51717

T51717, the intuitive language of New York-based artist Lili Schulder, presents new work that explores themes of “Perfected Fear” described in the rabbinic literature of Genesis Rabbah, as well as the exorcism of anguish as it has become understood within Jewish Meditation and the interpretations of Reb Nachman of Bratslav.

51717 takes the droning and whispered sounds of the synagogue as a point of departure, interpreting Reb Nachman’s “still small voice” to become a sonic “scream in the mind” that channels and re-codes loudness through a subdued and meditative practice. Using field recordings from domestic settings and site specific locations in Poland and Germany, and techniques of repetition, moving stillness, restraint, and tension, 51717 keeps her sonic sources hidden, rather focusing on the transmission and decay of overwhelming thematic elements into minor sonic forms. Here, her work touches on implicit musical tensions between noise and silence, language and sound, material and transcendence -- dichotomies that often form the binaristic conditions that are confronted and deconstructed within meditative and ritualistic practice.

51717 is a deeply intimate and intuitive language of New York-based artist Lili Schulder which serves to explore themes of restraint, power, and ritualism. Voice, electronics, and a highly confrontational austerity is set against the backdrop of the mutant metropolitan city. Past and present ricochet. Slow, furious, erotic, and unheimlich landscapes unfold. Born and raised into an Orthodox Jewish family, the droning and whispered sounds of the Ashkenazic synagogue service and Chasidic melodies were a formative introduction to abstracted sound expression. The solemn and mournful songs remain a potent influence. As a teenager, exposure to the local DC punk scene beget collaboration and performance. An introduction to non-Western arts led to study of koto, Balinese gamelan, and Chinese calligraphy at University. A move to San Francisco brought exposure to rave culture - arousing the experimentation with electronics that continues to this day. Interspersed with residencies in Europe and Japan, Schulder has been based in New York City for the past 10 years. Here, she has been developing and refining a sonic and visual language that transcends genre and trend, but speaks from a highly personalized, yonic-psychedelic dimension and a devotion to the book of questions. She has performed in a wide variety of settings around North America, Europe, Russia, and Japan, and has released music on Jealous God, L.I.E.S., Russian Torrent Versions, Opal Tapes, and Total Black.