Autopsia
Autopsia is an art project from Prague that deals with music, painting, graphics and media art. The music can be assigned to post-industrial , especially martial industrial , dark ambient and ritual music. Autopsia does not consider itself a multimedia group, but focuses on the mutual influences of text, images and music.
history
Autopsia reveals little information about itself to the public. The head of the group and the only member known by name is Rudi Milinkovic , who occasionally gives interviews. Otherwise there are no photos, no names on the sound carriers and no other communications from the group. Since it was founded around 1980, there have only been three concerts. The project sees itself as a depersonalized group of artists; other artists are then brought in as guests for the various audiovisual projects. In the musical context, the guest musicians are called Twilight Orchestra .
Autopsia is said to have originated in London in the late 1970s. Work in Yugoslavia began around 1980. Autopsia was first mentioned in the Yugoslav fanzines Bank Rot and Prose Selavy . About a dozen cassettes were released during this time, of which only a few are known. Autopsia has been based in Prague since 1990. The group regards this city as the spiritual center of the world, the "spirit center". Since then, around twenty records have been released on Staalplaat , Hypnobeat and Gymnastic Records.
Occasionally the group performs under the names Hussite and Splendor Solis .
style
In terms of content, Autopsia primarily deals with the subject of "death" in all of its metaphorical meanings.
Repetition serves as the main stylistic device. This creates a minimalistic, sometimes monotonous sound that is mostly generated electronically. Neoclassical orchestral arrangements and choirs are placed over this basic structure, some of which are slightly bombastic. This effect is supported by martial-sounding instruments such as trombones, fanfares, glockenspiel and timpani. The less martial pieces are underlaid with string instruments, an organ or sluggish piano sounds. Furthermore, there is a characteristic metallic sound in various pieces, reminiscent of the sharpening of a knife.
All in all, the result was music with a chilly effect with a mystical and ritual character. There is almost no singing, sometimes English is spoken, and sometimes there is only the hissing or grunting of a human voice to be heard. Here, too, Autopisa works with quotations, for example from books or films. Most of the pieces have meaningful names with a sacred touch such as lordship of life , I am the resurrection , Blessed are the dead in German, Latin, French and English. Often the sequence of the pieces on a sound carrier is still structured, similar to sacred music in the Christian liturgy.
A special feature of Autopsia are the Christmas CDs, which convey Christmas greetings in terms of their design and, in some cases, their musical content. An example of this is White Christmas , on the cover of which you can see an alienated Santa Claus and an alienated boys' choir sings Silent Night . Other Christmas CDs are Secret Christmas History and the re-release of Requiem pour un empire , which, however, are not related to Christmas.
Since the year 2000 the trend at Autopsia has been towards concept albums about the artistic avant-garde in 20th century art, where the title corresponds to the content. This is the case, for example , with the Berlin Requiem , in which Autopsia deals with Bertolt Brecht's Berlin Requiem and was musically inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Arnold Schönberg . The publication Karl Rossmann Fragments is about the Czech composer and painter of the same name, who left behind some avant-garde pieces of music.
Visual work
Autopsia not only designs its own sound carriers and booklets, but also designs flyers and posters. Sacred and martial motifs can be found here, the aesthetics of which are reminiscent of the monumental aesthetics of totalitarian systems. The group had solo exhibitions at the SKC Student Culture Center in Belgrade in 1985 and 1987 and participated in exhibitions in 1987 and 2006. In 2010 a retrospective was held at the Belgrade Museum of Contemporary Art (Salon MSU) entitled Mirror Of Destruction . In addition, five DVDs have been released so far. Autopsia also maintains two designed websites.
The piece drop and rise from the CD palladium was 1996 soundtrack to the film The Pillow Book by Peter Greenaway used.
Discography
| title | Sound carrier | Label | year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autopsia | cassette | Without a label | 1985 |
| Oscularum Infame | cassette | Produkcija Slovenija | 1987 |
| In vivo | cassette | Without a label | 1988 |
| In vivo | cassette | Sound of Pig | 1988 |
| In vivo | cassette | Korm Plastics | 1988 |
| In vivo | CDR | Korm Plastics | 1999 |
| International Aeterna | cassette | Produkcija Slovenija | 1988 |
| Death Is The Mother Of Beauty | CD | Staalplaat | 1989 |
| The Knife | 12 " | Staalplaat | 1989 |
| The Knife | CD | Staalplaat | 1992 |
| palladium | CD | Hyperion Records | 1991 |
| palladium | CD | Hypnobeat | 1995 |
| Requiem Pour Un Empire | CD | Hypnobeat | 1991, 1995 |
| Wound | CD | Hypnobeat, Gymnastic Records | 1991 |
| Crystal power | CD | Hypnobeat | 1993 |
| The Silence Of The Lamb - Forest Symphony | CD | Hypnobeat | 1993 |
| The Silence Of The Lamb - Forest Symphony | CD | Hypnobeat | 1993 |
| White Christmas | CD | Hypnobeat | 1994 |
| Humanity Is The Devil 1604-1994 | CD | Hypnobeat | 1995 |
| The Silence Of The Lamb - Forest Symphony | CD | Hypnobeat | 1995 |
| Mystery science | CD | Hypnobeat | 1996 |
| Secret Christmas History | CD | Hypnobeat | 1996 |
| The Secret Block For A Secret Person In Ireland | 12 " | Illuminating Technologies | 1999 |
| Colonia | CD | Staalplaat | 2002 |
| Le Chant De La Nuit | CDR | Illuminating Technologies | 2005 |
| Radical Machine | CDR | Illuminating Technologies | 2005 |
| The Berlin Requiem | CD | Old Europa Cafe | 2006 |
| Silently The Wolves Are Watching | 7 " | Illuminating Technologies | 2007 |
| Radical Machines Night Landscapes | CD | Illuminating Technologies | 2008 |
| Karl Rossmann Fragments | CD | Illuminating Technologies | 2009 |
Videos
| title | Label | year |
|---|---|---|
| The Czech Book Of The Dead | Illuminating Technologies | 2006 |
| The Flame | Illuminating Technologies | 2006 |
| Factory rituals | Illuminating Technologies | 2009 |
| Karl Rossmann Fragments | Illuminating Technologies | 2010 |
| Autopsia Short Films | Illuminating Technologies | 2010 |
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Interview with Autopsia, 2007 ( Memento from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 17 kB)
- ↑ Autopsia. on: discogs.com
- ^ Dejan Sretenović: Autopsia or On Death and Salvation. ( Memento from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 38 kB) Museum of Modern Art, Belgrade, 2010.
- ↑ Interview with Autopsia 2008 ( Memento from July 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 25 kB)