The Mouth Breathers Dance
Ryan Wurst
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Dear Ryan, We’re so glad you accepted our invite. We really like your body of work. Let’s begin with your works, The Mouth Breathers and Always Human Tapes. How does the story go for each of them? What’s the thought process behind every artistic decision you made for each one? What perplexing questions did you want to address through these works? The first project, of those two, was Always Human Tapes. |
Photo: courtesy of the author |
Both of my parents are music teachers so I was really destined to start doing something with music in my life. I ended up studying music composition in my undergrad at the University of Colorado. I was lucky enough to study and become really good friends with Michael Theodore, who was extremely supportive in my desire to pursue an MFA in visual art. (Even though I had taken next to no art classes) I ended up getting into the University of Minnesota and hilariously worked on mostly music at the beginning of my time there. I was trying to send demos to various labels and it really wasn’t working out. So, I decided I could figure out how to put things onto cassette tapes.
At the beginning of AHT I thought it was going to be all my own work and was going to try and keep it small. Then I started meeting a lot of amazing musicians and producers in Minneapolis and just asked them if I could put their music out. That was really one of the things that made the label grow a ton. I made a point of really focusing on the artist and putting out a tape they would want to put out. It still has that mentality today. Then we started playing a ton of shows in Minneapolis and a few outside, but for the first two years it was a group of less than 10 artists who made all of the releases.
As things started getting bigger and I could see the momentum of AHT taking off, I asked Peter Lansky (TML) and Josh Bestgen to run the label with me, which has been the best decision I could have made. They are both incredible and have taken the label to places I could have never imagined. It is really a passion project at this point and the three of us feel like instead of just listening to our favorite music we actually get to put it out! We are putting out artists from all over the world now.
The Mouth Breathers started as I was getting very interested in digital art and 3D animation and art specifically. I tend to try and learn as much as I can on the technical side without thinking about why I might be learning it. I was really trying to figure out an easy way of animating anything. It was a super daunting task to go from no idea to full human animation. Then I started using the Xbox Kinect for a couple other projects and thought, “I wonder if I could use that to animate things??” Turns out I could and it wasn’t super difficult. I started animating everything, which is fun for a little bit, but needs something to hold on to.
I really wanted to work with human forms and explore the translation of my body into digital. Would my body translate or would the computer interpret my movements very differently. When I first started experimenting with motion capture I noticed that it caught my movements pretty well, but not quite real. The figures and characters I was animating were kind of stupid. They could mimic my movement but not quite believably. This computer stupidity was really interesting to me.
Tech-stupidity is always intriguing to me. How can a computer be stupid? Are we training them to be stupid so they don’t make us feel inferior?
At the beginning of AHT I thought it was going to be all my own work and was going to try and keep it small. Then I started meeting a lot of amazing musicians and producers in Minneapolis and just asked them if I could put their music out. That was really one of the things that made the label grow a ton. I made a point of really focusing on the artist and putting out a tape they would want to put out. It still has that mentality today. Then we started playing a ton of shows in Minneapolis and a few outside, but for the first two years it was a group of less than 10 artists who made all of the releases.
As things started getting bigger and I could see the momentum of AHT taking off, I asked Peter Lansky (TML) and Josh Bestgen to run the label with me, which has been the best decision I could have made. They are both incredible and have taken the label to places I could have never imagined. It is really a passion project at this point and the three of us feel like instead of just listening to our favorite music we actually get to put it out! We are putting out artists from all over the world now.
The Mouth Breathers started as I was getting very interested in digital art and 3D animation and art specifically. I tend to try and learn as much as I can on the technical side without thinking about why I might be learning it. I was really trying to figure out an easy way of animating anything. It was a super daunting task to go from no idea to full human animation. Then I started using the Xbox Kinect for a couple other projects and thought, “I wonder if I could use that to animate things??” Turns out I could and it wasn’t super difficult. I started animating everything, which is fun for a little bit, but needs something to hold on to.
I really wanted to work with human forms and explore the translation of my body into digital. Would my body translate or would the computer interpret my movements very differently. When I first started experimenting with motion capture I noticed that it caught my movements pretty well, but not quite real. The figures and characters I was animating were kind of stupid. They could mimic my movement but not quite believably. This computer stupidity was really interesting to me.
Tech-stupidity is always intriguing to me. How can a computer be stupid? Are we training them to be stupid so they don’t make us feel inferior?
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In addition to your visual work, you are also a musician, writer, performance artist and curator? Who is your favorite hero or heroine in each of these fields? What ordinary people inspire you to make music, to write, to create and curate/direct?
