PERSDOSSIER
Groepstentoonstelling Orkest!
Oliver Beer / Rubén D’hers / Nicolas Field / Julian Sartorius / Michael Schmid / Konrad
Smoleński / Rutger Zuydervelt
ZO 07.12 2014 — VR 06.03 2015
Opening ZA 06.12.2014 20:00
Een tentoonstelling over geluid, die klinkt als een uitgerekte symfonie, met een focus
op samenspel en interactie.
Orkest! is als een partituur voor een sculpturaal ensemble, beïnvloed door de
architectuur van Netwerk en het parcours van de bezoeker. Door te bewegen tussen de
verschillende werken in de tentoonstelling schrijft iedere bezoeker zijn eigen partituur,
met een eigen dynamiek en vol contrasten. De kunstwerken staan niet louter op
zichzelf, ze interageren ook met de andere werken in aanpalende ruimtes en
versterken elkaar in de tussenruimtes.
Orkest! brengt acht installaties van internationale kunstenaars samen voor een drie
maanden durende geluidstrip.
Rutger Zuydervelt Stay Tuned
Wat als je het spannende geluid van een stemmend orkest – net voor de performance uitrekt tot een continue drone? Meer dan 150 individuele muzikanten en zangers
registreren een A (de noot la), de stemtoon van een orkest. Met deze variëteit aan
instrumenten, technieken en stijlen maakt Rutger Zuydervelt een geluidsinstallatie
voor 8 luidsprekers. De bezoeker kan zich vrij bewegen in de installatie, wandelend
door het stemmende orkest, waarbij elke stap de geluidswaarneming – de kleur van de
drone ­– beïnvloedt. Een ervaring die de tijd quasi stilzet.
Rutger Zuydervelt (°1978, Nederland) is grafisch ontwerper, muzikant en componist.
Sinds 2004 werkt hij onder de naam Machinefabriek. Zijn muziek is een combinatie
van ambient, modern klassiek, drone, noise en field recording, waarmee hij 'films
zonder beeld' maakt. Naast zijn hoge productiviteit – de teller van zijn releases staat
bijna op honderd – is hij steeds vaker betrokken bij dansprojecten, films en
installaties.
Konrad Smoleński Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More
Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More is een sculpturaal instrument dat
dagelijks een muziekstuk speelt geschreven voor twee bronzen klokken, twee muren
van luidsprekers en resonerende objecten, in dit geval een drumstel. De compositie
linkt het rijke symbolische geluid van de klokken aan het abstracte geluid van galm en
resonerende noise. Door gebruik te maken van delay en vertragende effecten toont
Smoleński een wereld waarin de geschiedenis tot stilstand komt. Deze monumentale
installatie was te zien op de Biënnale van Venetië in 2013. Speciaal voor Orkest!
wordt het geluid van de klokken versterkt met het geluid van de drum en de zeven
overige installaties van de groepstentoonstelling. Smoleński gebruikt het dagelijks
geluid van het hele Orkest! als bron voor zijn uitgerekte symfonie.
Konrad Smoleński (°1977, Polen) werkt als beeldend kunstenaar met
performance, fotografie, installaties, video’s en optredens met geluid en sculptuur,
vaak in samenwerking met andere beeldend kunstenaars en musici. Hij woont en
werkt in Warschau en in Bern. Smoleński’s werk gaat internationaal. Denk aan
Manifesta 9 in Genk, Palais de Tokyo in Parijs, Museum of Modern Art in Warschau,
Performa 13 in New York en recentelijk het Pools Paviljoen van de 55e Biënnale van
Venetië en het Volkspaleis 2014 in Den Haag, waar Smoleński een monumentale
installatie maakte in het Zuiderstrandtheater.
Julian Sartorius Schläft ein Lied in allen Dingen
De video/geluidsinstallatie Schlaft ein Lied in allen Dingen van de Zwitserse
percussionist Julian Sartorius bouwt verder op zijn project Beat Diary. Eén heel jaar
lang creëerde hij elke dag een beat op verschillende ondergronden. Denk aan
bruggen, treinen, bomen, liften, balustrades... Die 365 composities en fotoregistraties
zijn uitgegeven als vinyl box - inclusief fotoboek en dit op 365 exemplaren. De
installatie-versie voor drie schermen en zes luidsprekers toont ons per scherm een
langere loop met variërende lengte zodat er geen herhaling mogelijk wordt en er
steeds weer nieuwe beat- en beeldcombinaties ontstaan. De titel refereert naar het
gedicht Wünschelrute van Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff.
Schläft ein Lied in allen Dingen
die da träumen fort und fort,
und die Welt hebt an zu singen,
triffst du nur das Zauberwort
Julian Sartorius (°1981, Zwitserland) is een unieke percussionist die reeds
samenwerkte met o.a. Nils Petter Molvaer, Rhys Chatham en Sophie Hunger. Begin
2014 speelde hij nog een innemende solo in de galerij van Netwerk tijdens Drums ’n
Friends Again.
Oliver Beer Mum’s Continuous Note
De video Mum’s Continuous Note toont een moment van intimiteit met de kunstenaar
zijn moeder. Ze zingt gedurende 3 minuten zonder te ademen de la noot als lofrede
op de schoonheid van geluid en harmonie, en de emoties die ze kunnen
veroorzaken. Via de ondertitels verklaart de zangeres – niet zonder humor – haar
schijnbare virtuositeit, haar circulaire ademhaling, en het emotioneel potentieel van de
harmonieën, die ze creëert met behulp van een blauwe ukelele.
Oliver Beer (°1985, Engeland) is kunstenaar en filmmaker. Zijn interesses gaan zowel
uit naar muziek als naar beeldende kunst, naar de relatie tussen geluid en ruimte, naar
de manier waarop een stem architectuur beïnvloedt en omgekeerd. Hij vertaalt dit in
zijn kunstpraktijk naar fascinerende performances.
