Flip the record and join us in the Henry’s Test Site for The B-Side, a participatory learning and resource lab presented in conjunction with The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl.

In addition to providing access to locally produced records from a variety of Northwest Record Labels, this project investigates the curious relationship between contemporary art and music by looking at economies of production and distribution. Using oddities and ephemera from the world of vinyl records, The B-Side observes the history and significance of music production in the Pacific Northwest, its relationship to visual art, and the role of the record as both method and material.

The B-Side features programming ranging from performances by The Hive Dwellers and Slashed Tires to Live Lathe production workshops with PIAPTK and listening parties featuring artists such as Kathy Slade, Matthew Green, and Rachael Kessler. During the opening week of The B-Side, Mike Dixon cut a series of limited edition high-quality, 10” lacquer recording blanks, in real time, on a 1940’s Presto 6N record lathe in the Henry’s Test Site. A new artist was featured each day and records were made available first come first serve to visitors.

Dixon is the proprietor of PIAPTK Limited Edition Vinyl Recordings and Handmade Musical Artifacts, a vinyl and digital only record label in Olympia, WA. PIAPTK specializes in handmade artwork and bizarre record formats for psychedelic folk-pop and artists from all over the world and has produced turntable-playable records out of a variety of materials from picnic plates and laserdiscs to X-Rays and 90% cacao chocolate.

Check in for more information and updates on opportunities to experience the capacity of the record in its most exploded sense.

Participating labels include: