On Feb. 28, 1977, On Being Invisible (OBI) was performed at the Western Front in Vancouver. Stills from the black and white video shot there, capture David Rosenboom playing a touch-sensitive keyboard (Buchla 200 Electric Music Box), and also improvising in real-time with his brainwaves. The EEG output was sonified by a hybrid computer sound synthesis system. So in this neuromusical work, Rosenboom continued exploring ways to relate information processing in the human nervous system to aesthetic experience and possibilities of using biofeedback to create music.
Invited by Martin Bartlett, one of the founders of the performance space in Vancouver, Rosenboom gave a concert in two two parts. The first involved the EEG system described above. In the second part of the live performance, he used his voice, finger cymbals, a monkey drum, and a reed instrument to activate the software.
A recording of the concert has been released for the first time by Black Truffle Records on the double-vinyl release of the historic album, Brainwave Music. Videos from the concert can be watched on Rosenboom’s Vimeo channel (Part 1 and Part 2) or YouTube channel (Part 1 and Part 2).
On Being Invisible was originally to be premiered at the Music Gallery in Toronto in 1976. But due to an electrical catastrophe that led to computer failure, the concert had to be canceled, while the audience was already gathered at the front door. Since the organizers had prepared beer for attendees, they were all invited inside. People gathered around the non-functioning set of equipment, looking at it with sad faces, as if they had come for a funeral. (See colored picture.)
After rebuilding the equipment, Rosenboom performed the piece at the Music Gallery in 1977, and a recording was published on vinyl by Music Gallery Editions and later re-released on CD by Pogus Productions.
On Being Invisible was performed later in other venues. I poster for one in Santa Cruz, California is shown here.
