The Poetics of Space Is Entirely Dedicated to Live Performances

Home , Asphodel Records, Cymatics, Keith Rowe, Naut Humon, Sonic Acts, WORM (Rotterdam)

spatial explorations in art, science, music and technology 25 – 28 February 2010 • Amsterdam TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 introduction 6 opening 7 conference 28 live performance & film 45 exhibition 51 specials 54 publication 55 practical information 58 map 59 programme schedule 63 colophon introduction introduction

Just to make entirely different approach to dealing with space involves you curious... focusing on the human body and senses. The quest for inner space in the 1960s and 1970s developed in parallel with the The title of the thirteenth Sonic Acts Festival, The Poetics of development of space travel and the exploration of outer Space, is derived from the English translation of the book La space. From the perspective of architecture as experience, Poétique de l’Espace (1958) by the French philosopher Gaston domes, developed for multimedia events, appeal to the imagi- Bachelard. In this work Bachelard meticulously describes the nation. The Pepsi Pavilion at the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, influence of space and architecture on humans and implicitly Japan, was an enormous immersive artwork, with the exterior argues for a new type of architecture based on experience and constantly enshrouded in smoke, and the interior filled with imagination, an approach that is not only rooted in science or reflective objects and light sculptures. functionality. Researching spatiality in the arts is the core of the Ever since the emergence of symphonic orchestras, festival. This involves a number of fundamental questions. composers and sound artists have expressly worked with How is space defined by a work of art? What does a viewer or the spatial aspects of sound. This includes research into the listener experience? How do technological artworks deal with further electronic spatialization of classical ensemble works the visual, auditory and psychological aspects of spatiality? and orchestral works as well as researching acousmatics, a How has the relationship between technology, space and technique whereby sound is distributed through space in such architecture developed over the past few centuries? How have a way that the original sound source is no longer perceivable. technological developments influenced our perception and Besides the development of surround sound and acousmatics, representation of space, and how do we relate to the space the electroacoustic improvisation circuit started exploring how that surrounds us? musical space and audio space could be made central during Sonic Acts The Poetics of Space is entirely dedicated to live performances. the exploration of space in performative and audiovisual art, Research has also been conducted into more extreme film, music and architecture. It examines the importance of ways of making sound tangible, for example in Jan-Peter physical space in times of far-reaching technological develop- Sonntag’s raum-Arbeiten series, in which he uses standing ments, and the physical and psychological impact of spatial waves to generate sonic architectural structures. A more designs. subtle approach to spatialized sound takes the form of field The programme comprises four densely filled days and recordings, soundwalks and acoustic spaces. These various nights and will provide an extensive overview of recent works approaches enable a profound exploration of specific spaces and experiments – spatial audio compositions, audiovisual and environments. installations and performances – and includes relevant historical In the early 1970s the experimental filmmaker Anthony examples and utopian ideals and dreams from the twentieth McCall created spatial volumes of light, by projecting geomet- century. rical figures in hazy environments, so called solid light films, of which Line Describing a Cone is the most famous. Another Come and explore the Poetics of the Space !

4 5 OPENING On Thursday 25 February Opening performance the festival kicks off with Brandon LaBelle the opening of the exhibi- Q&A, or the further conference tion at NIMk, where works adventures of a sonic body of HC Gilje, Carlo Bernardini, Exploring the relationship between voice and location, LaBelle’s lecture at de balie Ralf Baecker, Jan-Peter E.R. unpacks the ambiguities of presence Sonntag, Yoko Semaya, Jacob and mediation. How does speech Kirkegaard and others can be come to enact a spatial proposal seen, heard and experienced. through its insistence on the here and now? And what forms of intimacy At this occasion Brandon can be found within recorded voices LaBelle will perform his and their circulation? lecture Q&A, or the further Brandon LaBelle (US) is an artist adventures of a sonic body. and writer working with sounds, locations, bodies and cultural fric- tions. His works explore the space between sound and sociality, using performance and on-site construc- tions as creative supplements to existing conditions.

Thursday 25 February 17:30, NIMk

6 7 CONFERENCE — 26 february CONFERENCE — 26 february 10:00 – 10:40 • keynote 10:40 – 12:00 • session 1 Derrick Architectures de Kerckhove of Sound

Beyond Perspective, essays on the new electronic reality. How do composers work with Raviv Ganchrow From the Point of View Connected Intelligence (Somerville, spatial sound using arrays of loud- Sense of Ambiguity to the Point of Being 1997) introduced his research on speakers? How is space constituted A discussion of the spatial multiplicity Between the Renaissance and new media and cognition. in music? How do we listen to the in sound is followed by a selec- Cézanne, the poetics of space were sound-space? tion of Ganchrow’s recent sound ruled by perspective and the spectac- works relating to the frameworks ular. Even the magic illusions of the Daniel Teruggi of everyday acoustic environments. Baroque era were eventually directed The Fifth Element A diversity of approaches and tech- at effecting a transition from a multi- Positioning sound sources in space niques of listening breeds a variety sensory to a dominantly visual spatial permitted new perspectives and of ‘sound-spaces’, where each sound- representation. Take trompe-l’oeil, conceptions of the effects space space can be understood as an amal- for an example of the eye giving could exert on music. At the Groupe gamation of ideas of presence and information normally provided by de Recherches Musicales (GRM) notions of perception. the hand. Today, the trend has been musique concrète evolved alongside Raviv Ganchrow (US) studied reversed and a paradoxical tactile, the sound systems and carriers that architecture in New York and has proprioceptive sensory modality has were used to compose the music. taught at several institutes in the been developed over the centuries This multiple approach has important Netherlands since completing his of electricity. We may be traversing a implications for the composition of Masters of Music in Sonology. His Neo-Baroque era where the effects music, as well as for the tools and sound installations and sound works of a dominantly visual episteme are environments needed for it. have been exhibited in the USA, reversed in multimedia, 3D and VR. Daniel Teruggi (AR) studied France, Austria, the Netherlands and In the global environmental percep- physics, composition and piano, Norway. He developed and designed tion that is developing, the point of and he was appointed director of the the spatial sound performance Wave being, that is a proprioceptive sensa- GRM in 1997. Teruggi compositions Field Synthesis system, commis- tion of the world, may be doubling for fixed media (tape), small instru- sioned by the Game of Live Founda- if not replacing the point of view as mental groups and tape, or real-time tion. the principal referent of my position processing of instruments focus on in space. the relationships between creation Derrick de Kerckhove (CA) and technology, and on problems worked with Marshall McLuhan for related to sound perception. over ten years as translator, assistant and co-author. He has published extensively on culture, technology and biology, including co-editing a book that scientifically assesses the impact of the Western alphabet on the physiology and the psychology of human cognition, and a collection of

8 9 CONFERENCE — 26 february CONFERENCE — 26 february 13:00 – 14:00 • session 2 Exercises in Immersion

Surround cinema with spatial sound Christopher Salter immerses the audience in a spectacle The Question of Thresholds: of sound and images. How is this Immersion, Absorption and done? What happens to the senses? Dissolution in Cross-modal Environments Naut Humon Salter’s talk explores how auditory- Transitions of the Spacial Station visual-perceptual spaces dynamically Naut Humon speaks on the forma- alter concepts of the body and the tion, deployment and current self, starting from James Turrell’s activities of California’s Recombinant and Robert Irwin’s 1968 proposal Media Labs. RML is an experimental to investigate the transformation mobile facility for the experiential of consciousness under the extreme 1. engineering of surround cinema and reduction of sensory input. What immersive arts. happens to the ‘sensing self’ and its Naut Humon (US) is the founder embodiment in audiovisual environ- of Recombinant Media Labs and was ments that overload or curtail our head of A&R for Asphodel Records. perception? During the 1970s he presented a Christopher L. Salter’s (CA) series of ‘destabilized’ media events artistic output and research revolve designed to repurpose the visitor’s around the development and produc- frame of reference. Later activities tion of real-time, computationally- emphasized a strong musical founda- augmented responsive performance tion with tactile instrumentation and environments fusing space, sound, audio/video technologies that focus image, architectural material and the perceptions of the viewer on the sensor-based technologies.