Rubén D’hers Chords Tunnel #1
Chords Tunnel #1 is een geluidsinstallatie voor veertig akoestische gitaren, tachtig
kleine dc-motoren, 800m speakerkabel, een computer en stukjes textiel. De gitaren,
geleend door D'hers bij lokale particulieren, vormen de basis voor zijn geluids-
tunnel. Door te bewegen in dit rustgevende sonisch landschap verschuiven de
overlappende tonen zachtjes van het ene akkoord naar het andere.
Rubén D’hers (°1980, Venezuela) is muzikant en geluidskunstenaar en leeft in
Berlijn. Zijn werk focust op de gitaar in geluidsinstallaties, performances en
improvisaties. Zijn werk was eerder onder andere te zien in ZKM in Karslruhe,
Neueus Museum Weimar en Weart Festival in Barcelona.
Michael Schmid Installatie voor basfluit (werktitel)
In de ruimte hangt een basfluit die enkel bespeeld wordt door feedback. Het geluid
zingt rond in de ruimte dankzij microfoons in de fluit en de speakers eromheen. Elke
microfoon produceert een unieke feedback-toon. De uiteindelijke partituur wordt
gespeeld door een digitale mengtafel die de microfoons aanstuurt en zo doet denken
aan een hedendaagse versie van de pianola.
Michael Schmid (°1973,Duitsland) is fluitist en behoort tot de vaste kern van het Ictus
Ensemble. Daarnaast werkt hij als freelancer voor verschillende dirigenten en
ensembles zoals Musikfabrik, Nieuw Ensemble, the Radio Kamerorkest Hilversum, …
Nicolas Field Shimmering Beast
Shimmering Beast is een omgekeerde triangel van vijf bij zes meter, gevormd door
zestig briljante cimbalen op evenveel cimbaalstatieven, bas transducers en
licht. Deze monumentale en visueel verbluffende collectie bekkens raken elkaar
lichtjes en produceren – door de vibrerende vloer – een glinsterend
geluid. Shimmering Beast werd gecreëerd tijdens een residentie in het Zwitsers
Instituut te Rome en maakte deel uit van de Needcompany voorstelling Caligula.
Institut suisse de Rome, Italie, 11 -18 juillet 2011
Nicolas Field (°1975, Engeland) woont en werkt in Bern, Zwitserland. Hij studeerde
percussie in Amsterdam en Den Haag. Hij is mede oprichter van het N-Collective, dat
zich toelegde op het ontwikkelen, ondersteunen en promoten van avontuurlijke
muziek. Naast zijn werk als muzikant en componist werkt hij sinds 2008 als beeldend
kunstenaar aan geluidsinstallaties .
Michael Schmid & Nicolas Field All Tones (werktitel)
Missa Cuiusvis Toni is een van de meesterwerken van de vroege Vlaamse polyfonie van
de 15de eeuwse componist Johannes Ockegem. Het werk is bijzonder daar het
namelijk geen vaste modus heeft en in alle toonaarden (cuiusvis toni) gezongen kan
worden. Welke keuze dan ook, het levert een coherent en logisch muziekstuk op. De
geluidsinstallatie van Michael Schmid en Nicolas Field speelt de 4 toonaarden
(Dorisch, Frygisch, Lydisch en Mixolydisch) tegelijk in één ruimte. Het resultaat is een
prachtig hedendaags werk vol atonale muziek dat de verborgen niveaus tussen de
verschillende toonsoorten blootlegt.
Openingsevent Orkest! ZA 06.12.2014 20:00
De tentoonstelling Orkest! bespeelt het volledige Netwerkgebouw. Op de openingsavond mag het nog grootser en wordt het podium zelfs uitgebreid naar de hele stad
Aalst. Vanop het dak van Netwerk wordt de tentoonstelling officieel geopend met een
concert voor 23 scheepshoorns van Heleen Van Haegenborgh en wordt de installatie
van Konrad Smoleński gevoed door een drumsolo van Julian Sartorius.
Heleen Van Haegenborgh op scheepshoorns Signaux
Pianiste/componiste Heleen Van Haegenborgh koos voor haar debuut-cd Signaux
scheepshoorns als muzikale tegenstem voor haar piano. Via youtube ontdekte ze
Raoul de La Roche Aymon, een Fransman die scheepshoorns verzamelt. Uit zijn
collectie met meer dan 300 hoorns koos ze er 23 uit, samen goed voor een bereik van
twee octaven. Daarvoor liet ze de Fransman een klavier bouwen dat de hoorns
bedient. Een soort scheepshoornorgel – hoorbaar tot enkele kilometers ver – want
een volumeknop bestaat er niet. Wanneer een toets wordt ingedrukt, wordt er
gecompresseerde lucht door de hoorns geperst: een binaire actie – de hoorn blaast of
blaast niet – er is geen middenweg, het is alles of niets. De klank wordt enkel
gekleurd door het geluid te laten weerklinken in de open ruimte, in dit geval de stad
Aalst.
©Raoul de La Roche Aymon
Julian Sartorius drumsolo
De installatie Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More van Konrad Smoleński
gebruikt de geluiden van alle werken in de Orkest! tentoonstelling en verwerkt ze
dagelijks tot een unieke orkestrale performance. Op de openingsavond speelt
percussionist Julian Sartorius in het werk van Smoleński een drumsolo die wordt
opgenomen als extra geluidsbron voor diens installatie. Tevens wordt de drum deel
van het werk – naast de klokken en de luidsprekers – en vormt zo het extra resonerend
object tijdens de dagelijkse performance.
