Knowledge

I credit ( in bold )
the friendships
whose conversations
resonate often
in my mind,
grateful
in their guiding wisdom
about
what not to do … 

… all else
comes to us all
soundly
from experimentation

about the featured image 
by composer Carles Santos

This image was the poster 
for the 1998 Subtropics 
which featured his first 
appearance ever in front
of a live Miami audience 

___________

Frozen Music: David , Rene + Chris Mann
the members of Frozen Music seen here while setting up for our New York debut performance
Beside me (L to R): Chris Mann, David Dunn & Rene Barge
background: crew
photo: Stephen Malagodi
Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn, NY

Diego 
proud walk with Diego in San Diego, CA

Gary Farmer
dear friend and avid supporter seen here during one of our favorite past times: happy hour at Gary’s
Bay Harbor Islands, FL

Wooden by Julio Roloff at Audiotheque 2.0
Resident artist, composer and close friend, Julio Roloff (center) surrounded by some of his audience during “day one” of the premiere of his eight channel sound composition, Wooden
Audiotheque, 924 Lincoln Road

Russell Frehling
Miami born sound artist, close friend and mentor, Russell Frehling seen here speaking about his work during his residency at Audiotheque in Miami Beach
photo: Stephen Malagodi

Sam Ashley
Resident trance-mystic composer, dear friend and collaborator, Sam Ashley, seen here meditating to a four-hour-long Sound Picnic performance by Frozen Music
Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Miami Beach

Earle Brown
A mentor and a friend, shown here in front of a Calder sculpture

Claudia
Here she is, escalating up the steps at Caixa Forum
Madrid, Spain

Vitto Acconci
Mutual admirers, here he is, conversing in public at Design Miami — one of his few commitments during our three-day weekend together with Claudia and Maria
Miami Beach

David Tudor
David granted me a rare opportunity for an interview about a year before he past. Here he is during his Subtropics American premiere performance of Neural Network Plus in April, 1993
Wolfson Auditorium, Downtown Miami

John Cage
performing Part IV of Empty Words during his three-day residency at Subtropics in 1991
Wolfson Auditorium, Downtown Miami

Alison Knowles performing Shoreline
the world premiere of Shoreline with Miami artist Pip Brant
during Fluxus Day event, Subtropics 2007
On The Beach, Miami Beach

Davey Williams
here’s a memory of a dear friend and colleague performing at Subtropics in 1999
Wolfson Auditorium, Downtown Miami

Stephen Malagodi
the most active activist I know. here we are on a train to Hartford, CT for a two-day weekend tribute to Robert Ashley hosted by Alvin Lucier at Wesleyan University
Metro-North

Robert Ashley
image of a friend of many a happy hour after a vegetarian meal
a painting by Richard Rodriguez

Joseph Celli
monitor and friend whom I first met in 1976 in Elmira College and reconnected with in Miami for work with New Music America Festival
photo taken at his home in Bridgeport, CT

Mike
“If you say you’re gonna do something… do it!” — Breaking Bad

Houston Cypress
South Dade Performing Arts Center
South Miami

Wolfgang Gil
resident artist Wolfgang Gil (to my left) with sound artist Edward Bobb (left) and Dimitry Chamy (right) after a run of his piece Aural Fields
Audiotheque 2.0, Miami Beach

Charles Recher
a relaxing Audiotheque moment with colleague and collaborator, filmmaker and video installation artist Charles Recher
photo: Stephen Malagodi
Audiotheque, Miami Beach

 John Van Der Slice
influential composition teacher and friend whose photo may have been taken in Paris. I was his student at the University of Miami, 1980-83

Dennis Kam
influential composition teacher and mentor, 1979-83
University of Miami

John Giorno
reminiscing about his Subtropics performance of 1990
photo: Stephen Malagodi
ICA, Miami

Alison, Vitto, Maria
with Alison Knowles during Vitto’s memorial event in January 2018
MoMA, NYC

Justin McDonnell
the genius and sound mind behind the commissioning of Cars and Fish for the inauguration of the Adrianne Arsht Center’s Plaza of the Arts and the opening of Art Basel 2005
Audiotheque 2.0, Miami Beach

Alivin Lucier
Hidden in the foreground, is me during the Subtropics 1993 performance of “Music for Solo Performer” with a young Douglas Repetto beside me and Alvin performing in the background. The instruments occupied the bulk of the space and the audience sat against the walls. Behind Alvin, one of the canvases for his installation “Sound On Paper.”
photo: Juan Cabrera
Centre Gallery, MDC Wolfson, Downtown Miami

R. Buckmenster Fuller
I never met Richard. But my parents did, after a lecture he gave in Caracas back in the late 60s. I didn’t really take him seriously until 1983 while still in school when I read his book, “Critical Path.” The one idea I read in it that continues to resonate within me to this day is the one about defining oneself “the guinea pig of our own experiments.” This idea, which I didn’t know how to put into words until I read the book, has always rung a loud as a bell within me. It describes the beginning of my own awareness of sound not so much as a vehicle for self expression, but as a context for understanding and navigating the world. I have experimented with sound since the beginning, to learn about its nature and the reason why it exists. And I have done it with the understanding and expectation that the outcome of these experiments will ultimately influence the way I live. That is the reason I make art… and boy! has it worked out that way.  
2004 stamp, USPS