3. 2. physicalization of form.

4. 1. Naut Humon at Recombinant Media Lab, 1984 © Naut Humon 2. Sound mirror at Denge, Raviv Ganchrow © 3. Recombinant Media Labs, Naut Humon © 4. Undertow, 2008, Raviv Ganchrow ©

10 11 CONFERENCE — 26 february CONFERENCE — 26 february 14:00 – 15:30 • session 3 Utopian Spectacles

The connection of arts and tech- Trace Reddell nology in the 1950s and 1960s Cyborg Ritual and Sentic spawned many events that by now Technology in the Vortex Concerts are legendary, beginning with the Trace Reddell presents the Vortex Vortex Concerts of Jacobs and Concerts of Henry Jacobs and Jordan Belson, and ‘culminating’ in the Belson (1957–59) as extensions of Pepsi Pavilion of 1970. The radical astronautic research and cybernetic approach to space and utopian the space sciences. He considers how spirit of these events and works this space age ‘theater of the future’ continues to inspire artists to this plays out a cosmological agenda. very day. Trace Reddell (US) is a digital media artist and theorist exploring 1. Branden W. Joseph the interactions of sound and the HPSCHD: Ghost or Monster? cosmological imagination. His live HPSCHD – created by John Cage cinema performances and video and Lejaren Hiller in 1969 with the works have screened at more than use of the ILLIAC II supercomputer thirty international venues over the – produced an intensely spatial- past two years. ized audiovisual environment, one in which the audience members, Robert Whitman as Anthony McCall puts it, became Uses of Space in Art their own ‘mobile mixers’. This talk and Technology considers the place of HPSCHD Robert Whitman discusses the way within Cage’s production, and the that he has used space as part of 3. 2. implications of its technological and the vocabulary of his installation and political engagements. performance pieces. Branden W. Joseph (US) is In 1966 Whitman was involved Frank Gallipoli Professor of Modern in 9 Evenings. He co-founded Experi- and Contemporary Art at Columbia ments in Art and Technology, and University and a founding editor was one of the core artists selected 4. of the journal Grey Room, a multi- for the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo ’70, 5. disciplinary quarterly journal about in Osaka. Since the late 1960s he architecture, art, media and politics. has collaborated with engineers, Joseph has published three books, scientists and artists on installations 1. Pepsi Pavilion, 1970, Japan © E.A.T. the latest is Beyond the Dream and works that incorporate new 2. Idem Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts technology: laser sculptures, optical 3. Two Holes of Water 3, Robert Whitman, 9 Evenings, 1966 © E.A.T. after Cage (Zone Books, 2008). reflector systems and cell phones. 4. Idem 5. Pepsi Pavilion, 1970, Japan © E.A.T.

12 13 CONFERENCE — 26 february CONFERENCE — 26 february 16:15 – 18:00 • session 4 The Poetics of Hybrid Space

The Poetics of Hybrid Space explores Eric Kluitenberg (NL) is a media the new conditions of experience theorist, writer on culture, media emphasized by the concept of Hybrid and technology. Kluitenberg heads Space through the prism of a series the media program at De Balie, of artistic and interventionist projects Centre for Culture and Politics in drawing on the increased hybridity Amsterdam. of contemporary spaces in everyday life. Hybrid Space points at a layering Karen Lancel (NL) and Hermen of physical, informational and media Maat (NL) create ‘meeting places’ 1. infrastructures, and social, cultural in public space. They invite the audi- and economic flows superimposed ence to experiment and play with in one and the same space. It indi- social technologies. They will present 3. cates the simultaneous presence of Tele_Trust. heterogeneous spatial logics at play in our everyday living spaces, which is Duncan Speakman (UK) exam- amplified by the growth of real-time ines how we use sound to locate communication and media tech- ourselves in personal and political nologies. Hybrid Space emphasizes environments, creating experiences discontinuity, inconsistency, intimacy, that engage audiences in public heterogeneity and paradox. The spaces. He is develops site-responsive 2. volatile presence of physical absence soundwalks, street games and perva- mediated by proliferating commu- sive theatre works. nication and media technologies permeating virtually every aspect of Peter Westenberg (NL) is a visual daily experience (GSM, Wifi, umts/ artist and filmmaker who engages 3G, GPS, DVB, radiography) creates in open source practices. a powerful and rich locus for various forms of artistic and poetic interven- Elizabeth Sikiaridi (GR) lectures tion. The panel was selected and will on design in the urban landscape be moderated by Eric Kluitenberg, at University of Duisburg-Essen and 4. and features presentations by Duncan together with Frans Vogelaar runs 1. as if it were the last time, 2009, Duncan Speakman © Speakman, Lancel/Maat, Peter the Hybrid Space Lab. 2. Polytope, French Pavilion, Expo 67, Westenberg and Elizabeth Sikiaridi. Montreal, Iannis Xenakis 3. Model & interior of the temporary & mobile pavilion of the Diatope, Paris/Bonn, 1978-79, Iannis Xenakis 4. Polytope in the roman thermal baths of Cluny in Paris 1972-74, Iannis Xenakis 5. Idem as 3 5.

14 15 CONFERENCE — 27 february CONFERENCE — 27 february 1. 10:00 – 11:00 • lecture 11:00 – 12:00 • lecture Barry Fred Truax Worden 2.

Composing Music After Hours in the with the Environment Cerebral Kitchen Barry Truax was one of the members Relationships involving time, of the World Soundscape Project in space and motion have befuddled 1973 at SFU when it pioneered the thinkers since at least the time of study of acoustic environments and Zeno and his paradoxes. The inven- published the Vancouver Soundscape tion of cinema brought a promis- recordings and booklet. Truax traces cuous new tool for staging various this history and plays examples, thought experiments on how best to including his own soundscape understand the complex and often compositions. elusive interrelations between these Barry Truax (CA) is a Professor concepts. Worden’s lecture hypoth- at Simon Fraser University. He has esizes a cinematic space where time worked with the World Soundscape and motion can disengage from the Project, editing its Handbook for theatrics of lens-based representa- Acoustic Ecology. As a composer, tions and dance to their own demate- Truax is best known for his work with rialized tunes. the PODX computer music system. He also developed the first ever Screening 3. implementation of real-time granular When Worlds Collude (2008, 13’00) synthesis, in 1986. An experimental film in which highly representational images are freed from their duties to refer to external things. 4. Fred Worden (US) has been involved in experimental cinema since the 1970s. His work develops from his interest in how a stream of still pictures passing through a projector at a speed meant to overwhelm the eyes, might be harnessed to purposes other than representation 6. or naturalism.

