Section 6: Lead Shot / Pendulum Music Side A: Lead Shot Side B: Pendulum Music
subject: Process art; Conceptual art; Minimalism (Music); Experimental music; Performance instructions; Sculpture proposals; Molten lead; Audio feedback; Gravity; Physics in art; Site-specific art; Sound sculpture; Indeterminate music
description: A double-sided printed sheet presenting two related process-based artworks that explore physical phenomena through artistic means. Side A contains a textual proposal for an unrealized sculptural work involving molten lead dropped from extreme heights (fifteen thousand to thirty thousand feet) into water or soft earth, where gravitational forces and velocity would transform the liquid metal into precise spherical masses during descent. The artist references Richard Feynman's Lectures on Physics and Baltimore's historic Shot Tower, a nineteenth-century industrial structure where molten lead was dropped approximately two hundred feet to create spherical ammunition. Side B presents performance instructions for an audio work using suspended microphones and amplifiers positioned on the floor, where the swinging microphones create overlapping patterns of feedback tones that gradually phase in and out of synchronization as pendular motion brings them closer to and farther from the speakers. Both works exemplify 1960s process art principles, wherein the method of creation and physical laws become the artwork itself, with gravity serving as the primary compositional force in both pieces.
creator: Serra, Richard, 1938-2024 (Author, Side A); Reich, Steve, 1936- (Author, Side B)
source: Part of Aspen Magazine No. 8: The Fluxus Issue; Serra's Lead Shot references Shot Tower, Baltimore (early 19th century) and Richard Feynman's Lectures on Physics (1963); Reich's Pendulum Music originally performed Whitney Museum of American Art, May 27, 1969
publisher: Roaring Fork Pres (New York, N.Y.)
date: Fall-Winter 1970-1971
contributor: Graham, Dan, 1942-2022 (Editor); Maciunas, George, 1931-1978 (Designer); Johnson, Phyllis, 1926-2001 (Publisher)
relation: IsPartOf Aspen Magazine No. 8 (Fall-Winter 1970-1971); Serra's proposal relates to his splash/cast works from molten lead (1968-1969, 1980-1996); Reich's piece relates to his phasing works including Piano Phase (1967), Violin Phase (1967); First performance of Pendulum Music featured Richard Serra, James Tenney, Bruce Nauman, and Michael Snow; Serra and Reich were close collaborators in late 1960s New York; Serra worked as Philip Glass's studio assistant 1971-1974
format: Single printed sheet; Double-sided document; Text instructions; Verso/recto format
language: English
type: Artist's proposal; Performance score; Conceptual art documentation; Process art instruction; Text-based artwork
identifier: United States; New York City; 1970-1971; Downtown New York experimental art scene; Post-Minimalism; Process art movement; Baltimore Shot Tower (historical reference)
coverage: Temporal: 1965-1971 Spatial: New York, N.Y. Aspen, CO.