harvey.php
Cindy Keefer, previously of iotaCenter, produced a stunning compilation called Kinetica 4, which included work from SWTB, and which began touring the world in 2003.
Click image for details:
a page from the program guide:

click image above to see it full size

The Single Wing Turquoise Bird in performance:
Photo: The Single Wing Turquoise Bird performing in the Cumberland Mountain Film Company studio in 1970. The studio was located above the Fox Venice Theatre and housed SWTB from 1970 to its final performance in 1978.
click on image to enlarge
Note - additional ionformation about SWTB and the Fox Venice Theatre can be found on the Virtual Venice site - http://www.virtualvenice.info/
![]()
|
Send mail to
webmaster@swtb.info with
questions or comments about this web site.
|