Extra info
Oliver Beer
http://www.oliverbeer.co.uk
The video Mum’s Continuous Note (2013) presents a moment of intimacy with the
artist’s mother. Eulogy on the beauty of sound and harmony, and the emotions which
they can provoke, for 3 minutes she sings a continuous note without seeming to stop
to catch her breath. Through the subtitles which appear beneath her image, the
singer explains – not without humour – her apparent virtuosity, her method of circular
breathing, and emotive potential of the harmonies which she creates with the aid of a
miniature blue guitar.
https://vimeo.com/60778240
b r a nd ne w, october 2014
by christine macel
Christine Macel: Over the last two years you have had many shows and performances
— among others, at MAC Lyon; MoMA PS1, New York; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Fon- dation
Hermès, Tokyo; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris. You were
trained as a composer, studied art at Oxford and began to exhibit in 2006. You work
with space and sound, using frequencies in relationship to architecture in order to create
immersive works.
Oliver Beer: Often, yes, I use the natural frequen- cies of architectural spaces.
Every space has got its own notes, just like a wine glass or an organ pipe has got its
own note. In the series “The Resonance Project” (2007– ongoing) I work with the fact
that every space has its own inherent harmonies, and though a simple process I
can work with singers to stimulate an architectural space to resonate in exactly
the same way that a wine glass resonates. It is a very simple and very beautiful
process — the moment where the body enters into unison with the room and
the resonance of the room entirely eclipses the voice. But this is only just the starting point: the real question is where do we take it, what kind of music is going to be
born out of this unique situation? In the piece I am making right now at the
Pompidou, certain notes are present and have been quietly resonating ever since
it first opened in 1977. I’m working on the project with Les Cris de Paris, one of the
top choral ensembles in France. Now for the first time musicians are revealing the
inherent harmonies of the architecture.
CM: You positioned singers along the transparent top- floor tunnel of the Centre
Pompidou, and one can move around and between them to hear the piece. The
possibility of the resonance was already there, but what you do is to re- veal the potential of
the space. You make audible something that was there already but not perceptible.
OB: The title of my last piece, Diabolus in Musica (2014), comes from the Latin “the
Devil in music,” a historical term given to any two notes creating the inter- val of a
diminished fifth. For centuries religious leaders banned the use of this interval
because the dissonance was said to evoke the Devil. Here we have two notes that are
completely abstract [he sings] and for centuries they were forbidden to composers.
This piece is included in my show at Thaddaeus Ropac where I built a structure, as I
have done for Aural Architecture (2013) at Villa Ar- son and for Rabbit Hole (2014) at
MAC Lyon. You can enter it and whisper the right notes and the space will resonate
and sing this interval back to you. It’s strange that a physical space can contain
harmonies, and that this abstract sound can be charged with such subjective and
superstitious meaning.
Colt Waku 1847 (Offside) (2014). Courtesy of the Artist and Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris
CM: You work a lot with perception and emotions, also in reference to specific people. For
example, you did this piece, Oma’s Kitchen Floor (2008), which consists of the stripped
kitchen linoleum floor from your grandmother’s house. Over the last four decades your
Oma made several footmarks, and I think it’s a very empathic and emotional work. This
is something I feel in many of your pieces. Al- though the meaning is not always clear,
what really comes to the viewer is this “emotional content.”
OB: After my grandmother died I came to see the linoleum floor of her kitchen
like a drawing that she made with her feet, tracing half of her life. And the formal
abstraction of the object remained important for me. Like the sculpture A Road to
Nowhere (2013) — named in reference to a Talking Heads song from my birth year
— where the top surface of two train rails taken from the SNCF between Lyon and
Marseille are polished to reveal the patina of all these millions of journeys; but
ultimately they’re just two minimal steel lines leading into the distance.
CM: Do you imprint a human presence in your work? Why does your work offer this strong
experience? This is not a dry conceptual understanding of music. It’s on the one hand
written and prepared but on the other very emotional. That’s why to me it has such a big
response in such short time.
OB: I remember as a teenager playing Shostakov- ich’s fifth in an orchestra. In
1937 he was dangerously out of favor with Stalin, and he had to write a symphony to
the glory of the Soviet state and in doing so rehabili- tate himself politically. He did
this and yet somehow he managed to code his political dissent into the music. He
had an emotional half-hour standing ovation from the public! This abstract music,
in an abstract form, had two simultaneous meanings: one appropriate for the
Soviet regime and the other able to evoke the com- munal pain of the people.
CM: This is very specific to you because, I think, you have this deep knowledge of music.
When I saw you working with the singers, I understood that you are also a director, a
“conductor.” It is also very specific to your practice. To me, contrary to what I read, I don’t
think it has a relationship with relational aesthetics. You are indeed an artist as a
producer and a director, but also a composer.
OB: Being a composer is an extraordinary position because not only you create the
music, you can also choose to what extent you direct it. You collaborate with
performers: it’s about collective expression. For example I suppose my film
Reanimation 1 (2013) that I made with Villa Arson in Nice is like a composition. Five
hundred children followed a protocol to turn a sequence from Walt Disney’s Snow
White into a flicker- ing and psychedelic new film. The child becomes the musician,
interpreting the score.
“Diablus in Musica,” installation view at Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris (2014). Courtesy of the
Artist and Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris
CM: You also make objects, like This is a Pipe (2013), a tobacco pipe cut and immersed in
a wall, and also guns, like British Bulldog (2014). You did a piece in crystal and gold
entitled Silence is Golden and a window piece, Outside-In (both 2013).
OB: At Oxford I was a student adviser for the team of architects designing the
new school. They cut through a 3-D model on a screen, and I was entranced: it was
like an instant Matta-Clark. The pipe was used for decades, and thousands of liters
of air and smoke passed through it and yet until now it never revealed its true
anatomy. With the Fondation Hermès I made the series “Outside-In,” windowpanes
physically morphed to enter the room and become functioning ear trum- pets.