1-6. World Soundscape Project, 1974-6 © WSP, Simon Fraser 5. University

16 17 CONFERENCE — 27 february CONFERENCE — 27 february 13:00 – 14:30 • session 5 Soundwalks, Acoustic Spaces and Field Recordings

How to intensify listening to the the mythic and scientific significance environment? What is the impor- of marine mammals to the intercon- tance of raising our awareness of the nectedness of the sea and sounds that surround us? How do we outer space. experience and remember spaces and Edward A. Shanken (US) writes landscape through their sounds? How and teaches about the entwinement to work with field recordings, sound- of art, science and technology, with scape composition and sound maps? a focus on interdisciplinary practices involving new media. Hildegard Westerkamp Yolande Harris (UK) uses her What’s in a Soundwalk? performances, installations and A reflection on seven years of public instruments to investigate how we soundwalks traces how soundwalk use sound to relate to our surround- activities may have shifted and deep- ings, both architectural and ecolog- ened experiences in listening and ical. relationships to space and place. Have they altered cultural, political Annea Lockwood 1. and ecological attitudes, inspired An interview with Annea daily life activities and creative Lockwood by Arie Altena processes? Annea Lockwood has been involved Hildegard Westerkamp (DE/ in the recording of environmental CA) lectures on topics of listening, sounds for many years. An informal environmental sound and acoustic interview with her will touch on her ecology and conducts soundscape views on field recording, composi- workshops. By focusing the ears’ tion, and sound mapping. attention to details in the acoustic Annea Lockwood (NZ) is known environment, her many compositional for her explorations of the rich world works draw attention to the act of of natural acoustic sounds and envi- listening itself. ronments, in works ranging from sound art and installations, through Edward Shanken & Yolande Harris text-sound and performance art to Tuning In & Spacing Out: concert music. She has written for 2. The Art and Science of the a number of ensembles and solo Presentness of Sound performers, and created pieces for Exploring sound and space as modes surround-sound installations like of understanding environmental A Sound Map of the Danube. 1. Hildegard Westercamp © Peter Grant 2. The Pink Noise of Pleasure Yachts in phenomena, Harris and Shanken Turquoise Sea, 2009, Yolande Harris © weave together extreme ideas from 3. Annea Lockwood © Ruth Anderson 3.

18 19 CONFERENCE — 27 february CONFERENCE — 27 february 15:30 – 16:15 • session 6 Invisible Architectures

Virtual realities and the immaterial Dirk Hebel & Jörg Stollmann media flows of the contemporary Misuse/Technology/Architecture world have deeply influenced the Strategies of misuse reveal the chal- work of architects. What are the lenges and potential of space and can experiences of space that are implicit be turned into tools for design and in their architectural conceptions? appropriation. A guided tour though the works of INSTANT Architects: Marcos Novak from the schizophrenic re-appropria- 21st Century Invisible tion of a 1930s model home to a PET Architectures: The Poetics bottle that wants to save the world. of Transactivated Space Dirk Hebel (CH) is an archi- Current technologies have tect whose research addresses the 1. enabled transactivated space as conceptual transfers between the the most advanced, and yet most human body and the contemporary minimal architectonic material, and, city, and he has recently co-published consequently, have made possible a book initiating a plea for a new invisible architectures. What is the type of architectural practice. phenomenology of invisible transac- Jörg Stollmann (CH) teaches tivated space, what psycho-spatial Urban Design and Architecture in experiences does it draw upon, and Berlin. He works in various collabo- how do we develop a new poetics rations and was principal of the 3. for it? INSTANT Architects project with

Marcos Novak (US) is a ‘tran- Dirk Hebel. 2. sarchitect’ who disregards physical laws and the constraints of Euclidean geometry by designing spaces, and the objects that fill and create those spaces, in computer-supported virtual reality to create new forms, which he calls ‘liquid architectures’.

1. Blur Building, 2002, Switzerland, Diller & Scofidio © 2. Idem 3. Idem 4. AlloSphere, California Nano Systems Institute © Dennis Adderton 5. Idem 5.

20 21 CONFERENCE — 27 february CONFERENCE — 27 february 16:15 – 18:00 • session 7 The Hot Space in Music

STEIM’s artistic director Takuro Yutaka Makino’s (JP) works range Mizuta Lippit moderates a panel from sculpture to sound works, and discussion on issues relating to music include computer music compositions and its different modes of repre- and spatial sound installations that sentation. How does high definition utilize spatial projection systems such in space change the performance as Wave Field Synthesis to achieve of music and its perception? What total physical immersion. are the compositional materials and instruments for a music that intends Hans W. Koch (DE) is a composer, to go beyond the conventional trajec- performer and sound artist who tories of stereo and concert halls? examines unpredictability on all As an audience where do we listen? levels of a musical composition. With presentations by Yutaka Makino When working with digital media, and Hans W. Koch, and a lecture by he explores its boundaries and Steven Connor. implicit (de)faults.

Steven Connor 1. Auscultations (Listening In) A lecture that rethinks listening through tinnitus and other internal body sounds. Steven Connor (UK) is a writer, cultural critic and the Academic Director of the London Consortium. He is the author of books on Dickens, Beckett, Joyce, ventriloquism, skin, flies, and other topics, and is now writing a book about the historical poetics of the air.

Takuro Mizuta Lippit (JP) is a turn- table musician (dj sniff) working in the field of improvised and experi- 2. mental music, a researcher of music technology, and STEIM’s artistic director since 2007. 1. Conflux, 2010, Yutaka Makino © 2. two rooms, flipped, 2010, Hans W. Koch ©

22 23 CONFERENCE — 28 february CONFERENCE — 28 february 10:00 – 10:40 • keynote 10:40 – 12:00 • session 8 Michael J. Spatial Morgan Perception

Representation of Space How do we perceive space? How make this research tangible. in the Brain do artists reflect on the experience HC Gilje (NO) creates installa- As Descartes realized, there is no of space and heighten the sense tions, live performances and videos. obvious reason why an image has of space using sound and vision He was also a member of the video- to be represented as another image in sometimes radical or radically improv trio 242.pilots. in the brain. Yet, it is, at least in reduced ways? the early stages of representation. Jacob Kirkegaard Reasons that have been advanced Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag Acoustic Spaces and for this topographical representation raum-Arbeiten – The Space of Unheard Sounds include the need to establish a ‘local Sound and Acoustic Architectures Kirkegaard will talk about his works sign’ during the development of the In the late 1980s, Sonntag started that deal with acoustic spaces and brain; the advantages of short-range to create non-Euclidean spaces from phenomena that usually remain connections over long nerve tracts; interference fields produced by imperceptible. Using unorthodox the simple mapping of sensory infor- dozens of high tuned sinus gener- recording tools Kirkegaard captures mation onto motor maps; and the ating units. Sonntag will talk about and contextualizes hitherto unheard need to keep the maps from different sonic architecture and the theoretical sounds from within a variety of envi- senses in register. A philosophical background and development of his ronments: a geyser, a sand dune, a tradition started by Berkeley and raum-Arbeiten. nuclear power plant, an empty room, continued by Rudolf Hermann Lotze Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag (DE) and even sounds from the human suggests that our spatial sense is in has an academic background in inner ear itself. reality a representation of action, instrumental music, fine art, art Jacob Kirkegaard’s (DK) instal- hence the close connection of the history (new media), music theory, lations, compositions and perfor- senses with motor maps. Recently, a composition, philosophy and cogni- mances focus on the scientific and counter-suggestion has been that the tive science. He has mostly focused aesthetic aspects of resonance, mechanisms of perception and action on site-specific installations based on time, sound and hearing. are separated into distinct dorsal and sound and biomass but also specifi- ventral streams of processing. This cally on monochrome gas discharge lecture evaluates the evidence for light. and against the dual process theory. Michael J Morgan (UK) is a Hans Christian Gilje Professor of Visual Psychophysics Conversations with Spaces at City University, London. His area HC Gilje explores how audiovisual of research is the experimental technology can be used to transform, psychology of vision, from neuro- create, expand, amplify and interpret anatomy to perception and psycho- physical spaces. In his own work he physics. He is the author of The works with real-time environments, Space Between Our Ears (2003). installations, live performance, set design and single-channel video to

