Festival area comprised of car park
and camping area, a rock auditorium, a village with booths and cinema,
a large wooded area. A number of tape recorders planted in the woods and
the village. As many as possible so as to lay down a grid of sound over
the whole festival. Recorders have tapes of prerecorded material, music,
news, broadcasts, recordings from other festivals, etc. At all times some
of the recorders are playing back and some are recording. The recorders
recording the crowd and the other tape recorders that are playing back
at varying distances. This cuts in the crowd who will be hearing their
own voices back. Play back, wind back and record could be electronicly
controlled with varying intervals. Or they could be hand operated, the
operator deciding what intervals of play back, record, and wind to use.
Effect is greatly increased by a large number
of festival goers with portable recorders playing back and recording as
they walk around the festival. We can carry it further with projection
screens and video cameras. Some of the material is pre-prepared, sex films,
films of other festivals, and this material is cut in with live TV broadcasts
and shots of the crowd. Of course, the rock festival will be cut in on
the screens, thousands of fans portable recorders recording, and playing
back, the singer could direct play back und record. Set up an area for
travelling performers, jugglers, animal acts, snake charmers, singers,
musicians, and cut these acts in. Film and tape from the festival, edited
for best material, could then be used at other festivals.
Quite a lot of equipment and engineering to set it up. The festival could
certainly be enhanced if as many festival goers as possible bring portable
tape recorders and play back at the festival. Any message, music, conversation
you want to pass around, bring it pre-recorded on tape so everybody takes
a piece of your tape home.
The Electronic Revolution, By
William S. Burroughs (1970) |