The Double-Plus Good Kantisto Warbles shall serenade you as part of the Black Hole Club exhibition ‘Transmission‘, opening on Digbeth First Friday 2nd June from 7-9pm and then showing on Saturday 3rd June 12-4pm at Vivid Projects.

The Double-Plus-Good Kantisto Warbles represents the continuous descent into obselence of any new technology. Since time began there have been entertainers, particularly singers, who have carried songs across the world performing for audiences from a few individuals to crowds of thousands. In the eighteenth century the music box made a physical performer an optional extra – it gave people (for the first time) the capacity to hear particular tunes at home. This was then superseded by the wax cylinder and the gramophone.

As a wandering minstrel walking around the various sites of Digbeth First Friday I shall be serenading visitors in Nadsat, Newspeak and Esperanto. These languages are particularly interesting to me as each reflects a Utopian hope for the future, however Dystopian said future turned out to be. Song choices include ‘Ode to Joy’ (or “The Glorious Ninth”), ‘Happy Birthday’ (possibly the most immediately recognisable song in the world) and Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ (the first song to reach No. 1 via downloads). The sound of these performances shall be relayed back to a speaker in Vivid Projects.

So come along to Digbeth First Friday and let The Double-Plus Good Kantisto Warbles serenade you!