CHRISTIAN MARCLAY
Christian Marclay is a visual artist and composer whose work explores the interconnections between fine art and audio. Born in California, Marclay spent most of his childhood in Geneva before continuing his education in the United States.1 Inspired by the energetic nature of performance art and the punk rock genre, Marclay collaborated on a number of musical projects, including those with guitarist Kurt Henry, in which Marclay's use of the turntable as an instrument earned him recognition as an “inventor of turntablism.”2
Throughout his education, Marclay expressed interest in the Fluxus movement and cited the influences of John Cage, Yoko Ono, and Vito Acconci. Noise experimentation being a central focus of his art, Christian Marclay is known for his manipulation of vinyl records to produce new sounds, as demonstrated by his Recycled Records series, for which he sliced apart vinyl records and reassembled the shards to generate new sequences of sound. Marclay incorporates his passion for sound into his art, which blends music and the technology involved in its production.3 Examples of such pieces include Tape Fall and the Body Mix series. In recent years he has embraced the video, continuing to experiment with the technology. His best-known work is considered to be The Clock, a 24-hour video made up of time-related cinematic clips for which Marclay was awarded the Golden Lion for best artist at the Venice Biennale in 2011.
Marclay has exhibited his works internationally and following his Golden Lion for The Clock, was named by Newsweek as one of ten most important artists of today. Marclay currently divides his time between his American and Swiss residences.
1 The New Yorker: How Christian Marclay created the ultimate digital mosaic