Sultan Gallery is pleased to present the screening of Genre-Specific Xperience, an EP by New York based artist and musician Fatima Al Qadiri released on UNO NYC October 25th, 2011. GSX showcases five new pieces of music that each re-interpret different sub-genres of dance music: juke, hip hop, dubstep, electro-tropicalia, and ‘90s Gregorian trance. Al Qadiri collaborated with six artists to create original music videos—these are Kamau Patton, Tabor Robak, Thunder Horse, Sophia Al-Maria, Ryan Trecartin and Rhett LaRue. On October 21st, the videos will be premiered, and Al Qadiri will discuss the process and ideas around GSX with Patton.

GSX sets out to defy the phenomenon of sound specificity inherent in the output of independent record labels. For each track, Al Qadiri has distilled a genre of music into its constitutive elements and recomposed them. By fusing these tracks with commissioned video, GSX questions the logic of “genre-specific” music and asks: “What happens when genre is re-interpreted through both sound and video?” This inquiry works against the industry standard whereby music videos often comprise a random assortment of images that attempt to restage or interpret a song’s narrative. A multi-tiered visual and sonic experience, GSX unravels ideas behind genre specificity even while it disrupts the rigid codes of dance music.

Hip Hop Spa was conceived as the soundtrack to a luxury spa for rappers; it fuses choral harmonies with hip hop-style beats. In Vatican Vibes [video by Tabor Robak], Gregorian chant is situated in an updated rhythmic setting that parallels the not-yet-formalized trance music of the early ‘90s. The track stages the ominous quality of Catholic worship spaces. D-medley [video by Thunder Horse], riffs on the notion of electro-tropicalia, a tenuous genre that inhabits a fantasy realm loosely inspired by Brazilian music.

The next two genres tackled lack a distinct visual aesthetic leaving a space for the artists to imagine new aesthetics. Corpcore [video by Ryan Trecartin and Rhett LaRue] combines corporate and gym aesthetics prominent in urban environments. In this attempt to create a track inspired by juke, Al Qadiri offers the nascent genre from Chicago a touch of the cinematic. Finally, How Can I Resist U [video by Sophia Al-Maria] reveals itself as a love letter to dubstep, a largely British-based phenomenon.

Cover artwork for GSX by Daniel Keller (Aids-3D) and Timur Si-Qin.

Biographies of participating artists:

Fatima Al Qadiri is an artist and musician based in New York. She has performed and exhibited at the Tate Modern (part of K48 Kontinuum), MoMA PS1, New Museum, the 4th Gwangju Design Bienniale, Art Dubai, and The Third Line. Al Qadiri is a contributing editor at DIS Magazine and contributor to Bidoun magazine. She produced music under her name and as Ayshay.

Tabor Robak is an internet-based artist who has shown internationally. Having graduated from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2010, he currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, providing commercial services to global brands.

Ryan Trecartin was born in 1981 in Webster, Texas. He received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island in 2004. His most recent body of work Any Ever traveled from the Power Plant, Toronto in 2009 to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2010, then to the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, FL in 2011; MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York; and will open at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France in fall 2011.

Rhett LaRue was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1982 and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. He received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and has studied at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. His animation work has been featured in BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer), Los Angeles, Telfar Clemens' FORmale spring/summer 2011 exhibition, New York, Aboveground Animation, New York, and DIS Magazine. He collaborates with Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch on 3D animations and sculptural work.

Kamau Patton is a visual artist and art educator. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Sociology. He received his MFA from Stanford University, spring 2007. Patton has exhibited his work in solo shows in Los Angeles at Machine Project, in San Francisco at Queens Nails Annex and at Tilton Gallery in New York.

Sophia Al-Maria is based in Qatar. She is currently completing her first book Al-Amerikiya (Harper Collins NY).

Daniel Keller (born 1986 in Detroit, Michigan) lives and works in Berlin. He has studied at SAIC, Chicago, UDK, Berlin and Staedelschule, Frankfurt. In collaboration with Nik Kosmas as Aids-3D, recent solo exhibitions include Exotic Options, T293, Naples (2011); Ideal Work [Creative Solutions], Autocenter, Berlin (2010); and World Community Grid Water Features, Niklas Belenius, Stockholm (2010).

Timur Si-Qin (born 1984 in Berlin) grew up partly in Berlin, Beijing (China) and the American Southwest. He studied at the University of Arizona. Recent solo exhibitions include Custom Interior, Mark & Kyoko, Berlin (2011), and 爷爷: Aspects of the universe search and sorting computer, Société, Berlin (2010); select group exhibitions include A Painting Show, AUTOCENTER, Berlin (2011), Post Internet Survival Guide, Future Gallery/Gentili Apri, Berlin (2011), État de choses, Darsa Comfort, Zurich (2010).

Entertainment-arts collective and production company, Thunder Horse Video (comprised of Jude MC, Taran Allen and Alex Gvojic) challenges mainstream certainty that technology will prevail. Pushing towards the fall of modern-male's infatuation with computers.

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Event text produced in collaboration with Barrak Alzaid, Artistic Director ArteEast

Barrak Alzaid (b. 1985 Kuwait) is a writer, curator and artist, and is the Artistic Director of ArteEast. Recent curatorial and performance work include Seera Kartooniya (Bushwick Open Studios, 2010) and antinormanybody (Kleio Projects, 2011). He will be presenting a group installation piece, Diwaniya, in the Gwangju Design Biennial 2011. His article, Fatwas and Fags: Violence and the Discursive Production of Abject Bodies is published in The Columbia Journal of Gender and Law. He received his master’s in performance studies at NYU.

Genre-Specific X-Perience is available on iTunes and select stores in LP and digital formats

October 25th, 2011.