They manipulate the frontier between inside and outside.
CM: Like in many of your works, I see a deep interac- tion with the materiality of the
world, the body and the environment.
OB: To misquote Shakespeare’s King John: “strong reasons make strong
interactions.”
Rubén D’hers
Oproep: voor een project van de Venezolaanse kunstenaar Rubén D’hers is Netwerk op
zoek naar 40 akoestische gitaren.
De gitaren worden met zorg behandeld en komen in originele staat terug. Het
uiteindelijke resultaat, de installatie Chords Tunnel, zal te zien zijn van 6 december
2014 tot en met 7 maart 2015 tijdens de tentoonstelling Orkest!.
Heeft u een akoestische gitaar – of eventueel een klassieke gitaar – en kunt u deze
missen voor enkele maanden, mail Hans Bocxstael via hans@netwerk-art.be.
Ruben D’Hers (Caracas, Venezuela 1980), musician and sound artist currently living in
Germany. By 2001 he finished studies on Fine Arts with a mayor in Painting at the
Cristobal Rojas Visuals Arts School in Venezuela. Since 2009 he began to study
electroacoustic composition and sound Design under Robin Minard at the Bauhaus
University Weimar in Germany. His learning in music has been self-taught. In Caracas,
from 1999 to 2007 he was co-founder and guitarist of the experimental rock band kRé.
Since then he works on his solo project which highlights the use of the guitar as a
main tool of experimentation. His work focuses on sound installations, compositions
and improvised music. He has exhibited his work at venues like ZKM in Karlsruhe,
Neues Museum Weimar, Pure Data Convetion Weimar-Berlin, SeaM Weimar Studio
für elek-troakustische Musik, Kein Akt - 48 Std Kölln Neu in Berlin, Weart Festival in
Barcelona, Spain and at the Nelson Garrido Organization in Caracas, Venezuela. In
2013 he won the Lab 30 Award n Augsburg, Germany.
http://rubendhers.blogspot.de/
chords tunnel #1
sound installation, 36 acoustic guitars, 72 motors, cable, fabric and computer, 2013
Chords Tunnel #1 is an installation that uses a variable number of prepared acoustic
guitars (contingent on the size of the space) and small dc motors to generate a ‘sound
tunnel.’ The visitor perceives a sonic landscape whose overlapping tones shift gently
from one chord to the next according to his/her movment through the space.
The tunnel consists of multiple guitars, roughly one to two meters apart from one
another, mounted on two parallel walls. (see 1. sketch). Each guitar is played
continuously by one or two small dc motors with fabric attached to them. The motors
are suspended from the ceiling and trace the length of the necks of each guitar resting
gently against their strings. As the motors spin, the sustained friction between the
fabric and metal strings generates an unpredictable cloud made of chords and
overtones that evolves and resonates within the space. Some motors swing in a
pendulum-like motion across the neck of the guitars and, as they rotate at a variable
speed, they produce a sort of polyrhythmic gesture amidst the mass of chords. The
motors are more or less fixed so that they generate a stabile chord surface which
reveals an overtone structure with a nebulous form. The chord tunnel would produce a
nuanced drone that can ensconces its visitors in sound. The delicate changes and
contrasts that are perceived at a spatial and harmonic level, depend on how the visitor
chooses to engage with the space. Ultimately, the installation aims to inquire into our
sense of space and melody and to challenge our conventional sense of time as
measure. In turn, Chord Tunnel draws attention to our sense of time experienced
through music.
sketch for installation showing the distribuition of chords in corridor like space
Chord Tunnel #1 works as a continuation or extention of a previous work in which I
have explored the guitar as a sound source for a space based on chords. The
installation, entitled Playa, was a piece for fourteen guitars that functioned like an
autonomous sound sculpture inside a museum space. The dynamics of Playa were
controlled by a program, which was built to produce small articulated movements
(speed changes) of the motors. Unlike that piece, the compositional approach for
Chord Tunnel would rely heavily on the architecture of the space. Rather than being
everything programmed in advance, the visitor would feel the dynamics and contrasts
as he/she explores the tunnel. “Melody is spatially located, since it depends on where
you are sitting or whether you are stationary or moving. As your head moves, your ears
behave like fingers on a string instrument activating the various nodes that emphasize
different partials of the harmonics spectrum. In fact, the entire space in which the
music is housed gives evidence of the physical properties of sound so that many
acoustical phenomena can actually be identified”
Nicolas Field
Né à Londres en 1975, Nicolas Field arrive en Suisse à 6 ans et grandit entre Bâle et
Genève. Il débute la batterie à 12 ans et découvre au fil des années le vaste potentiel
de l’instrument. A 20 ans, il décide de s’installer aux Pays-Bas pour suivre des cours
de percussion au Conservatoire d’Amsterdam (1996 – 2002) et de sonologie au
Conservatoire de La Haye (1997 – 2002). Il suit notamment l’enseignement de Joël
Ryan et expérimente durant ces années de multiples techniques musicales, dans une
volonté permanente de créer une nouvelle matière sonore à partir de la batterie.
Dès le début des années 2000, il commence à sillonner l’Europe en tant que batteur
avec différentes formations (musique contemporaine, musique improvisée, jazz). Au fil
des rencontres et des tournées qui le mènent notamment aux Etats-Unis, au Japon, en
Corée et en Australie, Nicolas Field collabore avec des artistes de renommée
internationale tels Otomo Yoshihide (guitare), Anders Hana (guitare), Keiji Haino
(guitare/chant), Seijiro Murayama (batterie), Damo Suzuki (ex CAN), Anthony Pateras
(Piano), John Hegre (guitare), Tetuzi Akiyama (guitare) ou encore le Rova Saxophone
4tet. Actuellement, ses projets musicaux phares sont « Buttercup Metal Polish» (duo
de percussion avec Alexandre Babel), « Cask Strength » (projet musical avec
l’électronicien américain Jeff Carey), un duo avec le saxophoniste américain Keir
Neuringer, un duo avec le saxophoniste japonais Akira Sakata et une collaboration
avec le groupe néerlandais « Cactus Truck ».
