For the twentieth anniversary of Subtext, we present a literary Anthology titled, “Cybernetics, or Ghosts? — Stories from Myth to A.I.” alongside a sister compilation of music responding to the stories by Subtext artists. You can tune in to Başak Günak’s (known as Ah! Kosmos) meditative composition „rather than continuous--„ via our SoundCloud.
Edited by British-Nigerian writer and artist Michael Salu, the anthology comprises fifteen short stories written in response to Italo Calvino’s seminal 1967 essay, “Cybernetic and Ghosts.” Within this essay, Calvino traces the development of language from mythology to a speculative future of automatic writing systems.
Contributors: ∀ i, Iphgenia Baal, Steve Barbaro, Blake Butler, Lisa Hsiao Chen, Tice Cin, Innocent Chizaram Ilo, Shingai Kagunda, Kelly Krumrie, Andrea Mason, Kuzhali Manickavel, Geoffrey Morrison, Rion Amilcar Scott, Simon Okotie, Mandy-Suzanne Wong. Introduced by Michael Salu.
Cybernetics, or Ghosts? follows 2023’s Fifth Quarter: Derek Jarman, Keith Collins & Dungeness as the first publications of Subtext Books, a sister imprint of the label.
Compiled by Subtext’s James Ginzburg, the compilation has contributions from the label’s current and forthcoming artists, as well as from artists that were instrumental in the beginnings of the label, such as Roly Porter who, as one-half of an early industrial dubstep project Vex’d — producers of the first two singles on Subtext — left an indelible mark on electronic music of the 21st century so far. These first two releases in 2004 and 2005 would be followed by six years of dormancy as Subtext founders James Ginzburg and Robert Ellis (aka Pinch) focused on other labels, while they waited to find equally singular music to follow up the initial Subtext releases with.
In 2011 Roly Porter played James the demos to his debut solo album “Aftertime” and agreed to allow Subtext to release it on the condition that Emptyset, also compilation contributors, released their LP Demiurge on the label first. The label has remained active since curated by James.
Other compilation contributions come from KMRU and Aho Ssan, Vietnamese collective Rắn Cạp Đuôi, Cairo-born / Berlin-based producer ZULI, Turkish composer and artist Başak Günak aka Ah! Cosmos, Ziúr, PYUR, xin, Holly Childs & Gediminas Žygus, Gonçalo Penas, MIRA新伝統, Amina Hocine, Eric Holm and Bridget Ferrill.
The artists, coming from equally diasporic backgrounds as the writers, were all asked to respond musically to the anthology, drawing inspiration from its texts and structure – and reflecting on how developments and evolution of technology used to generate text are mirrored in recent developments in the rise of generative AI for music.
Başak Günak’s new album „Rewilding“
Başak Günak is an Istanbul-born, Berlin-based sound artist and composer, also internationally known as AH! KOSMOS in the field of electronic music. Her work includes sound art, performance, sound installation, composition for theater, and contemporary dance. In her forthcoming solo album Rewilding, Başak Günak has worked with the themes of (auto) rewilding, foraging, and decay, while also incorporating sounds she has gathered from her sound art and sound installations. Rewilding embodies the sounds of whistles, and whispers, a deconstruction of a South-Eastern Anatolian folk song and the instruments; organ, bass clarinet, halldrophone, Buchla 100 and a broken piano. As foraging does not require territorial exclusivity, Başak Günak weaves together three songs from her sound installations presented in 2020 and 2023.
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[ You can follow Subtext Recordings here & Başak Günak (Ah! Kosmos) here ]
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