H.D. Reliquary is the first eponymous full length from New York-based artist, musician, and 29 Speedway label owner Ben Shirken [a.k.a. Ex Wiish]. The record was released alongside a multimedia installation in collaboration with Studio ZM, Muein, Duncan Davies at Intercomm, running from April 10 - April 20. The event featured performances by Madeline Stepien, Dorothy Carlos, Matt Bent & Kevin Eichenberger, Drumloop, & JP. 

The title references the hard drive as a sacred container for relics, contemplating how digitally archived fragments of one’s existence can burn eternally after death. The exhibition’s visual language is the natural extension of the CT and MRI scanner’s affordances. Slices of objects are algorithmically recombined to create 3D volumes that rotate freely in space. Other sequences of slices create 2D planes that traverse the object across space and time. The data itself is curated as archival fragments, bits, and shrapnel–sourced from obscure datasets and open source repositories–to show the viewer the intricate inner composition of artifacts as varied as cactus fruit to the lumbar to the common battery.

The audio is spatialized on an 8-channel speaker array, playing through the entire 11 tracks of the LP. The sound of H.D.R. runs off of a dissected, acrylic encased PC towards the back of the exhibition. By loading image data in real time into the custom viewer software alongside audio, H.D.R. presents a direct, almost unmediated, encounter with the data itself. The proprietary software viewer, as reliquary, elevates the remnants of medical imaging and scientific protocols to a medium for meditation and spiritual encounter, harmonizing with the sweeping soundscapes of H.D. Reliquary.
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Featured in Paper Magazine, Document Journal, Artnet

Quantum Piñata: A Deranged Talent Show of Doom
Organized by 29 Speedway & Poncili Creación
Pioneer Works, Brooklyn NY
July 15, 2023

Performances by Poncili Creación & Laser Days, Nu Jazz, Evicshen, Ex Wiish, and MC Alex Tatarsky.

Quantum Piñata: A Deranged Talent Show of Doom was a multimedia variety show featuring underground music, audio-visual performances, puppetry, free jazz, and performance art. A circus of styles unified through shared DIY origins, Quantum Piñata was organized by artists who’ve played on bills together for years in New York. Not limited by a single style, sound, or aesthetic, the artists who performed shared a raw punk energy, traversing between sound art, improvisational performance, and noise by way of cross-genre manipulation. 900 attendees.

Featured in Document Journal.

On September 29, 2022, 29 Speedway collaborated with realtime worldbuilding studio Laser Days and PAGEANT performing arts theater for an evening of multimedia performance art. The improvsational performances incorporated live motion capture software, Unreal Engine, audio, and dance. 

Live music by Ben Bondy, Special Guest DJ, Ex Wiish, and Windowseeker.
Choreography by Isa Spector and Iliana Penichet-Ramirez.