Is Art Is — CEAIT TeleConcert Version

Is Art Is was written for the group Electric Stereopticon in 1994. It is one of David Rosenboom’s very often performed compositions. It can be arranged for a wide variety of instrumentations and was regularly programmed as a two-piano duo by Rosenboom and J.B. Floyd. A trio version, adding South Indian mrdangam master, Trichy Sankaran, can be heard on the 2004 CD, Suitable for Framing (MutableMusic #17517-2), and on the original 1975 vinyl release (. Records #ST1000). The version in this video is from a 1994 TeleConcert in which four Yamaha Disklaviers, two in New York and two in Santa Monica, CA, were linked via telecommunications technology, synchronizing MIDI data with audio and video signals to enable a transcontinental duet. The transmission delay, unavoidable due to the limitation of the speed of light, was built into the rhythmic cycles and improvisations. Morton Subotnick explains the connections. (The original video is vintage VHS and is unaltered or edited here.) In the early 1990s, Subotnick and Rosenboom produced a series of TeleConcerts featuring a variety of artists under the banner of CEAIT (Center for Experiments in Art, Information and Technology) in The Herb Alpert School of Music at California Institute of the Arts. More information on Is Art Is and Rosenboom’s work can be found on his website: