TITLE: Psychotropic #1; UFO Concrete #2;
Third Dream From The Center Of The Left Eye
MATERIALS: 2 MDF panels, each 5ft x 3ft, Small table, 2 VCRs, 2 mini-disk or CD players, 2 pairs of digital quality headphones, 2 small video monitors, 2 comfortable chairs
DIMENSIONS: Kiosk; 5ft x 3ft x 9ft
DATE: 2003

DESCRIPTION
My sound and video art is a marriage of musique conrete and collage in the grand French tradition, combined with experimental images on digital video. It is intended to draw the participant into a dream state of subconscious symbols and sound - a hypnogogic hallucinatory experience which is unique to each individual. Sit relax, dream again…

I am narcoleptic and am often inspired by hypnogogic visions to create art which reflects and evokes this kind of altered state of consciousness. My images and sounds are designed to affect the part of the mind at the edge of consciousness, in that timeless non-linear place we call "imagination". Images are symbols and are fluid and transformative. One must rely on an inner sense of knowing to experience this unreality fully.

I hope that each participant can find their own vision in my work.

Technically, I work with many different media, including reel to reel tape, digital recorders, mini-disk recorders, old records and cassettes, samples from radio and television, field recordings, old microphones and speakers, old record players and cassette decks, found objects, toys, shortwave radios, digital and analog synthesizers, traditional instruments, spoken word, electronics, sound creation and editing software, digital camera and video mixing console, and the usual digital recording equipment, mixing board, etc.

STATEMENT
As a composer and multi-media artist working in the areas of experimental electronic sound and video, my mission is to create works that help expand the definition of what is commonly referred to as "music" and "film". My current definition of music and sound art is: pressure waves in air. As far as "film" is concerned, I believe that it covers any form of playing with moving colour, light and shadow that can be captured and reproduced. Through the composition of tape music, computer music, musique concrete, sound collage, and experimental video, I am exploring the far reaches of inner space where the freedom of expression is open for expansion and the esoteric ideas are ready to be plucked like a juicy fruit from the tree of knowledge.

I am committed to the presentation of collaborative multi-media performances and recording projects as a way of moving western civilization along at least in a modest way toward realization of the inner world of art and dreams. If I can inspire a few brave souls to look beyond the fringes of art and science and see a totally new vision, it will have been worth it all.

BIO
Mark Taylor-Canfield is a well-known figure in the Seattle area. Sometimes controversial, he has always managed to stir up the political and arts scene and over the years he has developed a reputation for challenging the status quo. His arrest onstage during his own performance at Seattle Symphony's Benaroya Hall is the stuff of legends and has inspired performance art pieces and numerous articles and essays. Mark had planned to protest the state of the arts in Seattle and the lack of public funding, specifically targeting the Mayor's Arts Task Force which never really accomplished anything to help local artists. In fact, Seattle Mayor Paul Schell had vetoed or shelved all of the group's proposals.

In the ensuing controversy, Taylor-Canfield was arrested before he could actually perform the world premier of his solo piano piece, "Catharsis", because of slanderous rumors that he planned to destroy the Symphony's expensive concert grand piano. He had denied the rumors all along, but someone decided he was just a little too political and the rest is history. Of course, no charges were ever filed since he broke no laws. All he did was step onto the stage. The film of his arrest, by the way, was featured on local news programs and the Seattle Weekly headlined
their story, "Composer Nabbed, Piano Saved".

CONTACT
Mark Taylor Canfield
Seattle, WA