24 25 CONFERENCE — 28 february CONFERENCE — 28 february 13:00 – 15:00 • session 9 Gardeners of the Future

In order to survive the near future, He attempts to take a stance in an humans need to rapidly adapt to the intertwined world moving beyond challenges ahead. Artists will play closed systems, by pursuing mutually an important role in ‘gardening’ the dependent relationships. future, not only by shifting from Philip Beesley (CA) focuses on field- computer technology to biology oriented sculpture and landscape and genetic engineering, but also by installations. His projects use dense starting to understand the universe arrays of microprocessor, sensors and as a single, large natural algorithm actuators. 1. 2. that needs gardening in order to function in a sustainable way. Paul Prudence Generative Spaces: Roger Malina The Spatiotemporal Subroutines Intimate Science; of Runtime Planet Earth Or Artists in the Dark Universe Prudence discusses the metamorphic We develop ideas and intuitions algorithms, hydrodynamic computa- based on our sensory experience tions, aeolian protocols and sonic of phenomena at our own physical mechanisms, sometimes acting in and temporal scales. Scientists today collaboration with living organisms, obtain almost all their knowledge of that define the dynamic generative the world via scientific instruments, forms and spaces around us. not through their senses. One of the Paul Prudence (UK) is a writer, tasks of art-science collaboration reseacher and a visual performer who is to make current scientific knowl- works with generative/computational 3. 5. 4. edge intimate. This is part of the systems, audio responsive visual toolkit that will enable us to survive feedback and processed video. the decades ahead. Roger Malina (US) is an astron- Gardeners of the Future omer, with a speciality in space tele- closing session scopes and observational cosmology. The Gardeners of the Future is He has edited the Art-Science publi- followed by the festival's closing cation Leonardo at MIT Press for 25 session, a panel discussion moder- 1. GAMMAvert, 2010, Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag © years. ated by Lucas van der Velden, with 2. Blink, 2009, HC Gilje © Roger Malina, Paul Prudence, Philip 3. Labyrinthitis, 2007, Philip Beesley Beesley and others. Jacob Kirkegaard © Responsive Environments 4. RyNTH, 2010, Paul Prudence 5. Hylozoic Soil, 2009 © Beesley presents a tour through his Philip Beesley Architect Inc. interactive immersive environments.

26 27 LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 25 february 20:00 – 01:00 • Paradiso Deep live performance Spaces

& film The opening event Deep Spaces Streifenjunko, which creates an even presents a selection of audiovisual more complex improvisation situa- adventures in spaces defined by tion. sound, light, smoke and lasers. Most of Kjell Bjørgeengen’s Immerse yourself in Thomas Köner’s (NO) works deal with a combination mesmerizing spatial sound tapestries, of representation and relinquishing while his colleague, Jürgen Reble, subjective control through the struc- takes you on a visual journey through turing of images from automated the darker side of his alchemical processes of sound and music chemograms. Haswell & Hecker will mediated through technology. perform their radical UPIC Diffusion The free improvisation tabletop Session, an infinity of extreme sound guitarist and painter Keith Rowe and engulfing lasers. The godfa- (UK) was a founding member of ther of electroacoustic improvisa- both AMM in the mid-1960s, and tion, Keith Rowe, and the eccentric M.I.M.E.O. Rowe continues to Norwegian group, Streifenjunko, develop various prepared guitar tech- will collaborate in an improvised niques to produce sounds described performance, accompanied by as dark, brooding, compelling, Kjell Bjorgeengen’s hypnotic visuals. expansive and alien. Finally, Monolake and Tarik Barri will Streifenjunko (NO) makes transport you through their spatial dynamic music with a tenor saxo- audiovisual universe. This event phone and a trumpet. Members also includes screenings of several Espen Reinertsen and Eivind Lønning extraordinary cinematic works by use unusual instrumental techniques Fred Worden, Anthony McCall, and to project a spacious sound. others. Fred Worden Keith Rowe, Kjell Bjørgeengen 1859 (2008, 11’00) and Streifenjunko ‘Built out of a 30-frame clip of a lens To investigate how to produce music flare. LSD is illegal, 1859 is not.’– and video in a way that cannot be Fred Worden. foreseen, Keith Rowe and Kjell Bjør- Fred Worden (US) has been geengen have developed an ingenious involved in experimental cinema since feedback routing system for music the 1970s. His work develops from and image, in which each tiny altera- his interest in how a stream of still tion produces changes throughout pictures passing through a projector the entire audiovisual loop. They at a speed meant to overwhelm are joined by the Nordic improv duo the eyes, might be harnessed to

28 29 LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 25 february LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 25 february purposes other than representation lighting to create an immersive or naturalism. multisensory environment. Russell Haswell (UK) is a multi- Jürgen Reble & Thomas Köner disciplinary artist who has exhibited Materia Obscura conceptual and wall-based visual A doorway to the world of dark and works, video art, public sculpture. unperceivable materials, using Jürgen Extreme Computer Music is one Reble’s 25,000 scans of 16 mm specialized area of activity. chemograms. A visual expedition into Compositions by the electronic crystalized salts and dyes, showing music composer Florian Hecker (DE) the bizarre richness and beauty of tend towards noise music and are film’s materiality. The quadraphonic often released on the Mego label. staging of Materia Obscura expands He has collaborated with artists such the performance space, where the as Russell Haswell, Peter Rehberg, horizontal flow of time meets the and Yasunao Tone. sonic impulse. Thomas Köner’s music 1. floats at the borders of perception, Monolake & Tarik Barri as if it is a means of communicating Monolake Live Surround with the beyond. Monolake Live Surround explores the Thomas Köner (DE) and Jürgen possibilities of spatial sound design Reble (DE) have been working in a club environment, using Mono- together since 1992 in the fields lake’s minimal, dub-influenced techno of film, installation and perfor- music. Monolake’s Robert Henke 2. mance. Thomas Köner studied is joined by Tarik Barri for the live electronic music and extended his performance. concept of time and sound colour Robert Henke (DE) is a to images, resulting in video instal- composer, sound designer, software lations, photography and net art. developer, installation artist and The works of film alchemist Jürgen performer. His music has roots in Reble are often rooted in the manual academic sound research as well processing of film footage using as in club culture, and the result is 3. 5. mechanical and chemical influences a sophisticated yet accessible body and reconstruction of the cinemato- of work. graphic apparatus. Tarik Barri (NL) is an audiovisual composer who aims to discover Haswell & Hecker new synergies and aesthetics in the UPIC Diffusion Session # 22 combination of image and sound, 4. Hecker and Haswell have been through new audiovisual composi- researching UPIC, Iannis Xenakis’ tion methods realized with self-made 1. Materia Obscura, 2009, ‘graphic input’ computer music computer software. Jürgen Reble & Thomas Köner composing system since 2003, 2. Idem and now present this as a live multi- 3. UPIC Diffusion Session # 9, 2007 Haswell & Hecker © channel electroacoustic concert, 4. Still in Cosmos, 2009, Makino Takashi using surround sound and laser 5. Idem

30 31 LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 25 february LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 25 february Makino Takashi Afterwards at Paradiso Still in Cosmos (2009) Sonic Noodlanding! When watching a film, the viewers all DJs Arnold and Dionysius sit in the same darkness and receive spin the tunes, not right or left the same light and sound but each but straight to the point. sees a different dream. When they look at total chaos through newborn eyes, they give birth to a new cosmos. Makino Takashi (JP) belongs to the new generation of Japanese experimental film makers.

