Nine Gross and Conspicuous Errors

Ad in The Fox No. 3, 1976

"Nine Gross and Conspicuous Errors" on display, 2014

1976 video by Art & Language, ~22 min

Watch on UbuWeb

Track listing

		Track
1.		"It is a G&CE to desire socialism with capitalist desire..."
2.		"It is the task of the pragmatisers..."
3.		"Interpretation is the evident lack of an activist epistemology..."
4.		"Reductionist empiricist without specificity..."
		"Born to Win" (instrumental)
5.		"It is a G&CE to regard language as a classless mode of communication..." (1)
6.		"We must ferociously attack..." (1)
7.		"We must ferociously attack..." (2)
8.		"It is a G&CE to regard language as a classless means of communication..." (2)
9.		"Capitalist cognition produces systems of interpreted beliefs..."

Background

Postcard advertising the (Provisional) Art & Language exhibition at John Weber Gallery June 18 - July 14, 1976

Description in The Fox No. 3, May 1976

Songs on video-tape have all sorts of anomalies. These nine video-taped 'errors' are all songs of going-on. Separate technology reinforces and is an instantiation of capitalist taxonomy. Leaving the music business to 'professionals' adds up to the same thing: the reproduction of capitalist formalisms and control mechanisms. Video-taped songs are not offered to those who can 'necessarily' afford access (though we do want them to go to schools) — we have something to say and a bunch of nobodies to say it to. But history 'frees' us to adapt ... there are real people out there (here) penetrating separate technology with class activism. Video-Tape; Sales, Rental.

Personnel

Art & Language

• Kathryn Bigelow
• Ian Burn
• Christine Kozlov

• Nigel Lendon
• Mel Ramsden
• Paula Ramsden
• Terry Smith

The Red Crayola

• Mayo Thompson - guitar
• Jesse Chamberlain - drums

Writing

• Mel Ramsden - lyrics
• Mayo Thompson - music

Retrospectives

Mel Ramsden, 2019

The performative aspects - I know people keep bringing it up now; Art & Language and performance and drawing and performance. And I'd never thought of the performative aspect of it until we did Nine Gross and Conspicuous Errors which was an absurd performance. [...]

No, there was no rehearsal. There was just a bit of a conversation then invited a few people. But Mayo Thompson had done that already, years and years ago, because the Red Crayola used to have this thing [The Familiar Ugly] which were some fans that used to follow them around and then they came up on the stage and disrupted the performance. But that's in the late 60s. [...]

Well it was just a preposterous thing to do, to speak those kind of lyrics. But it was called Nine Gross and Conspicuous Errors because, I believe, in response to Corrected Slogans in some way because it was done slightly later even though the record wasn't released. But I'd heard some of the tracks. In fact I performed one of the tracks on Corrected Slogans [Penny Capitalists]. Brilliantly, I must say. [...]

Reviews

Frieze

October 13, 2005

Andrew Hunt