Dave Allen: Hee-Haw Cries the Young Komponist Dave Allen

The Showroom presents new works by Dave Allen that continues his ongoing exploration of music. Hee-Haw Cries the Young Komponist Dave Allen takes a wry look at the notion of the composer, examining the possibility of using the negative parts of music, i.e. the breaks and silences, to make new compositions.

Since 1993, the majority of Dave Allen's work has been based on his personal relationship to the myths and realities of Rock and Roll music, with his practice encompassing elements of music, video, performance and visual art. He has explored several areas including; the celebration of Rock as social practice, Rock as aspiration, the thrill of communal creativity and the identity-forming function of the male adolescent band.

As part of the project, Dave Allen presents a silent recording made in the famous Hansa by the Wall Studios, Berlin; this work is part of a series that documents the silent ambience of concert halls and recording studios significant to the artist.

Hansa by the Wall is where David Bowie recorded the 'Heroes' and Low albums between 1976 and 1977. Dave Allen, along with millions of others has listened to these albums over the years. The sound of the studio has lived in the artist's head, by taping it on its own he has captured the same ambient background sound that exists on Bowie's recordings. The sound of the silent, acoustically perfect recording studio is projected into the acoustically messy gallery space. The low anticipatory hum that is heard is created by the movement of air within the recording studio.

The examination of rock myth is continued in All that is Not 'The Beatles' and Therefore Not Abbey Road, a piece that uses negative casts of The Beatles' White Album. In this work the grooves that contained the information on the original records have now become peaks. The grooves in the resin casts contain two separate pieces of information; if they were to be played the effect would be a reversed, distorted, yet recognisable version of The Beatles.