Progressivement, le goût de Nicolas Field pour l’électronique le mène à travailler
également sur des solos de batterie comprenant des capteurs de mouvements et de
l’électronique live. Dès 2010, il se produit seul sur scène, avec un vaste dispositif
électronique et compose ses premières pièces pour batterie. Il joue notamment au
Swiss-Australian Jolt Festival de Bâle, au festival Batterie Genève et au Festival Météo.
Parallèlement, dès 2008, Nicolas Field crée ses premières œuvres plastiques sous la
forme d’installations sonores : « Gate 8 » pour le Mapping festival avec Dimitri
Delcourt et « Think Thrice » pour l’exposition Dark Designs à la Maison d’Ailleurs
d’Yverdon. En 2009, sur invitation du metteur en scène belge Jan Lauwers et de la
NeedCompany, il présente durant un mois « Think Thrice » à Roubaix et à Bruxelles
dans le cadre de l’exposition « The Tragedy of the Applause ». Durant sa résidence à
l’Institut suisse de Rome (2010-2011), Nicolas Field crée Shimmering Beast, une
impressionnante installation sonore composée de 60 cymbales qui sera notamment
exposée à Rome, Forli et Vienne. Au cours de sa résidence à AirAntwerpen (2011),
Nicolas Field présente l’installation sonore et visuelle North Of Black Atlantic Currents,
œuvre aux multiples ramifications, véritable structure dans la structure. En 2012, il
développe un projet d’installation et de performance avec le plasticien Fritz Welch à la
galerie « Corpo 6 » à Berlin.
Finalement, Nicolas Field travaille depuis 2006, pour des spectacles de danse et de
théâtre. En 2006, il crée la musique pour le spectacle « Disco Pigs » d’Enda Walsh
présenté dans le cadre du festival de la Bâtie. Il collabore depuis 2011 avec la
compagne de danse 7273 et s’est produit au festival Antigel 2011 avec les danseurs
Filipo Armati, Mohamed Toukabri et Marthe Krummenacher. En 2012, il compose la
musique de l’installation « In Limbo » de l’artiste genevois Nicolas Robel. La même
année, il est choisi pour composer la musique de la pièce Caligula, mise en scène par
Jan Lauwers au Burgtheater de Vienne. Shimmering Beast a également été utilisée
comme élément de scénographie et occupe une place prépondérante dans la pièce.
Shimmering Beast
Installation sonore et visuelle, 2011
« Shimmering Beast » a été créee à Rome en 2011 par Nicolas Field, lors de sa
résidence à l’Institut suisse de Rome.
Cette impressionnante installation sonore et visuelle est composée de 60 cymbales qui
sont reliées entre elles et sont accrochées à la verticale sur des pieds de cymbales. Les
cymbales sont placées de telle manière qu’elles se touchent légèrement les unes, les
autres, créant ainsi un réseau d’interdépendances. Ainsi, lorsque l’une des cymbales
bouge, elle entraine dans son sillage et sa résonnance toutes les autres. Le projet
dans son entier constitue un triangle de 5.50 mètres sur 6 mètres.
L’impressionnante installation sonore et visuelle “Shimmering Beast” a été créee à
Rome en 2011. Elle est composée de 60 cymbales qui sont accrochées à la verticale
sur des pieds de cymbales. Les cymbales sont placées de telle manière qu’elles se
touchent légèrement les unes, les autres, créant ainsi un réseau d’interdépendances.
De cette manière, lorsque l’une des cymbales bouge, elle entraine toutes les autres
dans son mouvement et sa résonnance. Le projet dans son entier constitue un mur de
5.50 mètres sur 6 mètres. Sous le podium (sur lequel sont posés les pieds de
cymbales) sont fixés quatre vibreurs qui amplifient les fréquences basses générées
par l’ordinateur, font trembler le plancher sur lequel reposent les pieds de cymbales et
accentuent le frémissement (à la manière d’un mini tremblement de terre). Sous
l’action des vibreurs, les cymbales se mettent ainsi à trembler, sonner et résonner.
Eclairée par des spots, la construction forme une sorte de paroi dorée, chatoyante et
réfléchissante. Les pieds de cymbales font quant à eux office d’armature. La réflexion
de la lumière qui est projetée sur les cymbals en mouvement, depuis la face, est
influencée par le déplacement des cymbales et scintille à la manière d’une boule à
facettes, du soleil sur l’eau ou d’un miroir que l’on déplacerait.
« En collaboration avec l’artiste sonore Nicolas Field, Jan Lauwers a distillé à partir du
Caligula d’Albert Camus une véritable fête pour les sens. Un arrièreplan acoustique de
qualité accompagne l’action. Une installation sonore, des cymbales dorées, confère à
la mise en scène une tension, une dramatique particulière, aux bons moments.»
Wiener Zeitung - Mai 2012
Le podium sur lequel repose l’installation joue un rôle central : quatre vibreurs sont en
effet fixés sous cette structure. Ils amplifient les fréquences basses générées par
l’ordinateur relié à l’installation et font trembler le plancher à la manière d’un mini
tremblement de terre. Sous l’action des vibreurs, les cymbales se mettent donc à
trembler, sonner et résonner.
Eclairée par des spots, la construction forme une paroi dorée, chatoyante et
réfléchissante. Les pieds de cymbales font quant à eux office d’armature. La réflexion
de la lumière qui est projetée sur les cymbales en mouvement, depuis la face, est
influencée par le déplacement des cymbales et scintille à la manière d’une boule à
facettes, du soleil sur l’eau ou d’un miroir que l’on déplacerait.
