From 1968 to 1972, Palestine studied vocal interpretation with Pandit Pran Nath,[5] experimented on kinetic light sculptures with Len Lye, composed music for Tony and Beverly Conrad’s film Coming Attractions, taught at CalArts with Morton Subotnick,[5] created the sound and movement piece Illuminations with Simone Forti, and developed his own alternative synthesizer: the Spectral Continuum Drone Machine.
Throughout the seventies Palestine created records, videos, sculptural objects, abstract expressionist visual scores, and performed long piano concerts regularly in his loft on North Moore Street[6] in Tribeca in the company of his bevy of stuffed animals.[7] From 1980 to 1995, Palestine performed only rarely, exhibiting instead at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and in documenta 8. During that time, he also founded the Ethnology Cinema Project in New York, which is dedicated to preserving films that document disappearing traditional cultures.
After moving to Europe in 1995, he settled in Brussels.[8] In addition to creating exhibitions, Palestine performed regularly, re-releasing older material and developing new videos and sonic projects.[9]
Charlemagne Palestine, who has long incorporated bears and plush toys into his performances, created the art installation Bear Mitzvah in Meshugahland[12] at The Jewish Museum in New York City in 2017.
^Pontegnie, Annie (1 September 2002). "Charlemagne Palestine". Artforum International. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
^Guzman, Antonio (April 1, 2004). Sacred Bordello: Charlemagne Palestine. London: Black Dog Publishing. ISBN978-1901033793.
^Ira Schneider, Beryl Korot -Video art: an anthology 1976 - - Page 249 "Palestine, in an early tape entitled Body Music, produced a fixed-camera recording of his performance piece, during which he developed a progression of body sounds while moving in an ever-expanding spiral toward the edges of the gallery ..."
^Marley, Brian (1 June 2003). "Charlemagne Palestine: In Mid-Air". The Wire (232): 67–68.
Johnson, Tom (1989). The Voice of New Music: New York City 1972–1982: A Collection of Articles Originally Published by the Village Voice. Eindhoven, Netherlands: Het Apollohuis. ISBN90-71638-09-X.
Palestine, Charlemagne (2004). Sacred Bordello. Book with CD. Milan: Alga Marghen.
Voegelin, Salome. Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art. London: Continuum. 2010. Chapter 2 Noise, pp. 50–52.