In the future, there are no moving parts. In the future, sound is invisible. Before it’s too late, Invisible presents The New Obsolete, an exploded view of the strange romance between humans and technology. Under pressure, Invisible has chosen sides with motors, springs, levers, solenoids, hoses, tanks, powdered graphite and chiropractors. More wires to trip on. Electricity plus water. Wooden parts.

Maybe it could all fit into some smooth handheld devices, but we can’t get in the mood if there’s zero chance of a blood blister or a bad smelling fire. We plot total cross-platform incompatibility. It’s sound you can see.

--From the artist statement for The New Obsolete by Invisible

1708 Gallery is proud to present North Carolina-based collective Invisible for two nights of performance art and experimental music on Friday, October 12th and Saturday, October 13th, 2012. Doors open at 7:30 and performances begin at 8. There will be a $5 cover charge.

Invisible’s performances—noted for their use of experimental musical instruments, or sound sculptures—explore connections between sound, noise, music, video, technology, identity, obsolescence and the human body. They play one-of-a-kind instruments in performances alongside video, found sound, electronics and conventional instruments. Their current work, The New Obsolete, features the Selectric Piano, a typewriter that electromechanically controls a piano, and Elsewhere’s Roof, a drip-driven drum machine. Data projectors, Commodore64 monitors, and multiple VHS and cassette decks tap the End-User Archive, Invisible’s folk library of scrounged sound and video samples. Inherent in the scale and peculiarity of this densely-layered performance is the potential for the same viewer to have multiple different experiences of The New Obsolete from one night to the next, despite its precisely calculated format.

Invisible is Mark Dixon, Bart Trotman, Jodi Staley, Jonathan Henderson, and Fred Snider. They have performed at the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC, the Ackland Museum of Art in Chapel Hill, NC, Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, VA, the Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh, the NC Museum of Art, and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC, and were residents at Elsewhere Artist Collaborative in Greensboro in 2010. In late October they will be performing at Asheville’s renowned celebration of experimental music, Moogfest. The New Obsolete was produced with support of, and many thanks to, the North Carolina Arts Council and the partnering arts councils of the Central Piedmont Regional Artists Hub Program.

1708 Gallery’s current exhibition season is generously supported in part by Jay Barrows and Cindy Neuschwander, Page and Sandy Bond, Richard Douglas and Suzanna Fields, Josh and Sarah Eckhardt, John Freeman, Kathryn Henry-Choisser, Susan and John Jamieson, Jillian Krupski, Celia Rafalko and Rick Sample, Bill and Pam Royall, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.