XS: The Opera Opus was a no wave avant-garde music and art performance created by Rhys Chatham and Joseph Nechvatal in the mid 1980s. Nicolas Ballet, Shock Factory: The Visual Culture of Industrial Music. Intellect Books, p. 49Brian Butterick, Susan Martin, Kestutis Nakas (eds.), "We Started a Nightclub": The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It, Damiani Books, p. 320Die Donnergötter (LP, CD), Table of the Elements/Radium 2006 by Rhys Chatham CD book p. 14XS: An Installation, Gray Art Gallery, East Carolina University, Greenville catalogue Jane Lawrence Smith sang the lead role in the Boston performance and Yves Musard danced the main role. Brooks, Rosetta "Interview-Rhys Chatham & Joseph Nechvatal", ZG, (#12 Fall) Its theme was the excess of the nuclear weapon buildup of the Ronald Reagan presidency.XS: An Installation, Gray Art Gallery, East Carolina University, Greenville catalogue Willoughby Sharp, "Joseph Nechvatal, Machine Language Books, 1984. pp. 52-55.
XS: The Opera at Shakespeare Theatre, Boston XS: The Opera, Shakespeare Theatre, Boston was the final production and consisted of three soprano singers, 4 trumpets, six electric guitars. bass, drums, 35 mm slide projection and dance. The duration was 90 minutes. Choreography: Yves Musard, 35 mm cross-fade art slides: Joseph Nechvatal
Musicians: Rhys Chatham (conductor) with Pamela Fleming, Steven Haynes, Ben Neill, James O'Connor, David Wonsey, Karen Haglof, Robert Poss, Mitch Salmon, Bill Brovold, Tim Schellenbaum, Conrad Kinard, J.P., Peggy Ackerman, Jane Lawrence Smith, Elly Spiegel.
Centre Pompidou recognition The history of XS was included with an XS Exemplification sound slideshow in the No Wave art exhibition Who You Staring At?: Visual culture of the no wave scene in the 1970s and 1980s at Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2023. Who You Staring At?: Visual culture of the no wave scene in the 1970s and 1980s, February 1 – June 19, 2023 A video documenting the Centre Pompidou, Paris March 8th, 2023 event XS: The Opera Opus: An Operatic Transvaluation of No Wave Aesthetics by Joseph Nechvatal and Rhys Chatham was held and has been published online at the Centre Pompidou website. Projection and discussion of XS: The Opera Opus An Operatic Transvaluation of No Wave Aesthetics by Joseph Nechvatal and Rhys Chatham March 8, 2023
Performance history
1986 XS: The Opera, Shakespeare Theatre, Boston 1985 XS: Night of Power, 8BC, New York, NY XS: Night of Power: art installation, Quando, New York, NY XS: art installation, Gray Art Gallery, East Carolina University 1984 XS: The Opera Opus, Pyramid Club, New York, NY XS: The Opera Opus, Club Danceteria, New York, NY XS: The Opera Opus, 8BC, New York, NY XS: The Opera Opus, Elaine Dannheisser Foundation, New York, NY
See also Post-punk Postminimalism Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament No wave Opera
Footnotes
References audio excerpt from XS: The Opera Opus published at Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine #13 Power Electronics at Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine housed at UbuWeb XS: An Installation, Gray Art Gallery, East Carolina University, Greenville Catalogue Brooks, Rosetta, Interview-Rhys Chatham & Joseph Nechvatal, ZG, (#12 Fall) Kleyn, Robert, The Shadow Reflected, ZG (#12 Fall) Charlene Spretnak, The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art : Art History Reconsidered, 1800 to the Present, Palgrave Macmillan, (2014) p. 135 Die Donnergötter (LP, CD), Table of the Elements/Radium 2006 by Rhys Chatham (containing as part of XS) Die Donnergötter (1985/86) Brian Butterick, Susan Martin, Kestutis Nakas (eds.), "We Started a Nightclub": The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It, Damiani Books, p. 320
Further reading Paula Court, New York Noise: Art and Music from the New York Underground 1978-88 (2007) Soul Jazz Records