Anthony McCall Line Describing a Cone (1973, 16 mm, 30’00, B&W, silent) In Line Describing a Cone, the conventional primacy of the screen is completely abandoned in favour of the primacy of the projection event. McCall: ‘The viewer watches

1. the film by standing with his, or her, back towards what would normally be the screen, and looking along the beam towards the projector itself. 2. The film begins as a coherent line of light, like a laser beam, and develops through its 30-minute duration into a complete, hollow cone of light.’ Anthony McCall (UK) was a key figure in the avant-garde London Film-makers Co-operative in the 1970s and his earliest films are docu- 3. 4. ments of outdoor performances that were notable for their minimal use of the elements, most notably fire. After moving to New York in 1973, McCall developed his ‘solid light’ film series, 1. Line Describing A Cone, 1973 © Anthony McCall & LUX including Line Describing a Cone 2. Monolake Live Surround, (1973). 2009, Monolake & Tarik Barri © 3. Line Describing A Cone, 1973/2002 © Anthony McCall & LUX 4. Monolake Live Surround, 2009, Monolake & Tarik Barri ©

32 33 LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 26 february LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 26 february 20:00 – 00:00 • Paradiso Expanded Space

The Expanded Space programme Yann Beauvais revisits the heyday of Expanded RR (1976–85, 16 mm, B&W, silent, Cinema. The 1970s saw a short-lived 6’00, 2 screens) flourishing of artists and filmmakers The viewer sees two images func- who literally thought outside the box tioning as each other’s reflected when it came to filmmaking, and who image, constituting a panoramic discarded the established rules about and abstract film. 1. 2. film (re)presentation and investigated Yann Beauvais (FR) is a film- all possible approaches to screening maker, teacher, film critic and co- films. These ranged from projections founder of the experimental film on multiple screens to projections distributor Light Cone. His work void of imagery that only used the is deeply influenced byR ussian light source from the projector as the formalism and minimal structuralism. subject. With performances and films by Paul Sharits, Lis Rhodes, Takashi Gill Eatherley Ito, Yann Beauvais, Daïchi Saïto, Hand Grenade (1972, 16 mm, Bruce McClure, Greg Pope, Optical colour, mono, 8’00, 3 screens) Machines, Gill Eatherley and László A short, energetic extravagant three- Moholy-Nagy. screen colour film, based on B&W source material that is orchestrated László Moholy-Nagy to accompany the music. 3. 4. Lichtspiel Schwarz-Weiß-Grau Gill Eatherley (UK) studied at (1930, 35 mm, B&W, silent, 5’30”) various art academies in Britain. Her Light flashes, moving, blinding. Expanded Cinema performances and Whirling spirals, which always return. film installations have been widely All solid shapes dissolve into light. exhibited. László Moholy-Nagy (1895– 1946) was a Jewish-Hungarian Optical Machines painter, sculptor, designer, photog- (SHIFT) rapher, filmmaker, teacher and theo- (SHIFT) is true live performance, an retician, as well as a professor of abstract play of light images that are the Bauhaus school. Influenced by generated, manipulated, mixed and 5. constructivism, he was an advocate projected on the spot using home- 1. Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis, 2009, Daïchi Saïto of the integration of technology into made equipment. 2. Idem the arts. Optical Machines (NL) consists 3. Spacy, 1981, Takashi Ito © of Rikkert Brok (visuals) and Maarten 4. Idem 5. Hand Grenade, 1972, Gill Eatherley Halmans (audio) who work with an 6. Lichtspiel Schwarz-Weiß-Grau, 1934, open set-up that invites the audience László Moholy-Nagy © 6.

34 35 LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 26 february LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 26 february to their laboratory-like playground. out sequences in space that evidence Their tools include modified record time displacement as a primary agent players, pattern models, lamps, in dimensional perception. lenses, cameras, customized projec- Bruce McClure (US) works with tors and self-made analogue synthe- sound and film technologies such as sizers. experimentation with spinning discs. He is best known for his ground- Takashi Ito breaking multi-projector perfor- Spacy mances that interrogate the very (1981, 16 mm, colour, stereo, 9’00) substance of film and its mechanical A Möbius strip, an Escher film at supports. Japanese tempo, from slow to fast, from pianissimo to fortissimo. Daïchi Saïto Takashi Ito (JP) is one of the Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis leading experimental filmmakers of (2009, 35 mm, colour, stereo, 10’00) Japan. His intention is to draw the Entirely hand-processed, Saïto’s 1. audience into a vortex of supernat- Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis, ural illusion by exercising the magic with contrapuntal violin by Malcolm

2. of film. Goldstein, seeks perceptual insights and revelations through a syntactical Paul Sharits structure based on patterns, varia- Color Sound Frames (1974, tions and repetition. 16 mm, colour, sound, 22’00) Daïchi Saïto (JP) turned to film- Color Sound Frame is a film about making in Montréal after studying 2. a film and the kind of illusions that philosophy, Hindi and Sanskrit. He is can result as the film’s concrete a co-founder of the Double Negative properties create abstractions. Collective, a Montréal-based group Paul Sharits (1943–93) was dedicated to experimental cinema. an avant-garde filmmaker noted

4. for manipulating film stock itself Greg Pope & Gert-Jan Prins 3. to create a variety of fascinating, Light Trap abstract interplays of light and colour Light Trap is a live performance when projected on the screen. using four prepared 16 mm projec- tors to create a voluminous and Bruce McClure spatial sound/light sculpture that is PIE PELLICANE JESU DOMINAE: in constant flux and explores the raw 5. And After Several Rapid Strokes elements of cinema. Gert-Jan Prins of Their Wings will join this Light Trap performance.

1. Light Music, 1975 © Lis Rhodes & LUX (2009, 16 mm, B&W, sound, 45’00) Greg Pope (UK) founded the 2. Idem As each projector sets bi-packed Brighton based Super 8 film collec- 3. Light Trap, 2008, Greg Pope © film loops into motion, achronicity is tive Situation Cinema in 1986 that 4. And After Several Rapid chronicled away. Footage from Birds Strokes of Their Wings, 2009, evolved into Loophole Cinema Bruce Mcclure © Robin Martin of Northern Places, a 1950s nature (London 1989–99), which used 5. Idem documentary is centrifuged, drawing 16 mm multi-projection techniques.

