The story of The Vinyl Factory label in 100 records.
As part of the ongoing The Vinyl Factory: Reverb exhibition at 180 Studios, 100 records have been showcased within an industrial installation designed by Ben Kelly (The Hacienda, Factory Records).
The extensive collection, released between 2009 and 2024, is an artwork-led glimpse into fifteen years of vinyl releases from The Vinyl Factory’s label–a platform that represents the symbiotic relationship between art and sound.
Boasting releases across the spectrum from artists and musicians including Grace Jones, Christian Marclay, Arthur Jafa, Daft Punk, Nan Goldin, Massive Attack, Mica Levi, The xx, Fred Again and many, many more, The Vinyl Factory back catalogue is testimony to vinyl as an artistic medium–a format that facilitates experimentation and collaboration.
In light of the 100 Records installation, VF takes a look at the first 50 records, the stories and artists behind them and the format explorations within.
Massive Attack vs. Burial
Paradise Circus
One of many collaborations between The Vinyl Factory and Massive Attack, this 2011 release comprised two remixes of the band’s then-current songs by Burial: “Four Walls” and “Paradise Circus”. A limited edition of 1000 copies, with screen-printed gold glitter artwork by Robert del Naja, the release sold out within hours and has subsequently become one of the most sought-after vinyl records of the past 20 years, regularly trading hands for hundreds of pounds on the secondary market.
Massive Attack
Splitting The Atom
Released in 2009, the first of a series of collaborations between Massive Attack and The Vinyl Factory, this four-track EP–titled Splitting the Atom–consisted of the title track, plus another, “Pray for Rain”, by the Bristol-based collective. Limited to 1000 copies worldwide, individually numbered and pressed on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl on the EMI 1400, the record is housed in a bronze-foiled and printed sleeve, with artwork by Robert del Naja.
Jamie Hewlett
Monkey
The Vinyl Factory label’s second release was a collaboration with Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett to release their 2008 multimedia theatrical and musical project Monkey: Journey to the West. VF produced two vinyl box sets, including an edition of 2000 copies which contained a set of four exclusive Jamie Hewlett giclee prints, a hardback art book and two 200-gram vinyl records pressed on the EMI 1400 featuring exclusive bonus tracks, housed in a black cloth-bound box foiled on the cover and spine. The first 500 fans also received a custom-made special limited edition Monkey Om Box, with tones composed by Damon Albarn.
Die Verboten
Live in Evissa
Die Verboten is a Belgian krautrock-influenced band formed by David and Stephen Dewaele of Soulwax that also includes English-born electronic artist Riton and the artist and designer Fergadelic. In 2009, The Vinyl Factory released their debut, this five-track EP called Live in Eivissa, so-named because the recordings were made in a temporary recording studio in Ibiza. Pressed as a limited edition of just 300 copies, on a 200-gram super-heavyweight vinyl housed in a custom-made pop-up sleeve that can be assembled into a pyramid, reflecting the designer Fergadelic’s interest in both cosmic new age music and iconic 1970s sleeve design.
Pet Shop Boys
Yes
The third release on The Vinyl Factory label was a very special box set by Pet Shop Boys of their album Yes, created in collaboration with their long-time designer Mark Farrow. A limited edition of 300, the smoked Perspex outer PVC box with magnetic fastening housed 11 single Pantone colour printed sleeves with A-side tracks and B-side instrumentals from the LP, with a 12th sleeve containing a signed, numbered Giclée print and insert featuring a colour key and credits. The edition sold out within a day and was voted the most collectable vinyl item ever by Record Collector.
The xx
The xx
In January 2010, The Vinyl Factory teamed up The xx and their label Young Turks to stage A Sculpture of the Album, an audio-visual collaboration with video director Saam Farahmand at The Vinyl Factory Space in Soho to celebrate the band’s debut album. The sculpture utilised film, light and sound via three specially created audio-visual units programmed so every visitor had a unique experience. The Vinyl Factory released this special version of the album in tandem, limited to 500 copies, each containing the LP plus an exclusive pressing of a remix by Matthew Dear and an art print signed by the band.
