Bardo Pond and Rodney Graham Live in Concert at World Cafe Live

August 16, 2005

Rodney Graham Band performing at the Cambrian Hall, Vancouver, B.C. February 3rd, 2005. Photo: Scott Livingston

In conjunction with the opening of the major exhibition Rodney Graham: A Little Thought on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art (September 10 - December 23, 2005), artist/musician Rodney Graham and Bardo Pond, flagship band of Philadelphia's "Psychedelphia" space rock movement, will perform live in concert at World Cafe Live, Philadelphia's hottest new music hall on Thursday, September 8, 2005.

Rodney Graham (b. 1949, Abbotsford, Canada; lives Vancouver) is associated with the "Vancouver School" of artists--including Ken Lum, Stan Douglas, Jeff Wall, and Ian Wallace, among others--who have developed distinctive practices based on photography. During the 1970s, he was also part of the city's punk new wave. Performing with UJ3RK5 (pronounced "you jerks") and, more recently with the band Volumizer, or alone as a singer-songwriter, Graham's discography and play-list have grown in tandem with his resume of international group and solo exhibitions.

Bardo Pond, , formed in 1991and named after the occasion of their first show, Pearl Harbor Day, Bardo Pond's conscious-expanding agenda combines droning guitars, thick distortion, feedback, and washes of white noise with obscure references to psychedelics, extreme religious states and emotional catharses.

Hints of blues structure often crop up, but Bardo Pond's roots lay with avant-garde noisemakers from the realm of free jazz and from New York's new wave movement and downtown Knitting Factory scene. Their brand of space rock not only echoes genres like Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, but jam-happy Krautrockers (Amon Düül, Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel, Guru Guru) and experimental indie heroes (Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, and especially Spacemen 3).

The story of World Cafe Live starts with a coincidence. As a dedicated concert-goer, Hal Real, keyboard player and entrepreneur, became increasingly disenchanted over the years with the smoky rooms, lousy sight lines, tinny acoustics and inadequate seating that have become the standard live music experience. He decided to do something about it. So working in partnership with WXPN, which produces World Cafe, a nationally syndicated music program heard on over 180 stations, Real created World Cafe Live, a "clubhouse" for the Philadelphia music community. The result is a three-tiered music hall and restaurant featuring two rooms in which every detail has been designed to optimize the live performance experience, from sight lines, lighting and acoustics to food and beverage service.

Rodney Graham: A Little Thought is the first major survey of the Canadian artist's work to travel North America, featuring 22 works and 6 major audio-visual installations. Since the late 1970s, Graham has taken a conceptual approach to making art to explore modes of perception-in particular altered states of perception-and themes of location. Graham's points of reference range from the philosophical writings of Kirkegaard to the grunge rock of Kurt Cobain. These and many other tangents coalesce in a body of work that is intellectual, absurd, and entertaining on its elected subjects of artistic identity, authorship, representation and repetition.

ICA is thrilled to be the only east coast venue and final stop for this traveling exhibition This exhibition was organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Vancouver Art Gallery with the support of Foreign Affairs Canada. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated 200-page book, produced by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and distributed by Distributed Art Publishers, New York.

ICA is grateful for generous support from Altria Group, Inc., Toby D. Lewis and Patsy and Karl Rugart as well as funds awarded by the Government of Canada - Cultural Affairs Office. Additional support has been provided by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Dietrich Foundation Inc., the Overseers Board for the Institute of Contemporary Art, friends and members of ICA, and the University of Pennsylvania. (Information complete as of 8/16/05.)

The opening reception for Rodney Graham: A Little Thought, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled for Friday, September 9 from 6 to 8pm. The reception will be preceded by a gallery walkthrough at 5pm for Members Only.

All programs subject to change.

ICA is located at 118 South 36th Street at the University of Pennsylvania. ICA is open to the public, except during installation, from 12:00pm to 8:00pm on Wednesday through Friday and from 11:00am to 5:00pm on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $6 for adults; $3 for students over 12, artists, and senior citizens; and free to ICA members, children 12 and under, PENN card holders, and on Sundays from 11:00am to 1:00pm. For more information, call 215-898-7108/5911.

Institute of Contemporary Art
Founded in 1963, the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania is a leader in the presentation and documentation of contemporary art. Through exhibitions, commissions, educational programs, and publications, ICA invites the public to share in the experience, interpretation and understanding of the work of established and emerging artists.

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