It
is time to question whether a bipedal, breathing musician
with binocular vision and a 1400cc brain is an adequate biological
form. Musicians’ survival parameters are very
slim: they can survive only weeks without food, days
without alcohol and minutes without nicotine.
Technologies are better life-support systems for our image
than for our guitars: IMAGES ARE IMMORTAL, GUITARS
ARE EPHEMERAL. The guitar finds it increasingly difficult
to match the expectations of its images. In the realm of images, the
physical guitar’s impotence is apparent. THE
GUITAR NOW PERFORMS BEST AS ITS IMAGE. The guitar
becomes situated beyond its lacquer. The guitar
is neither a very efficient nor very durable structure. It malfunctions
often and fatigues quickly; its performance is determined by its age.
It is susceptible to muzak and is doomed to a certain
and early death. Musicians mostly operate with Absent
Guitars: what it means to become-guitar
is no longer the state of being immersed in musical
memory but rather in being reconfigured IN THE REALM OF THE IMAGE.
The musician’s absence is augmented by the
fact that the guitar functions habitually and automatically.
AWARENESS IS OFTEN THAT WHICH OCCURS WHEN THE GUITAR
MALFUNCTIONS. It is only when the guitar becomes
aware of its present position that it can map its post-evolutionary
strategies. AS SUPPOSED FREE AGENTS, THE CAPABILITIES OF BEING A GUITAR
ARE CONSTRAINED BY HAVING A GUITAR. THE GUITAR
IS OBSOLETE.
A longer version of this text was appropriatedwritten
in 1998 as part of a project called Guitar Unified Theory.
A revised version was handed out to punters attending a gig at the
Musicians' Club in St Kilda, Melbourne, sometime in the middle of
1999. The present, abridged version was subsequently displayed as
a large poster at the exhibition of 2000
Guitar Solos at TCB Art Inc. in 2003.
Ben.Harper, 1998-2003.
