Robert Rutman
Best known for his work with homemade idiophones in his Steel Cello Ensemble, Rutman is regarded as a pioneer of multimedia performance in his mixing of music, sculpture, film, and visual art.
[5] In 1952 Rutman returned to the U.S. and worked as a traveling salesman in Dallas, Texas, before moving to Mexico City to enroll in art school.
[4][2] In 1967 Demby and Rutman held several happening-style events that mixed sonic, visual, and performance art centered around big sheets of metal that the artists had found.
In one piece called The Thing, Rutman wore a white cardboard box and banged on Demby's sheet-metal creation with "a rock in a sock."
Rutman made these new instruments from large panels of flexible sheet metal affixed with steel strings or freely swinging rods that he played with a bass or cello bow.
[10] CMPMC performances had a ritualistic quality that incorporated many non-musicians, such as video artist Bill Etra who added visual elements to their shows.
"As Rutman's instruments piqued the interest of aficionados in both visual art and new music composition, his portfolio as an exhibition and concert artist grew.
[13] He moved to Boston's then-bohemian Cambridgeport neighborhood and disbanded the CMPMC to found a new, all-steel music group in 1976: the Robert Rutman U.S. Steel Cello Ensemble, whose members included Suzanne Bresler, Rex Morrill, Warren Senders, Jim Van Denakker, and David Zaig.
[2] In 1980 the Steel Cello Ensemble performed for Peter Sellars' Harvard University stage production of King Lear, and in 1985 worked with Laurie Anderson on Robert Wilson's rendition of Alcestis at the American Repertory Theatre.
[2] In 1986 Rutman was invited to play at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, which opened the door to many performances and collaborations in Europe, spanning decades.
On his first two tours of Europe, Rutman was joined by fellow American Daniel Orlansky, and the group later expanded to include two Germans, Alexander Dorsch and Stephanie Wolff.
He spent five years teaching himself to throat sing in the style of Tibet's Buddhist monks and began to match his instruments' low tonalities with his voice.
[10][8] He also re-incorporated traditional non-western instruments into Steel Cello Ensemble performances and recordings, including the tabla, Tibetan horn, and didgeridoo.
It’s the opposite of beauty, it’s like really ugly and I like that.Throughout the 1990s Rutman continued to score theatre and film, including Wim Wenders' sequel to Wings of Desire and Heiner Goebbels' stage adaptation of Walden.
[21] Among these are Klaus Wiese's Nono Orchestra, Wolfram Spyra and Pete Namlook as the duo Virtual Vices,[8] Mathias Grassow and Adrian Palka.
[24] In addition to his music and instruments, Rutman continued to produce and exhibit drawings, oil paintings, engravings and wire sculptures, examples of which can be seen on his website.