Michael Nyman
Cine Opera
One of Britain’s most successful film composers, perhaps best known for his score to Jane Campion’s The Piano, Michael Nyman collaborated with The Vinyl Factory in 2010 to release Cine Opera, a double vinyl album pressing of his 1989 work La Traversée de Paris. Originally commissioned to mark France’s bi-centennial celebrations, this limited edition of 500 hand-signed copies, featured three exclusive bonus tracks, a cover photograph taken by Nyman in his home of Mexico City, printed on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, and liner notes written by the artist.
Grace Jones
Hurricane
In 2010, The Vinyl Factory staged an immersive exhibition at the VF Space in Poland Street, Soho, London that showcased a remarkable creative collaboration between Grace Jones and the light artist Chris Levine. Limited to 500 copies, this special vinyl edition of Jones’ album Hurricane was released by VF in tandem, featuring screen-printed cover artwork of the iconic Jamaican singer by Levine. Pressed on two 180-gram heavyweight records, each edition also included a fine art portrait print of the singer, hand-signed and numbered by both Jones and Levine.
Roxy Music
Love is the Drug remix
In 2012, ahead of their 30th anniversary, legendary art-rock icons Roxy Music released this 12” with The Vinyl Factory, featuring contemporary club remixes of two of their classic songs: a Todd Terje remix of the band’s 1975 hit “Love is the Drug” on side A and a remix by Lindstrom and Prins Thomas of “Avalon” on side B. The release followed on from a series of collaborations between The Vinyl Factory and Bryan Ferry in 2011, including the singer’s album Olympia.
UNKLE
Heretics’ Gate
In 2010, artist Doug Foster staged The Heretics’ Gate in a church in Camden, London, a large-scale digital audio-visual installation inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Inferno comprised of a single-channel video reflected infinitely in a pool of water below. The accompanying soundtrack, created by James Lavelle of UNKLE, was released by The Vinyl Factory as this limited edition of 100 copies. Featuring sleeve artwork by Foster, screen printed with diamond dust, each copy was hand-signed and numbered by both artists.
Florence
Shake it Out
Released in 2011, with cover photography by Karl Lagerfeld, this vinyl pressing of Florence Welch’s hit single “Shake It Out” was pressed on 180-gram heavyweight white vinyl and included a remix of the original by The Weeknd. Released by The Vinyl Factory, it was the first of four such singles by Florence released on the label, each limited to 500 copies, with screen-printed cover artwork and bespoke silver inner sleeves.
Jeremy Deller
Folsom City Blues
Jeremy Deller’s first release with the Vinyl Factory featured a live recording performed by Chuck, a singer and musician who often plays along the South Bank. Deller heard him playing and liked his take on classic songs, compounding his ongoing interest in cover versions “that surprise you, and that add to songs we already know”. Deller invited Chuck to a recording studio in West London, where they recorded two tracks live, direct-to-disc. Chuck recorded two cover versions, one of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” and one of “Island in the Sun”, by Harry Belafonte. Released in 2012 as a hand-signed edition of 100 copies to coincide with Deller’s major retrospective, Joy in People, at the Hayward Gallery.
Robin Rhode
Variants
Robin Rhode, a South African artist based in Berlin, collaborated with The Vinyl Factory to release the six soundtracks for his video work Variants in 2012. The music, produced by Rhode and arranged by Arenor Anuku, accompanied five animations by the artist that take the chair designs of Dutch furniture designer and architect Gerrit Rietveld as a starting point. A member of the De Stijl movement, Rietveld aspired to bring high design to the masses. Limited to 100 copies, each record sleeve was hand-stencilled by Rhode in his Berlin studio.
