In the world of modern electronic music and sound art, Ultra-red distinguish themselves for their intrepid blend of political commitment and innovative sound. Rejecting both self-satisfied formalism and convenient political posturing, Ultra-red have for over ten years pursued a precarious but dynamic exchange between art and political organizing. Collectively, the Los Angeles-based group has produced radio broadcasts, performances, recordings, installations and pubic space occupations (ps/o).
Working within a variety of urban ambiences, Ultra-red have investigated the spaces of needle exchange (Soundtrax, 1992 - 1996), public sex (Second Nature, 1995 - 1998), public housing (Structural Adjustments, 1997 - Present), resistance to global capital (Value System, 1998 - Present), labor (Social Factory, 1997 - 2002) and education (School of Echoes, 2001 - Present). Throughout each of these efforts, Ultra-red have pursued two aesthetic-political objectives: to explore acoustic space as enunciative of social relations and, secondly, to radicalize the conventions of electro-acoustic art.
Founded in 1994 by two AIDS activists, Ultra-red have expanded over the years to include activists and organizers from a variety of social movements both in Los Angeles and abroad. In 2004, on their tenth anniversary, the four members of the group launched a restructuring of Ultra-red into an aesthetic-political organization. The newly reorganized Ultra-red permits a greater diversity of projects and campaigns on a local and international level, with multiple groups and alliances taking up the Ultra-red moniker.
Ultra-red has established partnerships with community-based organizations like the Union de Vecinos in East Los Angeles and, internationally, with Ballymun Women's Resource Centre in Dublin, Ireland and the Germany-based migration and anti-racist network Kanak Attak. In addition to these groups, a number of artists have entered into tactical and provisional alliances with Ultra-red for purposes of specific and on-going cooperation. Some of these artists include Eddie Peel (of Sony Mao and Needle), Elliot Perkins (fka Phonem), Terre Thaemlitz, and others. To offer an outlet for the release of projects to come out of these alliances, in 2004 Ultra-red launched Public Record, a fair-use on-line archive for audio, text, image and video documents.
Since the late 1990s, Ultra-red have featured the following four artist-activists: Elizabeth Blaney (artist, organizer, Union de Vecinos), Pablo Garcia (musician, organizer, Valley Family Technology Project), Dont Rhine (artist, AIDS activist), and Leonardo Vilchis (artist, organizer, Union de Vecinos). Accessed 5.11.06 from http://www.ultrared.org/mission.html |
| 22 Selected Statements |
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Worktype |
Info |
Year |
Country |
Admin |
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Soundtrax |
- |
- |
1992 |
USA |
Edit |
|
 |
An Archive Of Silence |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.04.002
Release Date: September 1, 2006
Artist: Ultra-red
Title: An Archive Of Silence
Series: The AIDS Uncanny |
1994 |
USA |
Edit |
|
|
Second Nature |
- |
Los Angeles’ Center for Photographic Study and Foundation for Artists’ Resources |
1995 |
USA |
Edit |
|
 |
Structural Adjustments |
- |
Other projects include the radio broadcast, “Geography of Exchange,” a collaboration with Susan Otto presented in Auckland, New Zealand as part of the international audio arts festival, SoundCulture 99. |
1997 |
USA |
Edit |
|
|
Social Factory |
- |
Public Space in West Hollywood, Steirischer Herbst 99 in Graz, Austria, Casa Serralves in Porto, Portugal and Sonar 2001 in Barcelona, Spain. |
1997 |
USA |
Edit |
|
 |
Value System |
- |
unspecified |
1998 |
USA |
Edit |
|
|
 |
Dont Rhine |
Installation |
SoundCulture ‘99. Artspace Gallery, Auckland |
1999 |
New Zealand |
Edit |
|
 |
Play Los Jornaleros del Norte |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.02.001
Release Date: December 1, 2004
Artist: Ultra-red
Title: Play Los Jornaleros del Norte
Series: Transistors |
2001 |
USA |
Edit |
|
|
 |
border sounds |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.02.005
Release Date: April 1, 2005
Artist: WR
Title: border sounds
Series: Transistors |
2001 |
Various East European countries |
Edit |
|
|
School of Echoes |
- |
Echo Park and Central Los Angeles |
2001 |
USA |
Edit |
|
|
Play Kanak Attak |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.02.003
Release Date: February 1, 2005
Artist: Ultra-red
Title: Play Kanak Attak
Series: Transistors |
2001 |
Germany |
Edit |
|
 |
BLOK70:Translations |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.02.007
Release Date: August 21, 2006
Artist: Various
Title: BLOK70:Translations
Series: Transistors |
2004 |
Serbia |
Edit |
|
 |
The Debt |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.03.011
Release Date: May 1, 2005
Artist: Ultra-red
Title: The Debt
Series: The Debt |
2004 |
Ireland |
Edit |
|
 |
BLOK70:Translations |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.02.007
Release Date: August 21, 2006
Artist: Various
Title: BLOK70:Translations
Series: Transistors |
2004 |
Serbia |
Edit |
|
 |
Articles of Incorporation |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.01.006
Release Date: October 1, 2004
Artist: Ultra-red
Title: Articles of Incorporation
Series: Articles of Incorporation |
2004 |
USA |
Edit |
|
|
BLOK70 |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.02.006
Release Date: June 30, 2006
Artist: Ultra-red
Title: BLOK70
Series: Transistors |
2004 |
Serbia |
Edit |
|
 |
Movement for Airports Transistors Remixes |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.02.004
Release Date: March 1, 2005
Artist: Various
Title: Movement for Airports Transistors Remixes
Series: Transistors |
2005 |
USA |
Edit |
|
 |
Movement for Airports Transistors Remixes |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.02.004
Release Date: March 1, 2005
Artist: Various
Title: Movement for Airports Transistors Remixes
Series: Transistors |
2005 |
USA |
Edit |
|
|
Not A Matter Of If But When 3 |
Video Work |
PR No. 2.05.003
Release Date: February 15, 2006
Artist: The Speculative Archive
Title: Not A Matter Of If But When 3
Series: Documents from the Speculative Archive |
2005 |
USA |
Edit |
|
 |
Encuentro |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.01.011
Release Date: October 1, 2006
Artist: Various
Title: Encuentro
Series: Articles of Incorporation |
2006 |
USA |
Edit |
|
 |
Plaza Mariachi |
SoundWork |
Oasis Sonoro exhibit in Mexico City. Artist: Union de Vecinos
Title: Plaza Mariachi
Series: Transistors |
2006 |
Mexico |
Edit |
|
|
A Silence Broken |
SoundWork |
PR No. 2.04.001
Release Date: February 1, 2006
Artist: Various
Title: A Silence Broken
Series: The AIDS Uncanny |
2006 |
USA |
Edit |
|
|
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