Zen for Record is a score by Ken Friedman (born 1949), directly inspired by Zen for Film, that reads: “Produce a phonograph record with no sound on it.” The score highlights the importance of technical supports in the production of sound, a strategy echoed by Paik in his exposure of the physical materials of film and television. Friedman produced several versions of this work, each experimenting with various means to achieve silence. The first was a found object: a blank record. Later he created an empty record jacket to embody the concept of a soundless record. In another version, Friedman spray-painted a record to cover up the grooves and thus remove previously recorded sounds. Most notably, in 1982 he attempted to realize a blank phonograph record that would feature comments by Paik, with the comments left blank to echo the silence of Zen for Record, which in turn, according to the artist, echoes the silence of Zen for Film. —CA

Image: Courtesy of the artist.