5 QUESTIONS: I CARE IF YOU LISTEN

JACOB KOPCIENSKI

Over the past 20 years, Brian Harnetty has worked extensively with sound archives to produce a wide range of interdisciplinary creative projects. Ranging from the Little Cities Archives (Shawnee, Ohio), to the Creative Audio Archives (Chicago), to the Berea Sound Archives (Kentucky), his projects create “archival performances” that invite audiences to listen closely to the subtler frequencies of creative musicians, places, and communities. His latest album, Words and Silences: From the Hermitage Tapes of Thomas Merton (2022, Winesap Records), strikes a contemplative note by remixing recordings the Cistercian monk made in solitude in Louisville, Kentucky, with newly composed music. We caught up with Harnetty to talk about his creative practice, this latest project, and his upcoming concerts.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW YOU DEFINE “ARCHIVAL PERFORMANCE,” AND HOW THIS CONCEPT HAS SHAPED YOUR RESEARCH, LISTENING, AND CREATIVE PRACTICES DURING YOUR CAREER?

I have a very broad definition of an archival performance: any interpretive act related to an archive. Basically, this could include any creative and critical re-imagining of archival materials into music and sound projects. But it can also mean writing, historiography, visual projects, or even the act of listening. All of these things are subjective, creative interpretations of the material. In this way, an archive becomes a kind of instrument, and to make something new from it is to perform history.