36 37 LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 26 february LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 27 february Working collaboratively and individu- DISCO 3000 Sonic Acts 20:00 – 00:00 • Paradiso ally, Pope has made video installa- Out in Space Special tions, live art pieces and single screen Acoustic film works since 1996. Paradiso’s Disco 3000 and Sonic Acts Spaces Gert-Jan Prins (NL) is one of the present a heavyweight Out in Space most challenging sound artists in the Special Night. Far-out house, techno, Netherlands. He focuses on the sonic electro and italo in the Big Hall, with Visitors enter a dark space and are Barry Truax and musical qualities of electronic Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir, the legendary confronted with recordings of thun- Chalice Well (2009) noise. underrated techno-producer from derstorms and the sound of airplanes Chalice Well takes the listener on Detroit; Dutch electro and italo taking off, fragmented urban sound an imaginary journey down a well, Lis Rhodes frontman I-F from the Hague Bunker structures, singing deserts, and passing through several cavernous Light Music (1975, 16 mm, Records scene. Theo Parrish will play underwater or underground record- chambers filled with rushing and 2 screens, 25’00, B&W) a 5-hour set in the Small Hall. ings. This more than four-hour-long trickling water, continuing to the A thorough investigation into the programme is devoted to various glass chamber, then to the gates of relationship between the shapes and approaches to soundscape composi- the underworld, coming to rest in a rhythms of lines, and their tonality tion and features works produced by space where wind and water merge. when printed as sound. The optical several generations of composers and Barry Truax (CA) has worked soundtrack ‘makes’ the music. musicians – from acoustic ecology to with the World Soundscape Project, Lis Rhodes (UK) is an avant- extreme field recordings. The spatial editing its Handbook for Acoustic garde filmmaker and artist. While aspects of sound are showcased in Ecology. As a composer, Truax is best firmly rooted in the history of the compositions, and space is made known for his work with the PODX experimental film, her films cross into audible by means of spatial speaker computer music system. He also performance, photography, writing arrangements and multi-channel developed the first ever implementa- and political analysis. sound. tion of real-time granular synthesis, in 1986. Annea Lockwood Thirst (2008) Jacob Kirkegaard The six-channel electroacoustic Sabulation (2010) composition Thirst counterpoints Featuring the sound of the so-called tension and serenity, oscillating Singing Sands or Booming Dunes in between Grand Central Station, the deserts of Oman. New York, and the Lebanese sculptor, Jacob Kirkegaard (DK) focuses on Simone Fattal recounting her memo- the scientific and aesthetic aspects of ries of the courtyard in her family resonance, time, sound and hearing. home in Damascus. A Serbian song, His installations, compositions and sung by Kristin Norderval, threads performances deal with acoustic through the piece. spaces and phenomena that usually Annea Lockwood (NZ) is known remain imperceptible. for her explorations of the rich world of natural acoustic sounds and envi- Hildegard Westerkamp ronments, in works ranging from Into the Labyrinth (2000) sound art and installations, through A sonic journey into aspects of India’s text-sound and performance art to culture, a labyrinth of multitudinous concert music. sounds and sonic experiences occur-

38 39 LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 27 february LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 27 february ring at the boundary between dream BJ Nilsen (SE) is a sound and and reality. recording artist, who has released Hildegard Westerkamp's (DE/CA) works in various constellations since works focus the ears’ attention on 1990. His works focus on the sound details in the acoustic environment, of nature and its effect on humans, her many compositional works draw field recordings and the perception attention to the act of listening itself of time and space as experienced and to the inner, hidden spaces of the through sound, often electronically environment we inhabit. treated. He has worked for documentary film and television and as a Gilles Aubry sound engineer. Grrounding (2009) Grrounding is a live set based on Yolande Harris sound recordings collected at several Fishing for Sound European airports, an immersion into A sea of spatial connections between the broadband sounds of reactors phenomena underwater, in the 1. and the menacing atmospheres of mind, and from outer-space. The tarmac. performance weaves sounds from Gilles Aubry (CH) uses envi- scientific analysis of marine environ- ronmental recordings, computer ments, sounds used in programming, surround sound tech- psychological treatment for post- nology and improvisation to create traumatic stress disorder, and live performances, sound installations sonified data from satellites orbiting and radio pieces. the Earth. All share in a mass of background noise, sounding in the Éric La Casa contexts of environment, memory Les Pierres du Seuil and information. Listening in these Composed between 1998 and spaces is like fishing for sounds. 3. 2001, Les Pierres du Seuil is a series 2. 4. exclusively based on field record- Ji Youn Kang, Alo Allik, ings. La Casa performs parts 4 and Olivier Messiaen 5: a continuous movement of water WFS programme sounds. Wave Field Synthesis is a specific Éric La Casa (FR) is a sound technique for spatializing sound, artist who has produced a series which only recently became avail- of experimentations with the sonic able to composers. The array of 192 locale. speakers plus 8 subwoofers, built for the Game of Life Foundation, BJ Nilsen provides a platform for composers to Solid Curtain (2009) experiment with spatial sound. This 1. Solid Curtain, 2010, A performance based on the sounds system is installed in the Small Hall BJ Nilsen © of thunder: claps, peals, rolls, in the Paradiso, where compositions 2. Eric La Casa © 3. Gilles Aubry © rumbles and the clicking or cloth- by Ji Youn Kang, Alo Allik, and Olivier 4. Sabulation, 2010, tearing sound of lightning. Messiaen can be heard. Jacob Kirkegaard ©

40 41 LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 28 february LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 28 february 19:30 – 22.30 • Artis Planetarium Beyond Space

An extraordinary programme in a physiological phenomenon called remarkable location: the Beyond otoacoustic emission, in which the Space event in the Planetarium at the ears themselves act as sound gener- Amsterdam Zoo (Artis) includes the ating devices. Amongst her many international premiere of a composi- projects, she had been working for tion by the recently deceased innova- three years on a 40-channel piece at tive composer Maryanne Amacher the time of her passing. in acknowledgement of her lifelong Naut Humon (US) is the founder dedication to her craft; a new audio- of Recombinant Media Labs and was visual work by the Italian multi-talent head of A&R for Asphodel Records. TeZ; Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry During the 1970s he presented a Gelfand explore the potential of laser series of ‘destabilized’ media events and light projections on the Plan- designed to repurpose the visitor’s etarium dome and on soap bubbles, frame of reference. Later activities accompanied by live audio by Fran- emphasized a strong musical founda- 1. cisco López; and the British designer tion with tactile instrumentation and Paul Prudence guides the visitors audio/video technologies that focus through a visual spectacle specially the perceptions of the viewer on the designed for the Planetarium dome. physicalization of form. Edwin van der Heide (NL) works Tribute to Maryanne Amacher as artist and researcher in the field PlayThing of sound, space and interaction. He Introduction by Naut Humon extends the term ‘musical language’ A fifty-minute experiential audio into spatial, interactive and interdisci- 3. archive designed and played live plinary directions. 2. 4. for the ages to come by Maryanne Amacher for Recombinant Media Evelina Domnitch & Dmitry Gelfand Labs. Edwin van der Heide and Naut with Francisco López Humon present an 8-channel, audio 10000 Peacock Feathers only, adaptation of Amacher’s live- in Foaming Acid to-disk composition, in keeping with A white laser scans the surfaces Maryanne Amacher’s approach to of nucleating and dissipating soap sound and space. bubble clusters, generating a large- 1. Maryanne Amacher © The Maryanne Amacher Archive Maryanne Amacher (1938–2009) scale hemispherical projection of 2. Maryanne Amacher working on TEO! was an American composer and molecular interactions and mind- © The Maryanne Amacher Archive installation artist with a unique boggling non-linear optics. López’s 3. RyNTH, 2010, Paul Prudence 4. 10000 Peacock Feathers in approach to sound and space. sound environment creates a satu- Foaming Acid, 2008, Evelina She worked extensively with the rated cross-sensory coalescence with Domnitch & Dmitry Gelfand ©

