Hello all,

swissnex San Francisco with the support of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and various key partners, chief among which the good folks at VOLUME, are proud to present a very rare West Coast appearance by the Zurich-based label and electronic sound arts platform domizil, along with their research partners at the ICST Zurich (the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technologies, part of the Zurich University for the Arts).

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swissnex and VOLUME have put together three densely packed evenings of performances, taking place at the San Francisco Art Institute for two nights in a row this coming weekend, and an L.A. date next week at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions).

In addition to presenting domizil performers Marcus Maeder, Bernd Schurer, Thomas Peter and Jasch, and the tape works of the ICST’s German Toro-Perez, Daniel Bisig, Philippe Kocher and Martin Neukom, these three evening also bring a great roaster of West Coast performers together, including Steve Roden, Mem1, Kadet Kuhne, Loren Chasse, Sutekh, and Overlap’s own Christopher Willits. Best of all: these shows are all FOR FREE

Our full program (check back for updates!) is available here:

http://swissnexsanfrancisco.org/activities/events/domizilandICSTZurichTour

Read more about the events at:

SFAI website

LACE website

VOLUME website

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swissnex is also planning a series of academic presentations and workshops around the work done at the ICST, in which domizil fully participates (in fact, the label also releases quite a bit of recorded research items from ICST – all available on CD or for free downloads under a Creative Commons license on the domizil website):

- one such session will take place at SFAI next Monday, September 28, at 8pm, and is open to sound students and researchers at SFAI and at all other institutes in the Bay Area. It’s free as well, please join if you can!

- swissnex is then organizing one sessions in its own space at 730 Montgomery Street in downtown SF, on Tuesday, September 29. This session (1pm to 5pm) is a great opportunity to get together and to discuss research and tools by the ICST, in domains such as ambisonics (Ambisonics externals for Max MSP and others) and Interactive Swarm Spaces while also broaching on historic perspectives about electronic music in Switzerland and beyond.

TO SIGN UP FOR THIS ONE, PLEASE SIMPLY EMAIL SWISSNEX (luc.meier@swissnexsanfrancisco.org) TO SAVE YOUR SEAT. We aim at getting a good, focused crowd with a minimum of knowledge in the topics at hand for this one, and participants will also get free entrance to the domizil “vecherinka” party event we will be holding the night of that day (regular admission price is $7.00). Hope to see you here!!

Dear readers and friends, we (Matteo and Federico) are happy to announce the birth of our brand new label ‘Synesthesia Recordings‘. This label is to be intended as a repository of live improvised electroacoustic works.

The main goal is to retrieve the late Renaissance praxis of “Ricercare” intended as exploration of a technical device playing it, subverting it in different ways. So this kind of “Musica Ricercata” should be affected by individual approaches to improvisation with sound materials of any kind, samples, electronic devices, pure sine generators, transducers. The local and momentary gesture generates a relational sequenced processes that defines the sonic path from start to the end. This recordings have to be intended as a “document” or Simulacra of a solo or collective performance but not as the performance itself (which is affected by causality relationships and other environmental and statistical phenomena).

After a huge amount of work, a new project called ‘InharmoniCity‘ is ready and is available for download via Music Zeit, our official distributor for digital releases. Limited edition hard copies will be available in few days from now via CDeMUSIC.
The next step will be a dvd-video release of the same album, co-produced with Zerofeedback video-label by our friend visual artist Selfish. You can find the press releases here (cd) and here (dvd).

Teaser from the forthcoming dvd release ‘InharmoniCity’:

Girl Running – U.S.O. from selfish on Vimeo.

TRACKLIST:

1) Girl Running (08.48)
2) Invisible Words (12.20)
3) …from the Past…out of the Future… (40.36)

InharmoniCity is packaged in a 2-panel wallet with artwork by LA-based artist David Trulli [www.davidtrulli.com]

Distributors:

www.downloadplatform.com/synesthesia_recordings

www.cdemusic.org

Best played at high volume in the dark.

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Unidentified Sound Object

Originally from Synesthesia Recordings

Sound and mixed-media installation with audio speakers, amplifiers, computer, electronics.

Since the 1990s, the experimental art of Canadians Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller has been a fascinating exploration of how sound affects and shapes our experience. World-premiering at the 2008 Biennale is their largest installation to date, The Murder of Crows – an astounding 100-speaker artwork that envelops the viewer/listener in the experience of the sculptural and physical qualities of sound. The large and cavernous space of Pier 2/3 is filled with speakers mounted on stands, chairs and walls, creating a minimalist ‘flock’. The installation is structured like a play or film, but with images created only by voice, music and sound effects. Inspired by Goya’s The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters – from the series of etchings called ‘Caprichos’ (c. 1799), which was a denunciation of the evils of society in Spain in his day – the artists have placed a lone megaphone horn on a table in the middle of the space. Out of this horn comes Cardiff’s voice reciting dreams and thoughts as if, like Goya’s sleeper, she is absorbed in her own nightmares. Using multiple soundscapes, as well as compositions by Freida Abtan, Tilman Ritter and Titus Maderlechner, the artists create a ‘sound play’ that physically envelops the listener in a moving field of sound and music.

