Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Diamanda Galas "Songs of Exile" and "Guilty, Guilty, Guilty"
Diamanda Galas "Songs of Exile" and "Guilty, Guilty, Guilty"
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From: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Limited Edition: 3
Exhibition: Diamanda Galás’ Songs of Exile and Guilty, Guilty, Guilty
Material: Printed vinyl
Dimensions: 30" x 99" (76cm x 251cm)
Hanging Hardware Included
Description
Diamanda Galás is an avant-garde performer, composer, and chanteuse who draws from her training in the classics, jazz, and blues to create her own bloodcurdling musical genre. With shrieks, howls, whispers, and moans, Galás travels through the topical mine fields of suffering, despair, condemnation, injustice, and loss of dignity--all while expertly playing the piano.
In Songs of Exile performed at the MCA, Chicago, Galás put to song the poems of exiled artists from around the world, such as César Vallejo, Paul Celan, and Gerard de Nerval. Remarkably, the piano and voice concert was performed in more than five languages.
Two days later, Galás returned to MCA to perform songs from her 17th album, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty. This album is a compilation of tragic and homicidal love songs borrowed from a variety of artists including Johnny Cash, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and Hank Williams rendered in her haunting style. This performance was considered more mellow than her usual boundary-stretching extremism since it included a few relatively well-known tunes.
Music critic Greg Kot at The Chicago Tribune remarked about her work, “Horror is Galás’s great subject and her performances are an attempt to dramatize it. But her music is also defined by empathy, an embrace of the abused, the underdog.”
A photographic image of Galás is on the front side of these MCA, Chicago banners. The other side of the banner is black with yellow and white text that reads “Fear No Art” in bold lettering, and the museum’s name in white letters “Museum of Contemporary Art”.
Provenance
These banners were displayed around Chicago prior to the performances of Songs of Exile on October 25, 2007 and Guilty, Guilty, Guilty on October 27, 2007.
About the Artist