Expositions
Institut suisse de Rome, Italie, 11 -18 juillet 2011
Festival Crisalide, Oratoire San Sebastiano, Forli, Italie, 1-4 septembre 2011
Burgtheater de Vienne, Autriche. Element scénographique dans la pièce de Caligula,
mis en scène par Jan Lauwers, NeedCompany, mai 2012 - mars 2013
Institut suisse de Rome, Italie, 11 -18 juillet 2011
Institut suisse de Rome, Italie, 11 -18 juillet 2011
Julian Sartorius
Julian Sartorius, born 30 april 1981 in Thun (CH)
The beat is the defining element in the life of Julian Sartorius. Born 1981 in Thun
(Switzerland), he began his first drum lessons at the age of five and followed his
passion via marches, Michael Jackson and as a member of local underground bands.
With his rhythms, which push the boundaries of New Music, Hip-Hop and World
Music, Sartorius reveals the endless possibilities and range of his instrument. He often
prepares his drums, works with unusual, unprocessed acoustic sounds and develops,
beat by beat, an unheard environment of sound.
Julian Sartorius was taught by musicians such as Fabian Kuratli, Pierre Favre and
Norbert Pfammatter at the Jazz Schools in Bern and Lucerne. He has collaborated
with Sophie Hunger, Colin Vallon, Dimlite, Merz, Jürg Halter and Rhys Chatham, and
has toured throughout Europe, South America, Canada and the US. Besides that he’s
playing solo concerts all over Europe.
http://juliansartorius.ch
Konrad Smoleński
Il Palazzo Enciclopedico @ Biennale Arte - La Biennale di Venezia Venice IT, Polish
Pavilion Venice Biennale 2013
Everything Was Forever, Until it Was No More
audio installation, 2013
Everything Was Forever, Until it Was No More (video here) is a sculptural instrument that
reproduces, at regular intervals, a music piece written for bronze bells, wide range
loudspeakers, and other resonating objects."
Everything Was Forever, Until it Was No More is a sculptural instrument that
reproduces, at regular intervals, a music piece written for bronze bells, wide range
loudspeakers, and other resonating objects. The composition is based on a contrast
between the symbolically rich sound of the bells and the abstract resounding noise. By
using a delay effect, Smoleński offers an insight into a world where history has come
to a standstill, thereby approaching the radical propositions of contemporary physics
with its perception of the passage of time as an illusion.
____________________________________________________
The Polish Pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition — la Biennale di Venezia
Venice 1 June–24 November 2013
Polish Pavilion Commissioner: Hanna Wróblewska Exhibition Curators: Daniel
Muzyczuk and Agnieszka Pindera Assistant Commissioner: Joanna Waśko
Concept
The two hand-made bronze bells which form the core of Konrad Smoleński’s
installation successfully convey a somewhat crude and “primitive” character of a work
that alludes to the traditional craft of bell-founding. The bells located in the central part
of the space, along with the rows of broadband speakers echoing them and the two
opposing walls of metal cases (in the Polish Pavilion) and wooden platform (in
CentrePasquArt), serve as an example of a model stereophonic system. Although the
form of the individual constituents seems familiar, the interaction between them in
this relatively small space is quite startling. What seems especially out of place in this
arrangement is the idiophones which are normally placed well above the line of vision.
Moreover, the purpose of the enormous wooden platform or two hundred small metal
doors are open to interpretation — their size and appearance are quite universal and
may be associated with a number of different public spaces and the respective
functions that correspond to them. Each of the constituents of this visual and aural
arrangement plays an equal part. In Smoleński’s composition the sound of a
traditional instrument is first recorded in real time and then processed, delayed and
retransmitted. This is alternated with a monotonous drone from the enormous
speakers, and finally the sound reverberates through the metal or wooden structures
which are integrated with the architecture of the space.
Previously shown in Venice, the sound sculpture is based primarily on the
manipulation of the tolling of a bell — an ancient instrument which has for centuries
set the rhythm of our earthly and “eternal” lives. While transforming this familiar
sound, Smoleński changes its meaning: a sound that evokes a variety of associations
is now given an abstract frequency which seems devoid of connotations. Not only does
the artist free the signal from its source, but he also resorts to the use of delay and
reverberation. The accumulation of acoustic waves provides the broadcast sound with
a weight which has a direct impact on all the subjects and objects around the
installation. It appears that the acoustic signal can move the molecules of both
animate and inanimate objects with an equal force.
The installation is a continuation of more than a decade of explorations carried out by
a visual artist with a keen interest in sound. Smoleński’s works combine punk rock
aesthetics with the precision and elegance typical of minimalism. The artist uses both
traditional and self-constructed sound objects to examine the flow of energy and its
interaction with the audience. By exploring the possibilities of electricity, sound waves
and PA systems, the artist manipulates the meanings we usually attribute to objects
which are typically used in rock culture.
These artistic endeavors and the way Smoleński uses his “instruments” in Everything
Was Forever, Until It Was No More bring to mind the illusory nature of time, as
proclaimed by Julian Barbour. This British theoretical physicist undermines the
significance of time while conjuring up his vision of a timeless universe, where one of
the key categories is the present perceived as a three-dimensional snapshot, and
where the chronological ordering of events is a result of nothing more than our
memory of individual “Nows.” Therefore, time, according to Barbour, is but a sensation
of temporality, enhanced by what he calls “time capsules”, or records of what we
believe to have existed in the past.
