Seppo Gründler (A)

Electric guitars are sex symbols, fetishes, axes, etc. You play them, burn them, destroy them, smash them. They are given names like Lucille, Laura… mostly female names because guitar heroes are mostly male, and symbolically they assume the corresponding forms: crosses, arrows, skulls, etc., the body detached from its playing function. In the hotel room the guitar is used pragmatically for practicing and composing; without an audience it reverts to its original function.

In While my Guitar Gently Sleeps the guitar lies abandoned on the bed and reveals its “soul” to the visitors. When touched it reacts frightened and withdraws into silence; undisturbed, it produces sounds – unobtrusive soft, fragile – that come from deep within.

Seppo Gründler: electric guitar, amplifier, webcam, electronics.