Gavin Turk
4 Minute Mile
This collaboration between artist Gavin Turk and designer Hussein Chalayan, titled 4 Minute Mile, was released by The Vinyl Factory in 2012 in celebration of an exhibition at the V&A called Britain Creates 2012: Fashion & Art Collusion, which documented collaborations between fashion designers and visual artists. Limited to 100 copies, each hand-signed by Turk and Chalayan, the release featured music by Turk and a conversation between the two about their interest in the mythical status and identity of artists, authorship, and authenticity.
Anna Meredith
Black Prince Fury
Long before classically-trained musician Anna Meredith was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, her beguiling electronic music and captivating soundscapes were released by The Vinyl Factory on the Black Prince Fury EP, released in 2012. Pressed on 180-gram heavyweight black vinyl, the EP contained four tracks spanning 18 minutes of original compositions, including the ever-popular “Nautilus”, voted by Pitchfork as one of their tracks of the year.
Martin Creed
Chicago
Turner Prize-winning artist and musician Martin Creed released several records with The Vinyl Factory, including this four-track EP titled Chicago in 2012. Featuring songs by Creed and his band, this limited edition of 200 copies featured hand-painted cover artwork in watercolour by Creed, and hand-written label artwork, with each copy signed and numbered by the artist. Created in collaboration with MCA Chicago, Creed also gave the release its own distinct artwork title, Work No. 1370.
Tim and Sue
Nihilistic Optimistic
In 2012, British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster partnered with The Vinyl Factory and acclaimed punk photographer Dennis Morris to stage an exhibition of original photography called Nihilistic Optimistic, made up of 11 iconic portrait photographs of the artists taken by Morris. As well as his celebrated work with the Sex Pistols and Bob Marley, Morris was instrumental in creating the seminal sleeves, logo and metal box for John Lydon’s band PiL. This vinyl edition consisted of a spoken word performance by the artist, recorded live and pressed on double 12” vinyl with accompanying sleeve artwork by Morris.
Kaytranada
Free Things in Life
Haitian-Canadian producer, rapper and DJ Kaytranada may now be a universally-loved Grammy-winning star of contemporary underground music, but he was little known back in 2014, when The Vinyl Factory released this 12” dancefloor-orientated vinyl single, “Free Things in Life”. The release was one of several on a sub-label called Bromance, created by The Vinyl Factory in collaboration with the French producer Brodinski to release music by his network of collaborators and friends. Pressed on heavyweight vinyl and limited to 500 copies, this release featured comic-book style artwork by Benjamin Marra.
Dinos Chapman
Luftbobler
In 2013 The Vinyl Factory produced and released Luftbobler, the debut album by British artist Dinos Chapman. Named after a Norwegian chocolate bar and consisting of 13 tracks of experimental electronic music created by Chapman in his basement studio late at night over 10 years prior, the album was widely well-received by critics. The album was released on multiple formats by VF, including this limited edition of 300 copies which included an original etching by Chapman hand-tipped onto the front of each of the bespoke hardback gatefold covers. Following a successful launch at The Vinyl Factory space in Soho, VF and Chapman created a live audio-visual show which toured around the world, debuting at festivals including Sonar, Mutek and Glastonbury.
Jeremy Deller
English Magic
In 2013, The Vinyl Factory collaborated with Jeremy Deller on the soundtrack to his new film exhibited in the British Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale. Recorded at Abbey Road, the English Magic soundtrack comprised three classic British songs; “Symphony in D Minor” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Voodoo Ray” by A Guy Called Gerald and “The Man Who Sold The World” by David Bowie – covered by the Melodians Steel Orchestra, an English/Trinidadian steel band, based in South London. The Melodians Steel Orchestra played live at both the Pavilion’s official inauguration and later that evening at The Vinyl Factory’s legendary party on the Isla Vignole, Venice.
Christian Marclay
Groove
The Vinyl Factory first collaborated with Christian Marclay in 2013 to release Groove, his debut professional solo recording, on vinyl for the first time. Originally recorded in New York in 1982, Groove is a mesmerising sound collage created by densely layering multiple copies of the same seven-inch single, made using an available 8-track recorder – by applying stickers directly on the groove, causing the needle to skip and repeat. The A-side is accompanied by a series of locked grooves on the B-side as bonus loops for you to mix or add to the main track.
