Real Life is Dead & Other Show Tunes is a compilation of songs originally written and recorded to accompany art projects I have exhibited around the world over the past couple of decades, up to 2021. This is released as a 13 track vinyl LP (and on digital platforms) in Yellow and Red vinyl on the Last Night from Glasgow label in 2021. The Realifers of the title are an evolving cast of artists, students, friends and collaborators who sing and play on the songs with me. As you will hear, these often take the form a duet, the words of the song performed in English and also in the language of the place where the exhibition is taking place. The songs are an important part of communicating each exhibition to the audience in Japan, France, China, USA, Europe etc. With this album I wanted to celebrate these collaborations bringing them together for the first time as a long playing record. I also wanted to thank each of the players who have contributed their unique voices to these projects over the years.
In 1994 I had the words REAL LIFE tattooed in black ink across my back, at Terry’s Tattoo parlour in Glasgow. Since then I have explored this idea in hundreds of exhibitions in public and private spaces, museums and galleries all around the world. After a quarter of a century I added two words to the tattoo on my back reflecting on this long and interesting journey. The tattoo now read: Real Life is Dead. These are the songs from the shows, the Show Tunes that have punctuated the evolution of this Real Life Project.
This output seeks to explore new ways to document and disseminate my Real Life Project, or indeed any longitudinal art project and how this can connect with different audiences across space and time using unusual and idiosyncratic forms and media. It asks, how can a body of artwork that existed as a series of discrete exhibitions in specific contextual locations for a set period of time, be documented and understood spanning this long period, using other methods than images to reanimate and keep active the feel and meanings of the work. When the work itself no longer exists, can outputs like this retain some of the meanings and qualities of the work, providing an overview bringing them together in a way never possible when experiencing the works individually?
This work explores these questions through the context of the revival of the vinyl phenomena, acknowledging the hauntological implications of making an object using an old fashioned analogue methodology(Mark Fisher/Derrida), appealing to an audience who may be engaged with this exploration to address ideas of memory and value and how the spirit of artworks can be kept alive using different forms and prompts.
The record came with an additional special edition of 50 each containing a small original painting made based on the title of the record.
