Past Events

The Grain of the Voice

Dec.13.2008
The End, Highland Park,
Los Angeles


Every auctioneer perfects his or her own "chant:" their own speed, rhythm, cadence and grain of voice. "The grain," says Roland Barthes, "is that materiality of the body." For our first holiday auction, MATERIAL hosted a live performance with a professional auctioneer, Michael Akin. Michael successfully sold out all the artworks in the auction.

We also installed two video works that dealt with performance and the voice. The first, by Chris Peters, entitled "The Last Variety Show," is a dark look at the language of televised variety shows. Julie Orser's "Not Yet Tomorrow" is a 1980's style sci-fi fantasy musical comedy.


Participating artists
Becky Beasley, Ellen Birrell, Christine Brandt, Ingrid Calame, David Raymond Conroy, Zoe Crosher, Nicholas Grider, Sunnifa Hope, Marie Jager, Farrah Karapetian, Thomas Lawson, George Kontos, Katie Lewis, Jacob Melchi, Jessica Minckley, Arthur Ou, OUMI / Mayumi Date, Julie Orser, Andy Parker, Kim Schoen, Kim Schoenstadt, Roland Seto, Charlotte Smith, Duncan Wooldridge, Augusta Wood, Bari Ziperstein, Chistine Brandt, Olivia Booth, Frank Chang, Andy Cline, Ginny Cook, Kate Glicksberg, Alyssa Gorelick, Emilie Halpern, David Horvitz, Marie Jager, Pete Kirby, Jay Lizo, Wendy Mason, Jacob Melchi, Alisa Ochoa, Chris Peters, Shelby Roberts, Max Warsh, Dee Williams.

The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice
The Grain of the Voice