February 1, 2005
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@ sa.ucsb.edu

The always adventurous and creative David Byrne presents the innovative performance piece I PowerPoint at UCSB Corwin Pavilion

Summary Facts:

• David Byrne
• I PowerPoint
• Byrne’s performance piece unlocks the startling artistic possibilities of the all-pervading business presentation software PowerPoint
• Byrne is the former lead singer/guitarist for the Talking Heads, Academy Award winner for The Last Emperor soundtrack and a solo artist
• Tuesday, March 8 / 8 pm
• UCSB Corwin Pavilion
• General public: $20 / UCSB students: $15
• Tickets/Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

Former head of the Talking Heads and creative dynamo David Byrne, will present the surprising, comic and touching performance piece I PowerPoint on Tuesday, March 8 at 8 pm at UCSB Corwin Pavilion. On his website Byrne explains, “I have been working with PowerPoint, the ubiquitous presentation software, as an art medium for a number of years. It started off as a joke (this software is a symbol of corporate salesmanship, or lack thereof) but then the work took on a life of its own as I realized I could create pieces that were moving, despite the limitations of the ‘medium.’”

First Byrne developed the book and CD Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information, a collection of images, essays and music that subverts PowerPoint. The software tends to lead its user to present material, and therefore think, on a simplistic level. Although the book’s title is a sly reference to the acclaimed graphic design book Envisioning Information, written by outspoken PowerPoint critic and Yale professor Edward R. Tufte, Byrne isn’t entirely critical of PowerPoint, discovering it has unexpected artistic uses.

His live presentation, which has been showcased in galleries from New York City to Tokyo, allows him to project the slides and thereby replicate the PowerPoint experience, although with distinct and quirky twists. I PowerPoint won a 2004 Wired magazine Rave Award. Newsweek writes, “Byrne has developed what must be the most surreal PowerPoint lectures of all time.... Think Dilbert on acid.”

David Byrne attended the Rhode Island School of Design and Maryland Institute College of Art. He is primarily known as the musician who co-founded the group Talking Heads (1976-88) in New York with Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz. On record (arguably the band’s peak was the stunning Remain in Light) and in concert, the band was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike; more importantly, however, they have proven to be extremely influential. Talking Heads took popular music in new directions, both in terms of sound and lyrics, and also introduced an innovative visual approach to the genre. The group’s film Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme in 1984, is often considered the best concert film of all-time. The Talking Heads were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and released the career-spanning Once in a Lifetime box set, complete with a DVD of the band’s videos, in 1993.

Even before the group broke-up Byrne worked on myriad art projects including the ahead-of-its-time My Life in the Bush of Ghosts with Brian Eno, a 1981 record that reconfigured found broadcasts, African rhythms and electronic instrumentation into a terrific, mystic stew. He created music for choreographer Twyla Tharp and theater innovator Robert Wilson and shared an Academy Award with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su for the soundtrack to Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor. Byrne himself directed the quirky-yet-charming film True Stories and in 1988 started his own music label Luaka Bop, a subsidiary of WarnerBros. As a solo artist Byrne has released six CDs that have featured an eclectic range of music, exploring everything from Latin grooves to operatic arias.

Byrne has been involved with photography and design since his college days and has been publishing and exhibiting his work for the past decade. Like his film and musical projects, his artwork is often described as elevating the mundane or the banal to the level of art, creating icons out of everyday materials to find the sacred in the profane. Byrne’s works are about interiors, both physical and emotional, as much as exteriors.

Museum shows in Germany, Italy, and Japan have mixed these pieces with audio elements, acoustiguides, and sculptural elements. More recently he has presented a 215-foot long flow chart covering the 5th Avenue side of Saks 5th Ave, multiple-choice questions on the Tokyo subways, an audio piece in the World Financial Center in NYC, and PowerPoint installations in a building lobby on Times Square. Byrne is represented by Pace/MacGill Gallery in NYC.

Four books have appeared in recent years, each a kind of artwork on its own. The first, Strange Ritual, mixed text and image in a notebook-type format. The second, Your Action World, was modeled after corporate reports and inspirational and motivational literature. The third book, The New Sins / Los Nuevos Pecados, looks like a bible and was created for the Valencia Biennial, where copies were placed anonymously in hotel drawers. The most recent book is Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information.

Courtesy of Borders, copies of books by David Byrne will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

David Byrne is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the UCSB Center for Inforamtion Technology and Society. Tickets for the event are $20 for the general public and $15 for UCSB students, who must show valid ID when purchasing tickets and at the door. Tickets are on sale now and can also be purchased at the door, if still available.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.