Hehe…. I have been doing musical things for much longer than anything else, so I am completely flattered that visual work came up first. And that writer came up at all! My best writing is usually computer assisted: ryanwurst.com/AloneWithDirtyThoughts.pdf
Visual:
Jamie Kinroy (https://jamiekinroy.wordpress.com)
Music:
Michael Theodore (michaeltheodore.info)
Writer:
Deep Drumpf (https://twitter.com/deepdrumpf)
Curator:
Low Income $quad (https://lowincomesquad.bandcamp.com)
How do you describe your music?
That is a little tough. I started making a lot of music in different styles in a short amount of time, so I started creating a lot of pseudonyms:
pleasurlife https://alwayshumantapes.bandcamp.com/album/useless
This was the first pseudonym I started using. It is a mashing together of academic textures and dance music beats. All with trashy VHS samples.
Yellow Hyper Balls https://alwayshumantapes.bandcamp.com/album/transi
YHB is noise with a simple four on the floor that stares death in the face.
Matthew MB https://alwayshumantapes.bandcamp.com/album/matthew-mb
Dance music for Mouth Breathers.
Bert Gan https://alwayshumantapes.bandcamp.com/album/black-tape-i
Bert is a data analyst by day and an introspective ambient composer by night.
Soul Tangler http://www.disposablecommodities.com/#!disco006/ca19
Soul Tangler exists somewhere in-between softcore porn, b-movie horror flicks, and a loud dark basement.
Hehe…. I have been doing musical things for much longer than anything else, so I am completely flattered that visual work came up first. And that writer came up at all! My best writing is usually computer assisted: ryanwurst.com/AloneWithDirtyThoughts.pdf
Visual:
Jamie Kinroy (https://jamiekinroy.wordpress.com)
Music:
Michael Theodore (michaeltheodore.info)
Writer:
Deep Drumpf (https://twitter.com/deepdrumpf)
Curator:
Low Income $quad (https://lowincomesquad.bandcamp.com)
How do you describe your music?
That is a little tough. I started making a lot of music in different styles in a short amount of time, so I started creating a lot of pseudonyms:
pleasurlife https://alwayshumantapes.bandcamp.com/album/useless
This was the first pseudonym I started using. It is a mashing together of academic textures and dance music beats. All with trashy VHS samples.
Yellow Hyper Balls https://alwayshumantapes.bandcamp.com/album/transi
YHB is noise with a simple four on the floor that stares death in the face.
Matthew MB https://alwayshumantapes.bandcamp.com/album/matthew-mb
Dance music for Mouth Breathers.
Bert Gan https://alwayshumantapes.bandcamp.com/album/black-tape-i
Bert is a data analyst by day and an introspective ambient composer by night.
Soul Tangler http://www.disposablecommodities.com/#!disco006/ca19
Soul Tangler exists somewhere in-between softcore porn, b-movie horror flicks, and a loud dark basement.
What do you look for in an art work from the curator’s perspective?
A lot of the time I am really going for a gut reaction to something. If someone has sent me something to listen to I will usually know whether I like it or not on the first listen. Is there something in those sounds that really peak my interest? Do the sounds convey something that is greater than the sum of their parts? That really is when music is magical.
Someone can take a very basic drum beat and put it with a vocal sample and it could be the most amazing thing ever. That’s exciting! There has to be a kind of effortlessness to the sounds and how they are coming out of the stereo.
There has to, HAS TO be moments in the composition. I live for moments of change, drastic or subtle.
For visual work, it’s the same gut reaction. But will the piece keep my eyes on the piece even after I have stopped looking at it. I also love looking at art that is very immersive. It doesn’t have to be visual immersion, but mental as well.
When an idea is really great and expressed in a way that doesn’t give away the idea, but alludes to it, that is immersive.
In general, I am also very attracted to humor be it dark or light or goofy or whatever. I love to laugh at absurd things.
I really think in the end, the curator is not looking for a single work of art. They are looking for artists. The curator’s job (at least in the art of living artists) is to then support continued creation of art.
The curator controls the space, but artists control the ideas.
Do you avoid nonsensical situations to find yourself in the right environment to create? Or do you make good use of everything you witness?
Oh my god! I live for nonsensical situations. My studio is my laptop, so I have gotten pretty good at working in many different environments. My room in my apartment is very small, so my studio has mainly been sitting cross-legged in my bed for hours on end. I definitely need to switch up environments pretty often and I am lucky that I am mobile.
The space that I inhabit is mostly the internet. I think all of that really does influence my work. It’s how I see art and listen to music.
What is the most exhilarating feeling you’ve tried to recreate?
The first time I saw Chris Farley fall on a coffee table.
What type of emotions do you react most to and what is the preferred or intended reaction towards your art?
