Transmissions From The Pleroma

Archival documents and new writings on Texas-based composer, performer, and visual and video artist, Jerry Hunt. Jerry Hunt (1943-1993) was among the most eccentric figures in the word of late 20th century new music, sometimes described as a shamanic figure with the look of a "Central Texas meat inspector." His works combined video synthesis, early computers, and custom-made sensors with rough hewn sculptures, scores drawn from celestial alphabets, and homemade electronics activated by his signature wands and impassioned gestures. Hunt lived his entire in Texas, between Dallas, Waco, Houston, and Austin, eventually settling in a house he built himself ("an interactive environment") on a ranch in Canton, but his pataphysical, abrasive, and humorous performances took him all over North America and Europe, where he amassed a small but dedicated following. This volume represents the first ever book-length collection devoted to the underknown composer's life and work, and includes an introductory essay by Tyler Maxin and Lawrence Kumpf, interviews with Hunt, detailed analyses of his music and video practices, and short remembrances and reflections on his work. Owing to the diversity of Hunt's practice, this book will be of great interest to scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts in the fields of contemporary art history and criticism music and sound studies, video and media studies, and performance studies.