DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE: METAL AND MODERNISM

Writer and broadcaster John Doran (The Quietus, The Guardian, BBC) claims that heavy metal is the last true form of mass modernism; he will trace some of its many revolutionary stages in half a century of cultural invention and reinvention, starting with Black Sabbath in Aston, Birmingham in 1970 and spreading to every corner of the globe, taking in Mayhem, Napalm Death and Sunn O))) along the way. Artist-filmmaker Sapphire Goss creates an enigmatic visual accompaniment collaged from archival 8mm and VHS footage. The soundtrack is a unique mix of music specially created for this project by Norwegian art rock group Årabrot, Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor Press (who appears in the discourse program later in the week) and electronic artist Ghost Writer.