Umbra Solis@Melkweg

I recently contributed a live sound mix and technical support for the performance of Samadhi - Le Furie & Sotto la Radice. The technical support namely came in the form of design and assembling a portable box with light controllers, amplifiers, and power supply. The effect from the light bowls design by Federico Bonelli can be seen in the video above, as well as, a sample of a live mix. Though not perfected, the performance was an opportunity to test the durability of bowls. We have a much better idea of what a proper design should look like. A sample video of Le Furie is also provided here below.

Shamadi (the furies) - synthesis from Umbra SOlis on Vimeo.

tower sessions

Over the course of the past two months I have been recording and mixing a range of sounds, found and contrived. Well, not entirely. Much is improvised. Overall, I am structuring the collection in the form of a Latin mass. It is not particularly holy, though meditative at times. Maybe such an organization is the result of the acoustics where I am recording.

open studios@rijksakademie

The website for the openstudios does not have any usable links, and the artists do not seem to have much of an online presence as well. Overall, I was quite confused as to the roll which video plays in much of the students' work. It appears as though video was being heavily used as an ornament for mixed media works. In some cases it was clear that it serves as a tool for process. However, aside from those exceptions, there was no clear purpose, direction or relevance which supported the addition of the medium. With that being said, here are a few of the artists that I did like.

Anna Franceschini's films make use of the medium with a clear aesthetic. That is, the images are simple but the composition and lighting of the shots bring out the textures that the medium of film is capable of producing.
 

Reliques of ancient english poetry

signature

Jian Yang's work (above left) reminds me a little bit of Tim Hawkinson.(above right) Hawkinson's exhibition at the Whitney in 2005 included many delicate and mechanical works, including a pipe organ made of paper, and 'signature' - a student's desk-chair which automated the process of copying out the artist's name on paper, before being cut and discarded onto a pile on the floor. Jian also had a small mirco/marco film box which intermittently illuminated a body hanging from a tree. Macabre tends to be more palpable when it is cute.

Thank God there are still artists with humor. Feiko Beckers' work is not only entertaining but provocative.

'The Matrix'

 Some other work I enjoyed was Kianoosh Motallebi's 'The Matrix' - an incandescent light bulb fused with fluorescent tube. The inductor hanging from the wall was a nice touch.

Finally, There is no image available for Giorgi Andreotta's work; however, this image is similiar, only a mirror was used in place of leaves. It is also nice to see someone who is using the particularities of their work space and integrating such a sensitivity into their process.

'Dead Leaves. Still life. Still alive']

@Acid Mothers Temple

So for Dorian's birthday, I thought it best to convince everyone at the party to head to OCCII to catch a set from Acid Mothers Temple. (I think they enjoyed it, anyway they seem to.) I have admired them ever since Mr. Stanley, designer extraodinaire, turned me on to them. I am not sure what else to say about the AMT, perhaps "epic freedom". They are talented musicians who are comfortable with non-trivial (musical) experimentation. Meaning: it is not all about defining a particular sound or trademark style, e.g. you don't go to see them because you know what is going to happen. It is as much about the process as it is about  producing some-sort-of product. You *can* go to a show expecting the the unexpected. Of course, they do not perform with a routine energy. No. It is all very fresh and genki. 

 In short, it is a performance that makes the rainy bike ride worth while. Also, I realized that I have not had the opportunity to rock out, laughingly, in some time.   
ありがとう

@STEIM

Technology can often be a distraction in a performance which is heavily dependent upon hardware, software, etc. Last week, Byungjun Kwon blended sound, live video and audience participation into a performance that focused on the medium, not the means.

The acoustic and visual imagery was simple and presented in such a way that the technology was not a distraction, even overtly apparent. From a compositional perspective, the shape of the piece was interesting because it shifted in dynamics, rhythm, texture, and, even melodic at times.

