NEVER RECORDS: YOU ARE NOT LISTENING
Dir. Jason Wyche & artist, Ted Riederer, 2013
USA/UK, 76 min.
FRIDAY, MARCH 27 – 8 PM
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
A discussion about Ted Riederer’s project, NEVER RECORDS will follow the screening. Join us with director, Jason Wyche, and artist, Ted Riederer. Also joining us from Derry, Ireland will be the Context Gallery’s curator, Theo Sims, who made the project in Derry possible.
NEVER RECORDS: YOU ARE NOT LISTENING is a documentary film by Jason Wyche on the artwork of Ted Riederer, featuring artists and musicians: Ted Riederer, Arturo Vega, Jason Farrell, Damon Locks, Mark Garry, John O’Neil, Conor O’kane, SJ Downes, Fighting With Wire, The Q and many more.
NEVER RECORDS: YOU ARE NOT LISTENING is a feature length documentary about artist/musician Ted Riederer and his Never Records project. Shot on location in Derry, Northern Ireland and London, the film features performances from some of the United Kingdom’s brightest artists and musicians. NEVER RECORDS: YOU ARE NOT LISTENING explores power of art and music to unite, educate, and uplift a community. In an era overwhelmed by virtual communities, Riederer is attempting to create actual communities.
Previous screenings include: CBGB Film Festival (2013), RxSM Underground Film Expo (2013), Never Records Festival in Derry, Ireland (2013) and Official Selection at the Victoria Texas Independent Film Festival where the film won the Best of Fest award (2013)
The Never Records project began in 2010 and continues to circle the globe, creating ‘storefronts’ that are a catalyst for creative collaboration. The mock shops consist of a vinyl lathe, which Riederer uses to record the musicians and artists who visit the ‘storefront’. The Never Records archives, totaling over 350 recordings, are taken to every ‘storefront’ site.
In this film, Riederer sets up his record store in an art gallery overlooking the old city walls of Derry, a city which is a symbol of the Northern Ireland civil rights struggle. Over the course of month, he fills the mock shop with vinyl records recorded and cut, via vinyl lathe, on site. The shop becomes a locus of performance and community as musicians and performance artists alike perform around the clock, while visitors are encouraged to watch the performances and play records from the archive. Each artist and musician who records receives a record, and a record also stays with the archives. Nothing is for sale, as Riederer reminds artists and musicians what happens when money is taken out of art and music.
“It’s taken the city by storm. It’s been a cultural phenomenon here. Ted has been oversubscribed and the atmosphere it has created in the music scene and beyond is stunning. It has plugged people back into why music was important in the first place.”
-Stephen McCauley, Electric Mainline, BBC Radio Foyle
From the ruins of an abandoned Tower Records near Union Square in New York City to art galleries and store fronts around the world, Never Records has traveled from New York to Liverpool, Lisbon, Derry, Northern Ireland, London, and New Orleans. Future destinations include Mexico, Ecuador and Mongolia.