Aside from Barbour’s hypotheses, our analysis of the artist’s experiments, including
those with the sound of a traditional instrument, is based on a number of other
scientific and literary theories, all expressing the inaccuracy or exhaustion of the idea
of time. These include science-fiction stories, dissertations on experiments with sound
and aural illusions, and studies on such museum concepts as the Encyclopedic
Palace (title of the 55th International Art Exhibition in Venice). An echo of the
installation used as a tool for accumulating energy can also be found in The Voices of
Time by J. G. Ballard which offers an entropic vision of the “last man on Earth”
collecting so-called terminal documents. The aforementioned compositional tools
used by Smoleński are also typical for Samuel Beckett for whom the notion of time is
one of the key issues, both in terms of text and plot structure. Thus, repetition, change
and non-accomplishment, primary features of Beckett’s work, are characteristics that
also to be found in Smoleński’s works. Both in Beckett’s plays and in Everything Was
Forever, Until It Was No More, time is regarded as a persistence whose intervals and
dimensions, generally known as the past, present and future, merge into one with time
itself becoming, in the words of the playwright, “a monster that both condemns and
redeems.”
The full version of the exhibition’s title taken from the book of Alexei Yurchak:
Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More. The Last Soviet Generation (Princeton
University Press, 2005).
Artist
Konrad Smoleński (1977) graduated from the Poznań Academy of Fine Arts (2002). He
has shown his work in numerous exhibitions at the following venues, among others:
Ludwig Museum, Budapest; Pinchuk Art Center, Kyiv; Museum Morsbroich,
Leverkusen; Waterside Contemporary, London; Offen auf AEG, Nuremberg; Palais de
Tokyo, Paris; and Zachęta — National Gallery of Art, Warsaw. Holder of the Polish
Ministry of Culture and National Heritage fellowship (2000). Winner of the Deutsche
Bank Foundation Award — Views 2011. He lives and works in Warsaw (PL) and Bern
(CH).
www.konradsmolenski.com
The work at the Polish Pavilion is a logical continuation of the artist’s research into
flows and eruptions of energy. Thus, his previous pieces and their qualities can work
as a context in analyzing Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More.
Energy Hunters (2011) is a film with a complex narration which is projected with the
aid of a special structure inspired by a 1970s tweeter. The setting of the film is a
roadside area dotted by high-voltage power lines — all these form the backdrop for the
noise-rock band Foot Village moving quite slowly. The soundtrack is made up of a
number of different sounds, such as different types of interference, growls, variable
frequency sounds and scream-like vocals.
BNNT (2007–ongoing) are audio performances by Konrad Smoleński and Daniel
Szwed, which are held in open public spaces of cities, or in the institutionalized spaces
of galleries and festival venues. The band members travel in a van which serves them
as an improvised stage where they perform in balaclavas or masks. Each performance
involves a sonic attack with the use of a string instrument modeled on the Tomahawk
missile (Konrad Smoleński) and a drum set (Daniel Szwed). This is an interdisciplinary
project involving both public performance — so-called sound bombing — and a
publishing activity, which the duo have run for a few years now.
It’s Bigger Than Me (2012) is a sculpture, a monumental figure, albeit minimalistic in
shape, resembling a speaker casing or a simplified head which through vibration
becomes at the same time a source of sound. Inside there are frequency generators
producing the physical sensation of signal reception, which is especially strong from a
close distance. Consisting mainly of low tones, the composition was made with the aid
of a program used by sound engineers to check the acoustics of a concert hall. Such
low tones can carry over long distances. What you hear is a monotonous drone of the
type that could be sent out from a distant factory. Here several tracks are
superimposed on one another; as a result the sound is at some points pleasantly
harmonious and at others starkly dissonant.
Everything Was Forever, Until it Was No More in Netwerk, with the support of
Rutger Zuydervelt
Stay Tuned
An audio work and installation based on the moment when an orchestra gets in tune,
before a performance. Like this. An event that I wish could last forever, which is exactly
what 'Stay Tuned' is about.
More then 150 musicians and singers were asked to record an 'A' (which is the note an
orchestra normally tunes to), using whatever technique or style they please. So each
'A' has its own unique characteristics, but is also a small part of a much bigger drone.
'Stay Tuned' is presented as a multiple-speaker installation. From each speaker, the
sound of an instrument-group is heard, continuously. The speakers are spaciously
placed to create an auditive space, so visitors can literally walk through the orchestra.
While wandering, the focus shifts from one instrument-group to next. Each listening
position slightly changes the 'colour' of the drone, and makes different details,
imperfections and instrument-characteristics audible.
http://www.machinefabriek.nu/index.php/art_projects/stay_tuned
Besides the installation, a composed stereo version of 'Stay Tuned' will is released on
cd by Baskaru. There are also live performance adaptation of the piece.
More than 150 musicians contributed to the project:
David Aird (Vindicatrix) Mats Aleklint Tetuzi Akiyama Oren Ambarchi Nathan
Amundson (Rivulets) Kai Angermann (Insa Donja Kai) Thomas Ankersmit Sigbjørn
Apeland (1982) Felicia Atkinson Aidan Baker (Nadja) Michel Banabila Paul
Baran Molly Berg Johan Berthling (Tape, Fire!) Jeb Bishop Olivia Block Peter
Broderick Chris Brokaw (ex-Codeine, ex-Come) Dave Brown (Candlesnuffer) Mike
Bullock (The BSC) Daniel Bürkner (Squares on Both Sides) John Butcher Anna Rose
Carter (Moon Ate the Dark) Tim Catlin Travis Chapman (Balmorhea) Xavier
Charles Sylvain Chauveau Eric Chenaux Colleen Valerio Cosi Werner Dafeldecker
(Polwechsel) Gareth Davis Matt Davis (Zeitkratzer, Otomo Yoshihide) Tony Dekker
(Great Lake Swimmers) Jim Denley Bardt van der Dennen (Birdt) Andy Diagram (exTwo Pale Boys, ex-Spaceheads) Gareth Dickson Jorrit Dijkstra Michael Francis Duch
(Lemur) Benjamin Duvall (Ex-Easter Island Head) Julia Eckhardt Klaus Ellerhusen
Holm (Trondheim Jazzorchestra) Jacco van Elst (This Leo Sunrise) Katie English (Isnaj
Dui) Erik Enocksson (Lakes of Grass and Gold) Ferran Fages (Cremaster) Pien Feith
Nils Frahm Masayoshi Fujita (El Fog) Lori Goldston (Earth, Secret Chiefs 3) Rachel
Grimes (Rachel's) David Grubbs Ivar Grydeland Gudbjorg Hlin Gudmundsdottir
(mum) Anne Guthrie Greg Haines (Alvaret Ensemble) Franz Hautzinger Nick
Hennies Carl Ludwig Hübsch Paul Hubweber Sarah Hughes Jenny Hval Hilary
Jeffery (The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble) Paul de Jong (The Books) Coti K.