Haroon Mirza
o/o/o/o
The Vinyl Factory partnered with British artist and musician Haroon Mirza on a series of vinyl releases which explored his interests in experimental electronic music and the synthesis between sound and art. Mirza won the Silver Lion for most promising young artist at the Venice Biennale in 2011 and his work pivots around socio-cultural systems such as a club culture, so it was fitting that his releases included this 2014 vinyl collaboration – titled o/o/o/o – with producer James Lavelle, best known for productions as UNKLE. With sleeve artwork by Mirza, the release was limited to just 500 copies.
Maurizio Cattelan
I Always Remember A Face, Especially When I’ve Sat On It
Hailed simultaneously as a provocateur, prankster, and tragic poet of our times, Maurizio Cattelan has created some of the most unforgettable images in recent contemporary art. His source materials range widely, from popular culture, history, and organised religion to a meditation on the self that is at once humorous and profound. This 14-track vinyl-only compilation, titled I Always Remember a Face, Especially When I’ve Sat On It, released by The Vinyl Factory in 2015, featured music by Malcolm McLaren, Gene Vincent, Cornelius, Judy Garland, Pierre Schaeffer and many more, pressed on a Picture Disc with artwork by Cattelan as a limited edition of 1,000 copies.
Gesaffelstein
Pursuit
The Vinyl Factory released two albums with French electronic producer Gesaffelstein aka Mike Lévy – Aleph and his soundtrack to the film Maryland – but the first collaboration was his Pursuit EP in 2013. This edition, limited to just 500 hand-numbered copies worldwide, features the techno track pressed on 180-gram clear vinyl housed in bespoke inner and outer sleeves including a 10×10″ photographic print, the image taken from the song’s accompanying video.
Richard Mosse
The Enclave
In 2014, The Vinyl Factory staged Richard Mosse’s film installation The Enclave as a critically acclaimed immersive experience at Brewer Street Car Park in Soho. With a score by Ben Frost, The Enclave is the culmination of Mosse’s work in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a place where 5.4 million people have died of war-related causes since 1998, yet which often loses visibility and receives little coverage in the mainstream media. Mosse brings to this overlooked humanitarian disaster a discontinued military reconnaissance film. This vinyl release features two extended 15-minute compositions created by Ben Frost especially for this format, based on his original multi-channel score.
Marina Abramović
512 Hours
A pioneer of performance as an art form, Marina Abramović uses her own body as subject and object to push the physical and mental limits of her being. The Vinyl Factory collaborated with Abramović to capture a unique live performance of the artist reading her work “An Artist Life Manifesto”, recorded on 6 June 2014 in the Serpentine Gallery. Released as a limited edition of 100 copies, pressed on white vinyl, each hand-signed and numbered by the artist.
Trevor Jackson
FORMAT
In 2015, The Vinyl Factory collaborated with British producer and graphic designer Trevor Jackson to release 13 of his tracks as a series of limited editions released on a variety of physical formats ranging from vinyl to cassette to reel-to-reel. Called FORMAT, in celebration of physical musical formats, the project’s tracks were also collected together for this triple LP edition, pressed on three heavyweight records housed in a bespoke clear sleeve with design and screen-printed artwork by Jackson. FORMAT was the first album from Jackson since his acclaimed Playgroup LP was released in 2001, and the closure of his seminal Output Recordings label in 2006, which released influential records from Four Tet and LCD Soundsystem.
Róisín Murphy
Mi Senti
Released by The Vinyl Factory in 2014, this extended player consists of five covers of classic Italian pop songs by Irish singer Róisín Murphy, plus one original track titled “In Sintesi”. Limited to 1000 copies and pressed on two heavyweight white vinyl records, the music was recorded in Ibiza and London, produced by Murphy and her long-time musical collaborator Eddie Stevens. Two remix 12” vinyl releases of the album were released later in the year, also by The Vinyl Factory.
