Pitchfork

[Posted Friday, September 5th, 2003 06:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

David Byrne-- rock star, film composer, writer and visual artist, has once again found a way to put all his interests to use, with a new eighty-dollar (!!) book and DVD. While touring with his last book, The New Sins, a beautifully bound addendum to the Bible designed for the purpose of being put in hotel room drawers instead of its predecessor, Byrne began to use the laughably overused multimedia presentation software PowerPoint during his speeches. Now he's using the software for a full-blown traveling art show.

The book is an extension of this idea, using PowerPoint's graphics creation tool to create pointless graphs and visuals, as well as including other officeplace annoyances such as plastic overlays. The accompanying DVD features five of Byrne's full presentations, with original music by the artist. Although Byrne's initial purpose was to use the sales tool as a satire of the business world, he tells Wired magazine that the final result is that and more. "Although I began by making fun of the medium, I soon realized I could actually create things that were beautiful. I could bend the program to my own whim and use it as an artistic agent. The pieces became like short films: some were sweet, some were scary, and some were mysterioso." Whatever you say, David.

The book, entitled E.E.E.I. (Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information), is now available. Lead Us Not Into Temptation, Byrne's soundtrack to upcoming film Young Adam, featuring collaborations with members of Mogwai and Belle and Sebastian (as reported here in July), is out next week.