Gryphon Rue: Alexander Calder & Sound | Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

This lecture examines Alexander Calder’s (1898-1976) use of sound in his artworks, his friendships with avant-classical composers, and the influence of the mobile on postwar and contemporary music. It was presented on the morning of September 20th, 2018 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts as part of the retrospective exhibition Alexander Calder: Radical Inventor (Sep 22nd, 2018 – Feb 17th, 2019). Sound experimentalist, composer-performer, and curator in the field of audiovisual culture, Gryphon Rue is a specialist on Alexander Calder’s use of sound in his artistic practice, and the influence of the mobile on postwar and contemporary music. In 2013, he wrote the essay Calder and Sound, which appears in the catalogues accompanying the exhibitions Alexander Calder: Avant-Garde in Motion at Kunstsammlung NRW in Dusseldorf and translated into Spanish for Alexander Calder: Theater of Encounters at Fundacion Proa in Buenos Aires. Rue co-curated the Calder Foundation’s 12-hour projects in 2012 and 2013—continu