Robert Ashley on Mixed Media and Minimalism
Robert Ashley, a key figure of the American avant-garde since the 1950s, has long defied categorization, working across music, text, video, electronic arts, and performance. His recent works, Improvement and El/Aficionado, premiered in Paris as part of the Festival d'Automne. In an interview with Dominique Guillerm, Ashley discusses the evolution of mixed media, his shift toward narrative simplicity, recurring characters across pieces, the unity of multiple stories, his embrace of minimalism, and the disconnect between technology and his musical conception.
Key facts
- Robert Ashley is an American avant-garde artist active since the 1950s.
- His work spans music, text, video, electronic arts, and performance.
- Improvement and El/Aficionado were created in Paris for the Festival d'Automne.
- Dominique Guillerm interviewed Ashley about mixed media and narrative simplicity.
- Ashley discussed recurring characters across his works.
- He addressed the unity of multiple stories in his pieces.
- He spoke about his preference for minimalism.
- He commented on the gap between technology and his musical conception.
Entities
Artists
- Robert Ashley
- Dominique Guillerm
Institutions
- Festival d'Automne
- artpress
Locations
- Paris
- France
Sources
- artpress —