27.09.2005 - 16.10.2005
An audio-visual research
into the nature and codes of reggae culture.
Sasker Scheerder is a Rotterdam based sound-related visual artist. His
work being often described as a synthesis of western neuroticism and
Afro-Caribbean slackness, he now decides to take this serious in a new
work for Sub-urban's video lounge, where he will investigate into the
nature of reggae culture's appearances in an almost scientific way. Also,
you can drink coffee there.
'Version' refers to dub music where record producers of early ska or soul music started to use defragmented parts from the original recordings, made in the daytime, to build completely new songs and soundscapes from these in the nighttime. The result is called a 'version'. It is the origin of remix culture in its broadest sense. The music is mostly instrumental and usually features heavily processed sound effects and other noises, such as animal sounds, and producers shouting instructions at the musicians. Dub music is strongly related to the Rastafari movement, a religious movement that reveres Haile Selassie I, the former emperor of Ethiopia, as King of Kings, Lord of Lords and the Lion of Judah. The movement emerged in Jamaica among working-class and peasant black people in the early 1930s, arising from an interpretation of Biblical prophecy, black social and political aspirations, and the teachings of their prophet, Jamaican black publicist and organiser Marcus Garvey, whose political and cultural vision helped inspire a new world view.
But nobody told Sasker Scheerder any of this. He is still wondering what all these funny red, yellow and green colours are about. He knows they must mean something.
special thanks to Kinda FDlorians for editing DVD