Elad Gurewitz

Wear is a work for a no-input mixer. The performance will combine a filmed documentation together with live playing, naked and free of distractions.

The no-input mixing setup is an unusual technique that runs counter to the device’s conventional use. Instead, this form of disruption routes input into output and output back into the input, creating infinite sound loops (feedback). I first approached this system armed with the tools of a traditional piano player. The gap between the system’s spontaneous world and the documented world of the classical piano led me to try to organize the system and make it predictable, an attempt that proved impossible. I found myself wearing different hats: rebuilding the instrument, documenting it, performing it, and composing for it.

Why do two systems with the same conditions and the same starting points lead to different results?
How can memories be told through bodily cues?
What is hidden in the belly of a blue box?
A no-input mixing system is, as its name suggests, devoid of any external input. Therefore, the real world of work exists inside a blue plastic cage and among the electrical circuits. The significant wear on the mixer- the burnt circuits, missing sliders, faulty buttons, unstable areas- all reveal a forgotten history to the listener. Like beauty marks, wrinkles at the corner of an eye, rough hands, and a small indentation in an earlobe, the system’s memories have been etched into it, leaving their imprint.
In order to shed light on these imprints, I try to dwell precisely at the threshold points of the mixer, liminal moments, unstable, and almost disappearing. These areas are the project’s center of gravity, and from them the work emerges.

A heartfelt thank you to Dan Weinstein, my mentor, for his dedicated guidance, patience, long conversations, and unwavering support.
Special thanks as well to Amir Boltzmann, Head of the Department, for your trust, warmth, and confidence.