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Ken Decker at Ultimatum Festival 1985-05-02
The following is a transcription of Ken Decker’s performance at the Ultimatum Festival I, Thursday, May 2nd, 1985 at the Foufounes Électriques bar and performance space in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. Decker performs poetry while he types, on and off, with long pauses, at his Apple IIe computer. Decker’s long form experimental prose fiction work was published in 1982 with Quadrant Editions. Decker is cited three times in Alan Lord’s memoir High Friends in Low Places (2022) for his work involving live computer engagement (pp. 125, 127, 200).
Annotations
00:00 - 00:04
Audio Description
Performs piece [English] [reads story over typing sounds].
Ken Decker
00:00 - 00:00
Alan Lord Commentary
Montreal writer Ken Decker conversed with his Apple II computer. To my knowledge, this performance of a writer interacting live with a computer was a first.
Event Description
Personal Anecdote
00:04 - 00:07
Audio Description
Coughing.
Audience
00:07 - 01:25
Audio Description
Continues piece.
Ken Decker
00:45 - 00:45
Alan Lord Commentary
Ken Decker explains: “At the time, I was writing some software for Logo Computer Systems Inc. They gave me a by-then obsolete Apple II Plus, along with a compact Apple IIc and that little monitor and very expensive external disc drive. The piece I performed at was called “STOP 4 GAS” and was written in FP-BASIC, which language was included in on-board ROM. I used a chain of video splitters and RF cable to send the monitor image out to the TV sets in the Foufoune Électrique’s bar.”
Event Description
01:19 - 01:19
Alan Lord Commentary
Ken further says: “STOP 4 GAS” was subsequently re-written in C and assembler for the Amiga computer, on a Canada Council grant, and exhibited at FAUST in Toulouse, France and at PIXIM 1988 at la Villette, Paris, and at La Cité des arts et des nouvelles technologies de Montréal, curated by Hervé Fischer.”
Event Description
01:25 - 02:34
Audio Description
Continues piece, typing stops.
Ken Decker
01:53 - 01:53
Alan Lord Commentary
Ken Decker returned to read the story "Cleaning The Tools" at the Ultimatum II festival in September 1987.
Personal Anecdote
02:25 - 02:25
Alan Lord Commentary
In 1983 Ken Decker published a book of fictional texts called “Backyard Gene Pool” .
Biographical Context
02:34 - 02:46
Audio Description
Continues piece, typing resumes.
Ken Decker
02:46 - 02:47
Audio Description
Beeping.
Unknown
02:47 - 03:56
Audio Description
Continues piece.
Ken Decker
03:56 - 03:58
Audio Description
Laughter.
Audience
03:58 - 04:07
Audio Description
Continues piece, typing sounds stop.
Ken Decker
04:07 - 04:08
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
04:08 - 04:09
Audio Description
Coughing.
Audience
04:09 - 04:27
Audio Description
Room noise [door creak, distant coughing].
Foufounes Electriques
04:27 - 04:47
Audio Description
Resumes piece.
Ken Decker
04:47 - 04:48
Audio Description
Coughing.
Audience
04:48 - 05:45
Audio Description
Continues piece.
Ken Decker
05:45 - 06:04
Audio Description
Room noise [distant chatter].
Foufounes Electriques
06:04 - 06:11
Audio Description
Resumes piece.
Ken Decker
06:11 - 06:31
Audio Description
Room noise [distant chatter, coughing].
Foufounes Electriques
06:31 - 07:00
Audio Description
Resumes piece.
Ken Decker
07:00 - 07:15
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
07:15 - 08:28
Audio Description
Resumes piece.
Ken Decker
08:28 - 08:36
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
08:36 - 08:55
Audio Description
Resumes piece, typing sounds recommence.
Ken Decker
08:55 - 09:02
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
09:02 - 09:09
Audio Description
Coughing, rustling.
Audience
09:09 - 10:32
Audio Description
Resumes piece [typing sounds gradually increase in vigor].
Ken Decker
10:32 - 10:46
Audio Description
Room noise [shuffling].
Foufounes Electriques
10:46 - 11:24
Audio Description
Resumes piece, typing sounds stop.
Ken Decker
11:24 - 11:26
Audio Description
Laughter.
Audience
11:27 - 11:38
Audio Description
Continues piece, typing sounds recommence.
Ken Decker
11:42 - 11:47
Audio Description
Coughing.
Audience
11:47 - 12:14
Audio Description
Continues piece.
Ken Decker
12:14 - 12:20
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
12:21 - 12:22
Audio Description
Coughing.
Audience
12:23 - 12:27
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
12:27 - 12:35
Audio Description
Resumes piece without typing.
Ken Decker
12:35 - 12:46
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
12:46 - 13:00
Audio Description
Resumes piece.
Ken Decker
13:00 - 13:04
Audio Description
Laughter, distance chatter.
Audience
13:04 - 13:37
Audio Description
Resumes piece, typing sounds recommence.
Ken Decker
13:37 - 13:55
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
13:55 - 13:59
Audio Description
Resumes piece, typing sounds stop.
Ken Decker
13:59 - 14:11
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
14:11 - 14:21
Audio Description
Resumes piece, typing sounds recommence.
Ken Decker
14:21 - 14:33
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
14:33 - 14:36
Audio Description
Resumes piece, typing stops.
Ken Decker
14:36 - 14:49
Audio Description
Room noise.
Foufounes Electriques
14:49 - 15:51
Audio Description
Resumes piece, typing sounds recommence.
Ken Decker
15:51 - 15:57
Audio Description
Soft laughter, chatter.
Audience
15:57 - 15:59
Audio Description
Silence [possibly end of tape].
Recording
15:59 - 15:59
Audio Description
[End of recording].
END