Created by Allen-Golder Carpenter, the video features three visuals stacked on top of each other: one is a live video of him painting; one is a censored video taken on his phone from his chest pocket during his commute to work on the train, which is exactly the length of the track 'Alive in the Living Room' by Richie Culver; and one is a live security camera feed from the Czech Republic.From the album: Richie Culver - Alive in the living room - على قيد الحياة في غرفة القعدةThe sonic landscape delves into the artist's personal experiences with sleep paralysis, a condition he has lived with throughout his adult life. The improvised sound piece sets a "Bleak terrain of dead dreams,”—vocals intentionally omitted to echo Culver's speechlessness during paralysis. The poem, which would have been spoken word, is instead meant to be read by the reader/listener themselves, and describes his subconscious experiences evoking discomfort and vulnerability."Richie Culver’s practice is proof that there is a basis for a shared fear of mythic proportions: Good art is made infrequently and instinctively. Every one of his works is crafted in mere seconds; nothing is discarded. Though the actual act of art-making is not torturous or tedious for Culver, the everyday can be. Life is for agonizing; art is the instantaneous expulsion of the thoughts and urges that emerge from it.Alive in the Living Room is exemplary of that ethos. The Hull-born, mostly London-based artist created the 27-minute “sound mass” in one take, but it was born from a whole adulthood of suffering from sleep paralysis. The piece is a near-immediate response to Culver asking himself, What if I just succumbed to it?"
—Megan Hullander, Document Journal“The piece begins with a regular repeating throb, like the synthetic valves and chambers of medical equipment in mid-flow, backed by a slowly rising ambient churn which threatens to drown it. Described as a mass, it’s not clear as to which sense of the word is being used. When the hymn book and soundscape are consumed together, they form a kind of pulsing, ritualistic incantation that tends toward the more spiritual interpretation.”
— Spenser Tomson, The WireProduced by Richie Culver
Mastered by Rashad BeckerFilm shot and edited by Allen-Golder Carpenter