Jonas Berghert
zeit später
In 2014, The Vinyl Factory collaborated with Berlin-based painter Jonas Burgert to release a vinyl edition in celebration of his exhibition Stuck Hirn Blind in London. Connecting both the artist’s past and his present living and working in contemporary Berlin, the release–named zeit später or ‘time later’–showcases an experimental classical recording from Burgert’s late father, the composer Hans Joachim Burgert, with one of the city’s most forward-thinking electronic producers and sometime Berghain DJ rRoxymore providing a remix. An art edition of 100 copies was hand-painted by the artist, with each sleeve revealing one-hundredth of a complete large-scale Burgert painting.
Conrad Shawcross & Holly Herndon
Relations
In 2014, The Vinyl Factory produced and staged an exhibition by British artist Conrad Shawcross called The Ada Project on the top floor of the Brewer Street Car Park in Soho, London. Inspired by pioneering 19th Century mathematician Ada Lovelace and inventor Charles Babbage’s work on proto-computers, Shawcross built an industrial robot and invited four female musicians–Holly Herndon, Mira Calix, Beatrice Dillon and Tamara Barnett Herrin–to respond to its movements. The recordings were released on the VF label and included this one by Holly Herndon, whose combination of vocal processing, synthesis and recordings of the robot in motion attempted to emote the sentience implied in the robot’s movements.
Keaton Henson
Romantic Works
In 2014. The Vinyl Factory released six different art editions of Romantic Works, the third album from musician and visual artist Keaton Henson. The pressing included the album’s 10 original songs, plus an exclusive bonus song, “La Naissance”, and a remix of Henson’s track “Elevator Song” by Ulrich Schnauss. But what set this release apart was the fact there were six different editions, each limited to just 100 copies, and each containing a distinct art print by Henson, hand signed and numbered by the artist.
Various Artists
Cybernetic Serendipity Music
In 2015 The Vinyl Factory collaborated with London’s ICA to reissue the ground-breaking compilation Cybernetic Serendipity Music, originally released in 1968 to coincide with the exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity at the ICA, which proved to be a landmark in the history of audio-visual art, and the first exhibition of its kind in the UK devoted to the relationship between music and early computers. Both unique and extraordinarily influential, Cybernetic Serendipity Music captured a nascent scene on the cusp of a synth-led electronic revolution and was the only compilation of its kind to bring together the musicians, composers and inventors pushing the boundaries of early computer music on one record, a good six years before Kraftwerk’s Autobahn changed modern music for ever.
Jeremy Shaw
Variation FQ
Consisting of a repetitive, melancholy piano score combined with chopped vocal samples and time-stretched tape effects, the soundtrack to Jeremy Shaw’s Variation FQ (2011-13) incites a hypnotic, mantra-like mood that accompanies the virtuosic dance style of the film’s protagonist–legendary voguer, Leiomy Maldonado. Variation FQ is a study of the co-evolution of subculture, gender, dance, and special effects. No stranger to music production, Jeremy Shaw recorded under the name Circlesquare from 1999-2009, releasing multiple records on Trevor Jackson’s now defunct Output Recordings. This edition, released by The Vinyl Factory in 2015, was pressed on white vinyl, housed in screen-printed outer and inner sleeves, with artwork by Shaw, who hand-signed each copy.
Thurston Moore
live at white cube
This direct-to-disc recording of a live performance by Thurston Moore and Christian Marclay at the White Cube gallery in London in February 2015 was part of a wide-ranging collaboration between The Vinyl Factory and Christian Marclay whereby the artist invited musicians to play in his exhibition each weekend over the course of several months. The Vinyl Factory pressed these recordings in the gallery, with the public able to see the process up close, having created a specially commissioned mobile Vinyl Factory pressing plant and installed it in the space, The sleeve artwork, by Marclay, was also screen printed on-site.