(This artwork has a 30-minute duration. Seating provided.)

[cityofsound.com]
[www.bos2008.com]
[vimeo.com]

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Unidentified Sound Object

Originally from The Murder of Crows: a sound installation

U.S.O.’s friend Domenico Sciajno will perform a new piece called Phadora for the opening of the Ars Electronica 2008.

Phadora is an electroacoustic piece designed for a very special 4+4 speaker setup at the open air and it has been specifically composed for this occasion.

SoUNdSET, the work of Italian artists Domenico Sciajno and TeZ (aka Maurizio Martinucci), is a sound performance that was conceived especially for this location: the Pöstlingberg terrace, the perfect spot for panoramic cityscape viewing. This piece works with the natural sunset and features audience interaction. As the sun begins to go down (at 7:38 PM on September 4, 2008), visitors can take a seat on the viewing terrace, focus their attention on the diminishing natural sunlight and simultaneously influence via directional loudspeakers the live soundscape being generated in relation to it. As the natural light increasingly gives way to the darkness of night, the more these acoustic experiences are transformed.

The complete schedule of the opening for the Ars Electronica 2008 Festival is available here.

[myspace.com/sciajno]
[sciajno.net]

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Unidentified Sound Object

Originally from Phadora for the opening of Ars Electronica 2008

This Festival, in its third year, explores the versatility of ISSUE Project Room’s innovative house speaker system, designed by Stephan Moore.
In the hands of these diverse performers and sound artist, this fifteen-channel installation of hemisphere loudspeakers radically changes the concert experience for both performer and audience.

Each of the hemispheres radiates sound in all directions, activating the acoustics of this unique concert space. Immersive sonic environments are generated, electronic sounds take on the characteristic intimacy of acoustic instruments, and location is liberated as a musical dimension.

Wednesday, June 18
Sawako Kato will premiere new compositions for the Issue Project Room. Sawako weaves the intimate sound scape with fragments from her recent trips + sine tone + subtle voice.

Tristan Perch will show his new work with 5 voices and 15-channel 1-bit electronics + a short piece for 3 violins.

Saturday, June 14

Phil Niblock

Saturday, June 28

Francisco López

All performances 8:00pm, $15

For more information:
718-330-0313
info@issueprojectroom.org

ISSUE Project Room
232 Third Street, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn
at the Old American Can Factory

[issueprojectroom.org]

Originally from Floating Points 2008 – ISSUE Project Room

Extracts from live show by Agrare (Maja Ratkje, Hild Sofie Tafjord and Lotta Melin) with video projections by Kathy Hinde. ‘Carrying’ is inspired by Chekhov’s play Three Sisters.

[agrare.com]

Originally from Agrare: Carrying Our Ears and Eyes in Small Bags

Artsenal63 - Firenze

Via Santa Reparata 19r

50129 Firenze

www.a63.it

10th June – 09:00 p.m.

CONTINUUM / MIXED MEDIA LIVE

“Wir mussen wissen, wir werden wissen” (David Hilbert)

video-improvisation: SELFISH / music: U.S.O. – Unidentified Sound Object (aka Matteo Milani and Federico Placidi)

Milan/Rome based Matteo Milani and Federico Placidi are sound artists whose work spans from digital music to electro acoustic improvisation.
Unidentified Sound Object is born from the desire to discover new paths and non-linear narrative strategies in both aural and visual domains.
U.S.O. Project is a continuing evolving organism.

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Selfish is Giovanni Antignano. Italian video artist and visual designer. His research ranges from video art to visuals and live performance. His live sets are centralized on an obsessive elaboration of the video loop, where the action is continuously replied and stratified until it reaches its fulfilment. From the end of the nineties until today he has been a member of minor and important collectives.
He took part to several national and international meetings and festivals (VideoMinuto, Station to Station, Polietilene 2.0, Fabbrica Europa, MAF05 Bangkok, Israeli Digital Lab, Weast Coast Nu Music Electronic Art, Biennal of Electronic Art Perth, MUV…). He also curated the “What’ s next? 2006″ festival dedicated to audio/video performances. During the past years Selfish collaborated or performed with Milanese, Fenin, Marco Parente, Marco Messina (99 Posse), Lorenzo Brusci, Timet, Dino Bramanti, David Cossin, Larry Heard, Ether, Xiangxing, Dj Shantel, among the others.
He’s the founder, in 2006, of Zerofeedback videolabel.

[www.selfish.it]
[www.zerofeedback.com]

Originally from CONTINUUM / MIXED MEDIA LIVE @ Artsenal63