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During the In Transit Festival 09, Resistance of the Object, Allen S. Weiss gave a generous amount of his time away from Danse Macabre to sit down and bring his wealth of knowledge to the table in a discussion with Hausradio's Pit Schultz. The topics span several centuries, always returning to art and radio.
The discussion begins with radio art and ventures into Baroque gardens and anecdotes on the Lion King’s water works at Versailles. They move on to M. Antonin Artuad and radio art, romantic ideas about technology and Henry David Thoreau and the wonderful sound of telegraph lines in otherwise natural settings. Of course, the two also touch on silence and noise. The topic then turns directly towards the Danse Macabre installation and performance. Here, Weiss expands on the collaboration with Michel Nedjar (the dolls), Boualem Ben Gueddach (the lighting), Mark Sussman (the puppeteer), and the audio contributions of Gregory Whitehead (audio) and the subtle differences between dolls, marionettes and puppets. There are reflections on the sometimes grey border between life and death, animation, reanimation and disembodied performativity. Finally, it is all about the joy of living in spite of unspeakable horrors.
Allen S. Weiss has published over 40 books on topics ranging from radio art, the philosophy of landscape architecture to experimental theater. He is an artist, writer and theorist. Weiss is Associate Professor of Performance Studies and Cinema Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in New York.