DISINTEGRATION LOOPS

David Wexler, David Wexler / United States / 2021 / 45 min / International Premiere

William Basinski’s groundbreaking ambient elegy on 9/11 becomes relevant again on its 20th anniversary as the soundtrack of the lockdown.

When the Twin Towers were in flames on 11 September 2001, William Basinski was sitting on his roof in New York and watched the towers crumble. His recently recorded work ‘The Disintegration Loops’ became the soundtrack of the disaster. The work, which consists of a series of 12-inch tapes, which repeat themselves in loops while slowly disintegrating musically and physically, became the definitive artistic response to the terrifying event. 20 years later, the pandemic shut down New York again. Basinski, who is probably the only true rock star of the ambient genre, talks to the director David Wexler in a video conversation about his work and life and the fateful day in September.