42 43 LIVE PERFORMANCE & FILM — 28 february Domnitch and Gelfand’s proto-biotic Paul Prudence imagery. Son Lattice and RyNTH Dmitry Gelfand (RU) and Evelina Son Lattice is a real-time audio Domnitch (BY) create sensory responsive work inspired by the exhibition immersion environments that merge concepts of cymatics and Chladni physics, chemistry and computer Plates – both examples of the ‘sonifi- science with uncanny philosophical cation of form’. The dynamic surface practices. They have collaborated texture of RyNTH is generated by with numerous scientific research incoming audio frequencies resulting facilities to create installations in a synesthetic surface tension that exist as ever-transforming and modulation, alluding to the phenomena that take place directly ancient concept of ‘The Music of the in front of the observer without inter- Spheres’. mediation, thereby often serving to Paul Prudence (UK) is a writer, vastly extend the observer’s sensory reseacher and a visual performer who envelope. works with generative/computational Francisco López (ES) has devel- systems, audio responsive visual oped an astonishing sonic universe feedback and processed video. based on a profound listening of the world. His extensive catalogue of sound pieces have been released by more than 200 record labels world- wide.

TeZ Anharmonium An exploration of hidden fluctua- tions, creating a deeply synesthetic immersive experience. Anharmonium combines cymatic and laser techniques with spatialized sound. A mirror vessel, with fluid set into reso- nant motion by a sound transducer, acts as a light reflector and projector for the laser beams. Artist and producer TeZ (Maurizio Martinucci, IT/NL) uses technology as a means to explore synesthesia and the relationship between sound and images. He creates immersive installations and performances.

44 45 EXHIBITION EXHIBITION Netherlands Media Art Institute The Poetics of Space

NIMk houses the main Sonic Acts a variety of environments: a geyser, exhibition comprising spatial audio- a sand dune, a nuclear power plant, visual and interactive installations, an empty room, and even sounds classic video art, light sculptures and from the human inner ear itself. sound works that explore different ways of experiencing space. Ralf Baecker Rechnender Raum (2009) Hans Christian Gilje Rechnender Raum is a light-emitting Blink (2009) geometrical sculpture made of sticks, HC Gilje’s Blink investigates how wires and small pieces of lead that 1. audiovisual techniques and light can is simultaneously a fully functioning 3. transform, enlarge, enhance and neural network. The functioning of interpret physical spaces. the machine is completely trans- HC Gilje (NO) creates installa- parent, but it carries out its computa- tions, live performances and videos. tions only for itself, concealing the He was also a member of the video- results. 4. improv trio 242.pilots. Ralf Baecker (DE) builds kinetic installations and sculptures that Jacob Kirkegaard deconstruct the fundamentals of Labyrinthitis (2007) symbolic processes. Labyrinthitis relies on a principle that when two frequencies of a Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag certain ratio are played into the ear, GAMMAvert #2 an X-seascape additional vibrations generated in (1998–2006) the inner ear, so-called ‘distortion A photograph of a seascape, product otoacoustic emission’ or developed using uranium nitrate, ‘Tartini tone’, will produce a third a substance that emits gamma frequency. waves. The room is flooded with Jacob Kirkegaard’s (DK) work standing waves and a monochrome focuses on the scientific and aesthetic green glow, formed by a single light aspects of resonance, time, sound frequency, an allusion to the famous and hearing. His installations, compo- ‘green ray’ described by Jules Verne: 2. sitions and performances deal with a flash of green light that, on rare 5. acoustic spaces and phenomena that occasions, appears on the ocean 1. The Light that Generates Space, 2009, usually remain imperceptible. Kirkeg- horizon at sunset. Carlo Bernardini © aard uses unorthodox recording Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag (DE) 2. Blink, 2009, HC Gilje © 3. Light Work #6: In Soil, 2009, Yoko Seyama © devices to capture and contextualize has an academic background in 4. SOD, 1999, JoDi hitherto unheard sounds from within instrumental music, fine art, art 5. Rechnender Raum, 2007, Ralph Baecker ©

46 47 EXHIBITION EXHIBITION history (new media), music theory, Nan Hoover Exhibition opening times Filmprogramme at NIMk composition, philosophy and cogni- Impressions (1978, 10’24’’) In the weeks following the Sonic tive science. He has mostly focused A long, narrow streak of light falls During the festival Acts Festival two film nights will be on site-specific installations based on across the screen, a hand plays Opening on Thursday 25 February organized at NIMk, showing films sound and biomass but also specifi- through it. Now the volume of the 17:00–19:00 and videoworks connected to The cally on monochrome gas discharge hand breaks the light, then again 26 February 11:00–20:00 Poetics of Space, both followed by light. the light remains intact. The spot of 27 February 13:00–20:00 a discussion. light becomes an object that can be 28 February 13:00–18:00 Carlo Bernardini lengthened by means of the index 24 March, 20:00 The Light that Generates Space finger.I t is almost as if the finger is After the festival Poetics of Space: A NIMk Selection (2010) drawing a ray of light. Tuesday – Friday 11:00–18:00, An evening with selected works from A sculptural light installation made of Nan Hoover (US 1931–2008) Saturday & first Sunday of each the NIMk-collection relating to The optic fibres that takes over the space started experimenting with video as month from 13:00–18:00 Poetics of Space, from classics to and passes through walls, combining an extension of her painting practice new work by Nan Hoover, Anouk de the external and internal environ- and as a documentary medium in The exhibition will run until Clercq, Bernard Gigounon, Thomas ments in a single mental drawing, 1973. Her videos often explore a 2 May 2010. Mohr and Kurt D’Haeseleer. creating a place where light gener- visual ambiguity between the body ates space. and the landscape, or between 21 April, 20:00 Carlo Bernardini is an Italian abstract and ‘natural’ forms. Terrain 09 artist who makes abstract light instal- Terrain 09 takes you on a journey lations using, among others, optical Steina Vasulka from the extreme visual clutter of fibres and electro-luminescent mate- Somersault (1982, 5’30’’) over-populated cities to the tran- rials. Somersault is an exercise in the quility of rural panoramic plains phenomenology of vision and the and other-worldly imagined spaces. Yoko Seyama redefinition of space. Steina Vasulka An evening in cooperation with Light Work #6: In Soil (2009) uses mechanized devices to generate onedotzero. Light Work #6: In Soil is an installa- an artificial vision that alters the tion inspired by the life of cicadas. viewers’ perceptions and spatial Cicadas are known for their trans- perspectives. parent wings and high pitched Steina Vasulka’s (IS/US) video buzzing, they live underground works are considered landmarks in as nymphs for most of their lives, video art. The pieces often treat the feeding on root juice and using their video signal as a plastic medium, and strong front legs for digging. One rework the space of the video image summer day, the nymphs emerge in ways that alter the viewer’s optical from the soil and climb up a branch perception of the image, confounding to metamorphosize. the ability to distinguish between Yoko Seyama (JP) is a scenogra- two-dimensional and three-dimen- pher and media artist. She concen- sional space. trates on scenography for time-based art and combines digital materials (video/photo) with real materials (fabrics/paper/elastics), processing these into spatial installations.

