Four Simultaneous Soloists:
A series of performances organized by David Grubbs

In much the same way that Anthony McCall’s solid light works when exhibited together are experienced individually and as a group, this series of musical performances scheduled to take place within the exhibition imagines four performers—four soloists—experienced individually or as an ensemble.

For each performance, four musicians are dispersed equidistantly throughout Pioneer Works’ 130-foot main hall, each situated adjacent to a solid light piece. The musicians play at a modest volume—either acoustically or with self-contained amplification—such that visitors are compelled to explore the space in order to realize different musical combinations through a succession of aural vantage points. There is no single location from which to garner an all-over sound perspective; visitors must actively bring smaller sounds into focus by approaching them within Pioneer Works’ main hall.

Each of the four musicians on a given performance can be understood alternately as a soloist paired with a solid light work or as part of an ensemble. The selection of musicians, all of whom have extensive experience as improvisers, is motivated by the idea of the first-time encounter—none of the collections of performers will have previously performed in a given configuration.

Each of these performances begins with Anthony McCall’s solid light works already running, and McCall’s pieces continue after the last concertgoer has left. In this way it is established that Four Simultaneous Soloists—not an inaccurate way to describe the four vertical works on display in the main hall—is a performance project in which Anthony McCall’s works function as preexisting entities whose mode of operation imprints itself upon the musicians.

For full schedule: