Cory Arcangel

Castlefield Gallery is pleased to present a solo show by Cory Arcangel. For his multi-screen installation a couple thousand short films about Glenn Gould, Arcangel has arranged selected sections of Johann Sebastian Bach's 1741 composition The Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) for the massed ranks of hundreds of online amateur instrumentalists.

Given the popularity of video sharing websites, the web is now home to countless homemade videos of people showing off their instrumental skills. To produce a couple thousand short films about Glenn Gould, Arcangel has taken numerous examples of these videos and re-edited them note by note into sections from Bach's composition, each screen carrying a separate melodic line.

The piece, which will be accompanied by other works by Arcangel, is commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella in collaboration with Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland and Spacex Gallery, Exeter. Supported by Arts Council England.

Cory Arcangel
a couple thousand short films about Glenn Gould