Mica levi
live at white cube
In 2015, The Vinyl Factory collaborated with Christian Marclay to install a specially commissioned mobile Vinyl Factory pressing plant into the White Cube gallery in Bermondsey. Each weekend musicians would play live in the space, recorded direct-to-disc with the records pressed live on site. Sleeve artwork would be screen printed at the gallery also. This recording, by musician and composer Mica Levi and the London Sinfonietta, consisting of two tracks, was recorded on Sunday 15 February 2015 and pressed as a limited edition of 500 copies.
Okkjung lee
live at white cube
This live recording by contemporary experimental musician Okkyung Lee was part of a series of collaborations between The Vinyl Factory and the artist Christian Marclay where musicians performed at his exhibition at White Cube. Recorded direct-to-disc in March 2015, with screen-printed sleeve artwork by Marclay, this limited edition of 500 copies was hand-pressed on-site at the gallery on The Vinyl Factory Press which had been installed there especially for the show.
Ryoji Ikeda
live at white cube
This direct-to-disc recording of a live performance by Ryoji Ikeda at the White Cube gallery in London on 11 April 2015 was part of a wide-ranging collaboration between The Vinyl Factory and Christian Marclay where the artist invited musicians to play in his exhibition each weekend over the course of several months. The Vinyl Factory pressed these recordings in the gallery, with the public able to see the process up close, having created a specially commissioned mobile Vinyl Factory pressing plant that was installed in the space. The sleeve artwork, by Marclay, was also screen printed on-site.
David & Peter Adjaye
Dialogues
In 2016 The Vinyl Factory and Music for Architecture released Dialogues, a limited-edition vinyl-only album showcasing the ongoing architectural and sonic collaborations between music composer Peter Adjaye and his brother, the award winning architect David Adjaye OBE. This album explores the creative process of the two brothers’ collaborations; each track corresponds to a piece of work by David Adjaye and traverses the intersection between music and architecture. It is a series of site-specific architecture and sound collaborations that spans from Reflections of a Golden Dream, the soundscape for the Stephen Lawrence Centre in Deptford, through to Three Views of Light which forms part of the Genesis Pavilion in Miami, Florida.
Carsten Nicolai
Random Groove
In 2015, The Vinyl Factory staged the European premiere of German artist and musician Carsten Nicolai’s unicolor installation at Brewer Street Car Park in Soho. This collection of random grooves by Nicolai was released on the VF label in tandem, pressed on 180-gram fluoro pink vinyl. Nicolai’s practice investigates the boundaries between visual and audio art forms within an integrated artistic approach. Influenced by scientific reference systems, Nicolai often engages mathematical patterns such as grids and codes, as well as error, randomisation and self-organising structures.
Jason Moran
Staged
A widely acknowledged jazz pioneer with a succession of acclaimed albums for Blue Note under his belt, Jason Moran is also an artist whose project for the 2015 Venice Biennale is the emotionally resonant STAGED, a powerful performative work that derives from his interest in the history of the jazz idiom. Co-commissioned by The Vinyl Factory, STAGED is two stand-alone sculptural installations that recreate architectural elements from two historic New York City jazz spaces: The Savoy Ballroom and The Three Deuces. The vinyl release consists of three recordings by Moran, pressed on 180-gram vinyl and released as an edition of 300 copies.
Kristin Anna
Howl
In 2015, The Vinyl Factory and Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson formed Bel-Air Glamour Records. The first release was Howl, an album of “satanist feminine ambient music” by Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, the much celebrated, mysterious ex-singer of Mum. Recorded on a psychedelic binge in California’s Mojave Desert, the music created in the wilderness spans some 82 minutes of primal, demonic reflections of Kristín´s artistic expression – raw, emotional, dreamy and unfettered. A little bit like sinking into a Baudelaire poem.
