Fairly Used by Nicolussi

For the audiovisual show Fair Use, developed and performed by Nicolussi in 2024, obsolete media and abandoned data carriers such as Mini DV, cassettes and Dictaphone tapes were highlighted. Fair Use features an experimental film projection edited and processed from found footage as well as a musical improvisation composed in real time. During the performance the artist is hidden behind a translucent projection surface, blurring the relationship between nostalgia and reality. Fair Use opens a wide range of possible interpretations and questions with borrowed originality, pirating in artistic creation and cautious handling/misuse of sensitive data as central themes. For the EP Fairly Used recordings of rehearsals and live performances were edited and rearranged into complete tracks. The base material was recorded while rehearsing in Vienna and while performing at FLUCC in Vienna and KAPU in Linz.

“A few years ago, when I started to collect the first analog Dictaphones running on micro cassettes to resample my sound designs in a lo-fi manner, I was ripped off regularly. People (knowingly) sold their unusable trash claiming that it still works. Whenever I threw out the Dictaphones I could not fix, I would keep the precious cassettes of course. Lucky enough to also score some working voice recorders, I realized that most of the worn-out tapes people passed on to me to make their offer bearable for their guilty conscience still had some audio recorded. That’s what you get, I guess. Over the years I grew a chaotic archive of obsolete media carrying different kinds of data. Lawyers recording their cases, plumbers accidentally recording themselves on the way to a client, kids reading jokes to their friends, the answering machine of a dentist, two lovers sending back and forth a micro cassette with cheesy poems they recorded – you name it. I continued to unearth eerie, secret, intimate, obscure and interesting recordings not meant for my ears nor for a wider audience. While incorporating these snippets into live performances, productions and improvisations, ethical questions began to rise, and I learned to treat this delicate information with the respect necessary. It’s uncertain where this interest leads to in the future. For sure it took me to some strange places already – with this collection of tracks I’d like to share some of them.”
- Nicolussi

Nicolussi performs in numerous projects, composes for theater and film and co-runs the cassette label Epileptic Media. Analog and digital systems of chance, processed field recordings and everyday noises form the basis for his heavily manipulated sound designs.
He released on various labels including Objects & Sounds, Abhorrent A.D., Beach Buddies Records, Interstellar Recordings and A.T.C. Records.

nicolussi.bandcamp.com

diy cassette label from vienna

obscure music on cassettes since '09.

orders go out once or twice a month.

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