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The Actual State of Things at Staalplaat

Update 1 December:

Between 25. april and 25. November I have set up shows of various kinds all related to or a direct outcome of the Cassette Culture. As a matter of fact, all happened without any other support then that offered by friends and relatives. I will not mention their names here, because I don’t feel like I am part of some evangelistic movement, condamned to show people how much I thank my friends and love my family, And love God, of course. Just be sure that without their help I wouldn’t have survived the last seven months.

This is also the main reason that I stop setting up shows in the back room. I had hoped that concerts would attract an average of twenty persons per evening. It didn’t. My part of the rent would have been payed from selling beverages. I never reached this amount. The result was that my friends and relatives supported the Berlinese scene, more then the Berliners did themselves. I cannot blame them for buying their beer across the road, or for not coming at all.

The entries on the blog will now disappear in digital space as time passes. Together they portray a certain period in Berlin, and show a kind of index of what was going on, who lived here, who visited the city.

As for now the direct results are that the founding father of Staalplaat, Geert Jan Hobijn started Radio Staalplaat. You can listen to it each Thursday from 11.00 PM (CET+1) untill 01.00 AM (cet+1) on DFM. He also allowed me to use the name Staaltape (that he used for his releases in the very early days of staalplaat) for future releases on cassette.

Staalplaat Working Space will disappear. The formula it had at its end was an expression of my vision how a venue should be run: At least twenty shows a month to start with. (A detailed version of this vision can be given upon request).  With more money and a location with no direct neighbors the chance to survive would have been pretty good. This will not happen. I will continue to set up shows at Staalplaat, but not every two days.

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The record shop with cd’-s, cassettes, vinyl, books, Guillaume and lots more wil continue activity as of old.

From 25. April 2009 I (Rinus van Alebeek writing this) have joined forces. In a room, delicately seperated from the shop area, the so – called easy room, I will set up exhibitions of a special kind. Special, because most of the exhibitions will last thirty minutes. The main body of the show will be made up from sonic particles. The visitor will be confronted with a unique, irrepeatable experience. Most of these exhibitions of sonic art will be organized in the evening.

During daytime the Staalplaat Exhibition Room will host artists who have something to put on display. The room will be arranged in such way that visitors from far away as from nearby can come and take a rest, exchange ideas, check e-mails on their laptop, have a talk or just hang out.

The History of Staalplaat

Staalplaat is a forum for soundartists, an organisation network with a music label, an e-zine, a radioprogram, an audio-galerie, shop, mail order and distribution company, started in Amsterdam.
Since 1982 we concentrate on new and experimental music. Where most organisations measure their success in terms of sales or riding the crest of the latest trends, Staalplaat was created to discover the rough diamonds, to take risks and embrace all surprises. The centre of Staalplaat’s strategy is to invest in the future by stimulating new sounds, establishing and supporting new routes, connecting artists with new improvisational themes and experimental music ideas, the exchange and exploration of different metamusical concepts and thus expanding the boundaries of what we call “music.”

Up to the year 2000 we have produced over 300 audio releases in various formats by artists such as Muslimgauze, Zoviet France, Ryoji Ikeda, Charlemagne Palestine, Jim O’ Rourke, and many others. Staalplaat as a label has a strong opinion on artwork and packaging. In the past we used hand made laser cut paper, CDs in leather (Illusion of Safety with a real bullet!), stolen Soviet army badges and lots more. In our Mort Aux Vaches series we produce a wide variety of materials, such as paper,copper plastic or sand paper.

Staalplaat has sub-labels like The MUSLIMLIM series, which was set up to give room to the incredible production of Muslimgauze. We have used different forms like: mini disc, picture disks, special packaged CD’s, box sets and even two internet releases. All in editions ranging from 200 to 2000 copies. There is the Mort Aux Vaches series (ref. to Hakim Bey’s Dead to the cows, i.e. dead to the establishment) which is a collaboration between Staalplaat and the VPRO radio (national Dutch radio). They do the recording sessions and we release them in a limited edition and use a special paper folded as packaging . In this series we have a.o.: Merzbow, Muslimgauze, Charlemagne Palestine/Pan sonic, John Duncan, Ryoji Ikeda , Stilluppsteypa, Kreidler, Flying Saucer Attack, Goem , Signal / Noto / Byetone / Komet , Coh, Dan Burke / Kevin Drumm, Pimmon, Tim Hecker, Greg Davis, Zeitkratzer and Jazzkammer. Future releases by Mitchell Akiyama FM3 Goodiepal, Tape, and Colleen

We have a long history of organizing events. In the eighties we were co-founders of a concert space called “The NL Centre” in Amsterdam. Here we organized concerts from, among others, Laibach, The Hafler Trio, Einsturzende Neubauten. Later when “The NL Centre” was shut down we were co-founders of the Ambassade foundation that organized music, film and machines performance festivals at different locations in Amsterdam. After a long rest we revitalized these activities.
In the late nineties Staalplaat organised festivals like ‘Sonderangebot’ (Berlin, 1996), Masterclass (Den Haag, 1997) and Cocktail (Berlin, 1998). Staalplaat also presents as the Staalplaat Soundsystem installations and concerts throughout the world and has been performing at: Transmediale, Mutek,Garage, Ghent Vooruit Geluid Festival, SKIF, Sonar and more.

(text taken from staalplaat.com)