CD - Artkillart.Tk
Scratch is presented in the guise of an installation incorporating the world's fastest industrial robot, modified, according to Michael Sellam's concept, to interact precisely with the vinyl surface of specially selected records to produce particular sounds. The record is simply placed on a horizontal surface and is then attacked by the fast "slashes" of the meticulously controlled mechanical arm. The sequences chase one another at such a high speed that tracking the movements is impossible for the human eye. The movements are precise and surgical, and are orchestrated by a computer program written specifically for the project. The high pressure caused by the movement of the needle on the surface produces a series of erosions and removes part of the grooves. The choice of which records to process is free and arbitrary, and the process is not interrupted until it reaches its saturation point. It's a convoluted machinic and turntablist conceptualization, alienating but very dense and poetic in its final audible sequences.
Aurelio Cianciotta