There were basically four sections to the piece. The first section presented the elements of AM transmissions, an amplified pen with mounted camera. The live video of Mr. Kwon's writing combined with the tactile sound of paper being scored with the stylus of ink pen was a musical gesture because it shaped my sense of time passing as something I viewing from the outside. The characters (which I assume are from the Hangul alphabet) in, and of themselves, require strong gestures. The live video of this act instilled a sense of something nostalgic. Not only because the materials, but quality of the video as well which almost appeared as candle light. Section two of the piece was (really) a pop-song accompanied by a simple rhythmic loop. The twist being a strong visual image consisting of a close-up of his eye. The close-up was so close that I lost my reference to anatomy; the iris appeared as swirling gas on a planet. Of course, the reflection from his lens of the light source, was like that of a nearby star. Also, his processed voice was modulated similar to a warped record. The third section involved threading an electrically sensitive rope that produced chaotic clicks and pops through the audience. The fourth, and last section, was a slow moving ebb and flow of tidal white noise which fading into the ether. Again, a feeling of nostalgia as I thought I might of heard voices on the AM frequency again.

The ocean, AM radio, the sound of pen on paper (the original text message), and a vintage sounding voice, are elements which can evoke some metaphorical references. What I walked away with was a sense of timelessness of the human experience in the context of displacement or travel. That is, continuous processes that we all face and experience. The sea is constant, as is the quality of voice on the radio. And, though our lives shift more quickly over this slower moving landscape, each of us are in some way, connected. In reference to the rope, I think of what a friend once said, "Don't fall off the boat." 
more about the event...

@ROBODOCK

ROBODOCK held, what is very likely, its last event: the FENIX. It was a festival of music, sculpture performance, pyrotechnics, and, to a lesser extent, debauchery. Though the setting was smaller than in previous years, the mechanical type-of fairyland, steeped in archaic ritual, still provided a magical transportation to another time and space. Well, at least I forgot that I was in Amsterdam North for a little time.

The finale was reached in an episode entitled: "the Story of the FeniX"
..."The Pyrophonic Ensemble Berlin meets les resonateurs de La machine, meets la Mécanique Vivante meets Dutch Tetzepi meets actors in a apotheosis of flame throwers, fire organs, sirens, blowers and more."
One standing far from the blasts could easily feel the heat. A side note, on the day following the festival, while my housemate was listening to Jesus Christ Superstar, I could not help but notice the similarities (in-part) between the music at the festival. Anyhow, it was a spectacular event.

@STEIM

Astro Twin (Ami Yoshida & Utah Kawasaki), Gail Priest, dj sniff
The first set of Gail Priest was meditative. Laptop, voice manipulation, and glass filtered feedback. Astro Twin with dj sniff could almost be described as pain control with elements of happiness. Overall, rather plaintive. But, you can check it out for yourself...more

@Unexpected

Here is my short list from the Night of the Unexpected: Sergey Khismatov, Francisco López,Gamelan Kyai Fatahillah, second place goes to,  Gong Semara Ratih, and first place goes to: Knalpot. Major disappointment goes to American Men. I was really expecting costumes and Miami-styled Lasers.

Knalpot - Casio Halbzeit from Thijs Molenaar on Vimeo.

@Optifonica

Lab Optifonica hosted another Synergetica event in their lab in Amsterdam. The white wine was refreshing. The host of this installment was Canadian theorist and immersive artist Chris Salter.

"The visual arts world increasingly embraces temporal “unobjects” and events that range from phenomenological investigations to technically saturated, responsive a/v environments—dissolving not only Michael Fried’s notion of object-hood but also the notion of the work external to human perception itself. This talk will examine the repercussions of James Turrell’s and Robert Irwin’s proposal to investigate the thresholds of perception in an experiential environment. Specifically, it will focus on the conception of the self and body in both contemporary artistic practices with media coupled with recent concepts arising from enactive cognition. What happens to the “sensing self” and its embodiment in audio-visual environments that overload or reduce our perception and how does this self expand or dissolve through such encounters?"