I am such a sucker dark humor. I think that the darkness usually comes across in my work, but I always want there to be a little giggle at the end.
Some of my favorite reactions have been when people did things I couldn’t even imagine. In The Mouth Breathers Dance installation I did a few years back, people started to mimic what they were seeing The Mouth Breathers do on the screens. They were trying to dance in a really interesting glitchy way. I never expected that.
One of my other favorite reactions was during a Yellow Hyper Balls live set in a warehouse in Minneapolis. I was totally lost in playing during the whole set which was filled with lots of noise and difficult sounds. Then I looked up for a moment and saw a couple grinding on each other like they were in a club. It was amazing.
I hope my art can make people lose their mind a little bit.
What do you see as destructive attitude in the art scene and beyond?
I honestly think that there is way too much emphasis placed on an artist’s CV. It is insanely destructive to constantly quantify your art. There are so many people making things up for their CV and I have met plenty of people who pad their CV.
There should be more emphasis placed on having a conversation with artists and curators rather than seeing a list of what they have done.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve put yourself through and why?
I once did a 12 hour piano performance. I hallucinated for a little bit, but it was totally not worth it. I look back at it and honestly can’t find the reason why I did it. Never again.
Where do you turn to seek hope?
Sloths.
The world we live in is...
Depressingly hilarious.
For more visit Ryan's Websites:
ryanwurst.com
alwayshumantapes.com
themouthbreathers.com
A lot of the time I am really going for a gut reaction to something. If someone has sent me something to listen to I will usually know whether I like it or not on the first listen. Is there something in those sounds that really peak my interest? Do the sounds convey something that is greater than the sum of their parts? That really is when music is magical.
Someone can take a very basic drum beat and put it with a vocal sample and it could be the most amazing thing ever. That’s exciting! There has to be a kind of effortlessness to the sounds and how they are coming out of the stereo.
There has to, HAS TO be moments in the composition. I live for moments of change, drastic or subtle.
For visual work, it’s the same gut reaction. But will the piece keep my eyes on the piece even after I have stopped looking at it. I also love looking at art that is very immersive. It doesn’t have to be visual immersion, but mental as well.
When an idea is really great and expressed in a way that doesn’t give away the idea, but alludes to it, that is immersive.
In general, I am also very attracted to humor be it dark or light or goofy or whatever. I love to laugh at absurd things.
I really think in the end, the curator is not looking for a single work of art. They are looking for artists. The curator’s job (at least in the art of living artists) is to then support continued creation of art.
The curator controls the space, but artists control the ideas.
Do you avoid nonsensical situations to find yourself in the right environment to create? Or do you make good use of everything you witness?
Oh my god! I live for nonsensical situations. My studio is my laptop, so I have gotten pretty good at working in many different environments. My room in my apartment is very small, so my studio has mainly been sitting cross-legged in my bed for hours on end. I definitely need to switch up environments pretty often and I am lucky that I am mobile.
The space that I inhabit is mostly the internet. I think all of that really does influence my work. It’s how I see art and listen to music.
What is the most exhilarating feeling you’ve tried to recreate?
The first time I saw Chris Farley fall on a coffee table.
What type of emotions do you react most to and what is the preferred or intended reaction towards your art?
I am such a sucker dark humor. I think that the darkness usually comes across in my work, but I always want there to be a little giggle at the end.
Some of my favorite reactions have been when people did things I couldn’t even imagine. In The Mouth Breathers Dance installation I did a few years back, people started to mimic what they were seeing The Mouth Breathers do on the screens. They were trying to dance in a really interesting glitchy way. I never expected that.
One of my other favorite reactions was during a Yellow Hyper Balls live set in a warehouse in Minneapolis. I was totally lost in playing during the whole set which was filled with lots of noise and difficult sounds. Then I looked up for a moment and saw a couple grinding on each other like they were in a club. It was amazing.
I hope my art can make people lose their mind a little bit.
What do you see as destructive attitude in the art scene and beyond?
I honestly think that there is way too much emphasis placed on an artist’s CV. It is insanely destructive to constantly quantify your art. There are so many people making things up for their CV and I have met plenty of people who pad their CV.
There should be more emphasis placed on having a conversation with artists and curators rather than seeing a list of what they have done.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve put yourself through and why?
I once did a 12 hour piano performance. I hallucinated for a little bit, but it was totally not worth it. I look back at it and honestly can’t find the reason why I did it. Never again.
Where do you turn to seek hope?
Sloths.
The world we live in is...
Depressingly hilarious.
For more visit Ryan's Websites:
ryanwurst.com
alwayshumantapes.com
themouthbreathers.com