Uploaded January 2008 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I posted a longer-better version of this entitled "Soundlab 1998 Dragon Square, NYC" from the account OutsiderTV
I was inspired to post this video I shot circa 1997 of an outdoor Soundlab event on New York's Lower East Side by something I just read about a 3d web site based on the area. Though this video was made only ten years ago, the area has changed a great deal since then. Nothing dramatizes that more than the launch of an MTV virtual world (VLES.com) this week based on a few blocks below Houston St. now called "Hell Square.". This area has more bars and clubs than just about anywhere and most all of them popped up in the last ten years. As a long time resident I welcomed the night life at first, then became too much of a good thing, now a theme park. I'll probably post a bulletin soon to editorialize and reminisce some more. For now I'll just say that 1997 was sort of a high water mark in my mind before the dot.com bubble got too flush with money and crowded out the arty vibe that prevailed among the early NY dot.com'ers I knew. The soundtrack of that time was drum & bass and a local nexus for it was Soundlab, see below
Location -Sara Delano Roosevelt Park between Chrystie and Forsyth Stree
soundlab.org BETH COLEMAN & HOWARD GOLDKRAND
Beth Coleman is an artist who mixes text and sound. Since 1995, she has been co-director of SoundLab Cultural Alchemy, a digital-media group and record label.
Howard Goldkrand is an artist working with a mixed vocabulary of visual installation, site-specific conceptual work, and sound. Since 1994, he has been the artistic director of Cultural Alchemy's SoundLab, the electro-tectural nomadic happening, designing its visual and sound environments. He has created live and recorded sound works for the internationally roving SoundLab events.
I posted a longer-better version of this entitled "Soundlab 1998 Dragon Square, NYC" from the account OutsiderTV
I was inspired to post this video I shot circa 1997 of an outdoor Soundlab event on New York's Lower East Side by something I just read about a 3d web site based on the area. Though this video was made only ten years ago, the area has changed a great deal since then. Nothing dramatizes that more than the launch of an MTV virtual world (VLES.com) this week based on a few blocks below Houston St. now called "Hell Square.". This area has more bars and clubs than just about anywhere and most all of them popped up in the last ten years. As a long time resident I welcomed the night life at first, then became too much of a good thing, now a theme park. I'll probably post a bulletin soon to editorialize and reminisce some more. For now I'll just say that 1997 was sort of a high water mark in my mind before the dot.com bubble got too flush with money and crowded out the arty vibe that prevailed among the early NY dot.com'ers I knew. The soundtrack of that time was drum & bass and a local nexus for it was Soundlab, see below
Location -Sara Delano Roosevelt Park between Chrystie and Forsyth Stree
soundlab.org BETH COLEMAN & HOWARD GOLDKRAND
Beth Coleman is an artist who mixes text and sound. Since 1995, she has been co-director of SoundLab Cultural Alchemy, a digital-media group and record label.
Howard Goldkrand is an artist working with a mixed vocabulary of visual installation, site-specific conceptual work, and sound. Since 1994, he has been the artistic director of Cultural Alchemy's SoundLab, the electro-tectural nomadic happening, designing its visual and sound environments. He has created live and recorded sound works for the internationally roving SoundLab events.