(Mohammad)
Rebekka Karijord
Edita Karkoschka (Nausica) Greg Kelley
(Nmperigm) Sarah Kemp (Fieldhead, Brave Timbers) Julia Kent (Antony and the
Johnsons, Larsen) Kenneth Kirschner Romke Kleefstra (Piiptsjilling, Alvaret
Ensemble) Tobias Klein Jonas Kocher (300 Basses) Are Lothe Kolbeinsen Annette
Krebs Martin Küchen (Angles 8, Looper) Anne La Berge (Shackle)
Dimitra
Lazaridou-Chatzigoga Jens Lekman Simon Lenski (D.A.A.U.) Lidwine Eivind Lønning
(Espen Reinertsen, Koboku Senju) Mike Majkowski Janne Mansens (Birdt) Aaron
Martin Stephan Mathieu Magda Mayas Lauren McMurray (Twigs & Yarn) Violet
Meerdink (This Leo Sunrise) Alicia Merz (Birds of Passage) Phil Minton Rie Mitsutake
(Oh, Yoko) Andy Moor (The Ex) Jon Mueller Geoff Mullen Henrik Munkeby
Nørstebø Puzzle Muteson Lisa Nordström (Midaircondo) Koen Nutters (The Pitch,
N-Collective) Lothar Ohlmeier (Not Applicable) Marianne Oldenburg (Ode to the
Quiet ) Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson (múm, Sigur Ros) Morten J. Olsen (MoHa!, The
Pitch) Daniel Padden (The One Ensemble) Stephanie Pan Andrea Parkins Alden
Penner (The Unicorns) Sandro Perri (Polmo Polpo) Steve Peters Stefano
Pilia Richard Pinhas Espen Reinertsen (Streifenjunko, Koboku Senju) Iden Reinhart
(Strië) Bhob Rhainey (Nmperign, The BSC) Steve Roden Abigail Sanders Saya
(Tenniscoats) Dirk Serries (Fear Falls Burning) Insa Schirmer (Insa Donja Kai) Martin
Siewert (Trapist, Heaven And) Lukas Simonis (Coolhaven) Erik Skodvin (Svarte
Greiner, Dead Center) Steven R. Smith Bram Stadhouders Jasper Stadhouders
(Cactus Truck) Andreas Stensland Løwe (Splashgirl) Jeremy Strachan
Keiichi
Sugimoto (Fourcolor, Minamo) Hild Sofie Tafjord (Lemur, Spunk) Ueno Takashi
(Tenniscoats) Martin Taxt (Koboku Senju) Ryan Teague
Michael Thieke (The
International Nothing, The Pitch) Monica Tormell (Moon & Sun) Eriko Toyoda (So) Rick
Treffers Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw) Scott Tuma (ex-Boxhead
Ensemble) Ryan Vanderhoof (ex-Akron/Family) Nikos Veliotis (Mohammad) Steven
Vinkenoog (Donné et Desirée) Stephen Vitiello Sabine Vogel Håvard Volden Johan
G. Winther (Tsukimono) Nate Wooley Enrico Wuttke (Flim) C. Spencer Yeh Richard
Youngs
Stay Tuned
cd and download, out now
Finally, after a long long wait the 'Stay Tuned' cd is here, released by the wonderful
Baskaru label! Presumably most of you know about the project by now, but let me just
copy/paste the label's press text:
Take a walk through the orchestra. That's exactly what Rutger Zuydervelt invites us to
do. Stay Tuned started as an installation where each speaker plays a continuous loop
of a group of instruments playing an A note, as if they were tuning up. Visitors walk
freely in this environment, literally walking through the orchestra; each step they take
changes the mix of what they hear.
For the CD version released by Baskaru, Zuydervelt produced a 50-minute mix that
slowly takes us from section to section of his 153-piece ensemble – a who's who of the
global avant-garde music scene, with names ranging from Oren Ambarchi to Richard
Youngs, by way of John Butcher and Nate Wooley. There's the expected orchestra
instruments (woodwinds, strings, brass, tuned percussion), and also, electric guitars,
piano, and voices. The result is a drone in A that develops impressive levels of
richness, depth, and movement. It feels like this orchestra will never stop tuning up,
and you won't want it to.
"If you think a continuous performance of a single "A"-note could hardly be interesting
enough to keep your interest for the full 50 minutes, you owe it to yourself to try it out.
I'm sure you'll be surprised. Ánd amazed!" - Ambientblog
Hear and/or buy 'Stay Tuned' here Or e-mail post@machinefabriek.nu for your order
P.S. When 'Stay Tuned' was presented as installation a few weeks back, at Kunst van
Hier tot Ginder, in Okkenbroek (NL), I did a few performances/workshops with local
(fanfare) musicians and (chois) singers. Check out this recording.