Jerry Hunt's obituary
NOTE: This was written by Michael
Schell and released by oodiscs as
Jerry's official obituary following his death.
Composer/performer
Jerry Hunt died November 27, 1993 at his self-built home near Canton, Texas. The
cause of death was lung cancer. Jerry was born in Waco, Texas, and attended
North Texas State University. He worked as a pianist through 1969, performing in
concerts of contemporary music. He also worked as a technical consultant for
audio and video instrumentation and manufacturing, and served as music director
and composer for many video and film production companies. Jerry is best known
for a series of solo performances, begun in 1978, which feature theatrics and
live electronic music based on "interrelated electronic, mechanic and
social sound-sight interactive transactional systems". During the 1990s, he
took on several collaborative projects, working with performance artist Karen
Finley, visual artist Maria Blondeel and composer and software designer Joel
Ryan.
A central theme in Jerry's work is shamanism as a cultural precedent for the
agents of modern technology. A life-long student of mysticism and the occult,
Jerry's theatrics were themselves highly suggestive of ceremonial practice,
featuring stylized movement and gestures, and incorporating hand-made props such
as staffs and rattles, often assembled from found objects. The accompanying
music was typically produced by a complex array of computers, synthesizers and
sensors programmed to respond to his stage motions. These systems were notable
for their built-in random fallibility. A particular gesture or movement might
cause an audible change in the music -- but it might not. The scheme worked
frequently enough to reinforce the faith of the "believers", but
failed often enough to reinforce the disbelief of the "skeptics", in
much the same way as real religion.
Original Material Copyright © 1993 by Michael Schell. HTML Coding
Copyright © 2001 by Michael Schell.
All Rights Reserved.