Music fans have been wowed by artistic drum and percussion performances perhaps for as long as rock and jazz have existed. Examples of extraordinary ones in recent times include Randy Castillo playing the outside of his set during a drum solo, Dave Witte and Ryan Parrish with coordinated and dueling drums, a Boadrum open air orchestra of drums, and Tommy Lee playing his drum set upside down, to say nothing of bands that have used more than one drummer, from King Crimson to Action Beat.
Putting drummers together in new ways extends to the art world. Gilad Ratman is an Israeli artist whose permanent video installation “Drummerrsss” is showing at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Naama Riba wrote in Haaretz that Ratman filmed one drummer suspended in the air and another lowered into a pit, with the two playing off each other as well as a composed piece.
A quote from Ratman in the interview resonates with D.U.: “I believe that the encounter with art should be upsetting and confusing.”
SR Mediathek has a video report (in German) on the construction and filming of the installation. Braverman Gallery has more on the concept of the installation.
Ratman is no stranger to working with the music medium. In an earlier project, Ratman had metal musicians play in a field with their amps buried underground in a piece called “Five Bands From Romania”:
Photos: Braverman Gallery
