Object Collection: Robert Ashley's "Automatic Writing" + Alexandra Buschman-Román: La Patio de Atrás (The Backyard) from Vidas Perfectas
The Lab presents live renditions and reimaginings of two works recorded by the Robert Ashley at the recently shuttered Center for Contemporary Music (CCM) at Mills College while he was the director there in the 1970s. Known for his creation of the “Made-for-TV Opera” Perfect Lives, commissioned by The Kitchen and the BBC, Ashley left an enormous impact on composers and artists regarding performance practice, camp aesthetics in cinema, collaboration, electronic systems, and the role of language in contemporary American musical landscapes.