Giorgio Moroder
Station To Station – Doug Atiken x Barbican
In the summer of 2015, The Vinyl Factory partnered with American multimedia artist Doug Aitken and the Barbican to bring his acclaimed Station to Station exhibition to the UK. The Vinyl Factory created a recording studio on-site in the gallery and installed The Vinyl Factory Press to make records. One of these was this release by legendary Italian record producer, songwriter, performer and DJ, Giorgio Moroder – the man frequently credited with being the pioneer of synth disco and electronic dance music. Moroder and Bruce Sudano recorded this edition as part of the original Station to Station, which crossed North America by train from the Atlantic to the Pacific over 24 days in 2013.
Savages
What I’m Seeing in the Sun (Station To Station – Doug Atiken x Barbican)
In the summer of 2015, The Vinyl Factory partnered with American multimedia artist Doug Aitken and the Barbican to bring his acclaimed Station to Station exhibition to the UK. The Vinyl Factory created a recording studio on-site in the gallery and installed The Vinyl Factory Press to make records. One of these was this release by four-piece band Savages who were joined by A Dead Forest Index, choreographer Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome and dance artist Rosalie Wahlfrid for two nights of unique performance, combining live sound, movement and immersive play between light and dark.
Rodney Graham
Good Hand, Bad Hand
One of several Vinyl Factory collaborations with the Vancouver-based artist and musician Rodney Graham, the 2016 album Good Hand, Bad Hand showcases Graham’s signature blend of rock ‘n roll, psychedelia and folk tinged country. Graham’s self-portrait provided the cover artwork. Though best known as an artist, music was a major part of Graham’s work throughout his career, from performing with the band UJ3RK5 in Vancouver in the late 1970s, through composing soundtracks for slide and film works to recordings and performances as a singer-songwriter.
Rachel Rose
Palisades
Rachel Rose’s audio-visual artworks create immersive environments through movement, sound and colour. One of the most exciting and visionary young artists working today, Rose’s collaboration with The Vinyl Factory was inspired by her exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in 2014, which featured a unique site-specific installation interweaving two of her videos, “A Minute Ago” and “Palisades” in Palisades. Through the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated events, Rose’s work presents humanity’s shared current anxieties and their multi-layered interconnectivity.
Bill Viola
The Talking Drum
In 2015, The Vinyl Factory collaborated with the artist Bill Viola to restage one of his most important sonic installations, The Talking Drum, at Brewer Street Car Park, Soho. Although best known as a pioneer of video art, Viola was involved in creating multiple experimental sound installations and performances in California from the 1960s onwards that paved the way for much electronic music to follow. Featuring three early sound compositions, this vinyl release, limited to just 100 copies, each hand signed and numbered by the artist, showcases Viola’s experimental Dry Pool Sounding recordings from the late 1970s, restored from tape by the artist’s studio.
Daft Punk x Maurizio Cattelan
Da Funk: Teachers
Toilet Paper is a surrealist artists’ magazine created and produced by Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari that challenges the limits of contemporary art. To celebrate the first million copies printed, in 2016 Toilet Paper collaborated with The Vinyl Factory to create a special golden vinyl of Daft Punk’s 1995 classic track “Da Funk”. Inspired by the classic ‘golden record’’ normally used by the music industry to remark this major achievement, this 12” picture disc was pressed as a limited edition of only 1000 copies, with artwork by Cattelan.
Ragnar Kjartansson
The Visitors
In 2015, The Vinyl Factory staged the UK premiere of Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson’s widely heralded nine-channel video installation, The Visitors, on the top floor of Brewer Street Car Park. The film transports the viewer to a peculiar universe: in the various rooms of the almost two-hundred-year-old villa Rokeby on the picturesque Hudson River in New York State, the artist, his friends, and residents repeatedly perform a “feminine nihilistic gospel song.” Released by The Vinyl Factory, the soundtrack heralded a series of musical releases with Kjartansson, with VF and the artist jointly forming Bel-Air Glamour Records, to release music by other Icelandic musicians such as Kjartan Sveinsson and Kristin Anna, friends of Kjartansson who also performed in The Visitors.
Read more: Ben Kelly’s Record Room embodies the spirit of vinyl
The Vinyl Factory: Reverb runs until 28 September 2024 at 180 Studios. Book tickets online