48 49 EXHIBITION Games Exhibition Paradiso Anarchic Spaces specials

Sonic Acts presents a number of artworks for the World Wide Web in games that play with the conven- the mid-1990s, and soon turned to tional experience of space in the software art and artistic computer Paradiso cellar. Usually the games game modification. They disassemble industry strives for a visually realistic games to their basic parts, and reas- rendering of space, believing that this semble them in ways that do not enhances the realistic game experi- make intuitive sense. ence for the players. A better experience of space is equated with having 25, 26 & 27 February more polygons. Sonic Acts presents 20:00–23:00 games that break radically with this idea.

Jonatan ‘Cactus’ Söderström Cactus Arcade A collection of short and small games, each of which in their own way undermine all the conventions and clichés of computer games. Jonatan ‘Cactus’ Söderström (SW) specializes in developing games of an experimental nature. His use of bizarre plots, new game mechanics or strange graphics guarantees that players will always encounter the unusual and unpredictable.

JoDi Untitled Game / SOD Two classic game hacks. In SOD all the visual elements of the 3D computer game Wolfenstein 3D are replaced by simple graphic black and white lines and surfaces. Untitled Game is a modification ofQuake . JoDi is a collective of Joan Heemskerk (NL) and Dirk Paesmans (BE). They started creating original

50 51 SPECIALS SPECIALS STEIM Jamboree Session STEIM Poetics of Duncan Speakman Sonic Hub Creative Dimensions of Space Space Residency as if it were the last time Sonic Hub offers an opportunity for STEIM kicks off the festival by STEIM has invited two artists, Imagine walking through a film, but people from media arts and culture hosting an expert meeting with Hans W. Koch and Yukata Makino, to it’s happening on streets you know in the Netherlands and beyond to artists’ talks and discussions. Hans work towards a spatial performance well. For this subtlemob you’ll be meet, present, exchange and discuss W. Koch and Yutaka Makino will talk that will be premiered at the festival. invited to download an MP3 and their projects, be it labels, festivals, about their pieces in the festival and arrive at a secret location and press magazines or spaces, in an informal about how they approached the Hans W. Koch play at a specific time. When you setting at de Balie. If you want to theme of sound, space, performance. two rooms, flipped put on the headphones you’ll find participate, please register at The second half of the session will Musician and composer Hans W. yourself immersed in the cinema of [email protected] consist of presentations by invited Koch thoughtfully and delight- everyday life. Sometimes you’ll just artists and researchers whose fully remodels our ordinary tools be drifting and watching, but some- Sunday 28 February works are interdisciplinary and cross and spaces to expose unnoticed times you’ll be following instructions 15:00–18:00, de Balie between music, art and science. A characteristics. He will be working or creating the scenes yourself. This group discussion will follow on the on an installation that connects is no requiem; this a celebratory slow potential and challenges of new areas two seperate spaces within STEIM dance, a chance to savour the world Launch Tubelight Special for creativity that emerge through through an analytical feedback you live in, and to see it with fresh Sonic Hub starts with the presenta- new collaborations. This event is system where each room influence eyes. Download and register via: tion of a Tubelight special devoted to open to the public but reservation the other and sounds are generated www.subtlemob.com digital arts. This special issue is the is required via: [email protected] by found objects within building. Duncan Speakman (UK) exam- result of the Masterclass Kunstkritiek, Additional information can be found ines how we use sound to locate a masterclass for critical writing on on www.steim.org 26, 27 & 28 February ourselves in personal and political digital arts, organized by Virtueel 12:00–17:00, STEIM environments, creating experiences Platform, Tubelight and Domein voor Special pre-event that engage audiences in public Kunstkritiek in 2009/10. This presen- Thursday 25 February spaces. He is develops site-responsive tation will be in Dutch. 12:00–17:00, STEIM Yutaka Makino soundwalks, street games and perva- Conflux sive theatre works. Sunday 28 February Sound artist Yutaka Makino examines 15:00, de Balie with painstaking precision how sound Friday 26 February can uniquely manifest within its given 18:00, secret location boundaries. He will be preparing for a Shop at Sonic Acts! series of intimate performances that During Sonic Acts, WORM.shop will will be held each day in a space that offer an eclectic selection of books, he has defined for his composition. magazines, CDs, DVDs and other media on electronic music, sound 26, 27 & 28 February art, noise, avant-garde, music, film, 18:00 & 19:00, Melkweg Mediaroom sonology, activism, underground culture, DIY, and art & media related to the festival programme. WORM. shop is part of WORM, a Rotterdam- based organization for music, film and old and new media: www.wormshop.nl

52 53 PUBLICATION Sonic Acts XIII in 256 pages printed in B&W and colour practical The interviews, essays and the image material in the publication Sonic Acts XIII, The Poetics of Space provide insight into the various approaches to spatiality by artists, composers, information filmmakers and theorists. Brandon LaBelle wrote a reflective and reflexive text on the voice and space: ‘Voice Over’. Douglas Kahn’s essay ‘Long Sounds’ discusses extremely long sound waves, volcanic eruptions and Alvin Lucier. Erkki Huhtamo traces the fascinating history of dioramas in ‘The Diorama Revisited’. The legendary Vortex Concerts are the subject of both Cindy Keefer’s precise reconstruction as well as an essay by Trace Reddell. Eric Kluitenberg describes how mobile and location-aware technology profoundly changes the use of social and public space. Mitchell Whitelaw contributed a text about the work of HC Gilje; the Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa about architecture and the senses; and Barry Truax about soundscape composition. Interviews with TeZ, Raviv Ganchrow, Edwin van der Heide, Daan Roosegaarde, Sonia Cillari, Marc Maurer, Taku Mizuta Lippit and Maryanne Amacher shed light on how contemporary artists approach space and spatiality. The book is richly illustrated and contains a number of autonomous image contributions as well as some historical material.

Sonic Acts XIII – The Poetics of Space Spatial Explorations in Art, Science, Music & Technology Edited by Arie Altena & Sonic Acts Design by Femke Herregraven Published by Sonic Acts Press, Paradiso 2010 256 pp., y 12,50, English text, illustrated

The book is for sale during the festival, and will subsequently be available through www.sonicacts.com

54 55 PRACTICAL INFORMATIOn PRACTICAL INFORMATIOn Presale & Tickets DISCO 3000 Sonic Acts STEIM Jamboree Session Public Transporation Out in Space Special Night 25 February from 10:00–17:00 Conference & Festival with Anthony Shakir, I-F, Admission free, registration For de Balie, Paradiso and Melkweg Passepartout and Theo Parrish obligatory via [email protected] take trams 1, 2, 5, 7 & 10 € 50 / € 45 concession Friday 26 February at 23:30 to Leidseplein. Available via www.debalie.nl at Paradiso / € 15,00 two rooms, flipped and at the box-office of de Balie 26, 27 & 28 February between For NIMk take trams 13, 14 & 17 Acoustic Spaces 12:00–17:00 at STEIM or bus 170, 171 and 172 to Festival Passepartout with Gilles Aubry, Eric La Casa, Admission: free Westermarkt. (excluding conference) BJ Nilsen, Barry Truax, Annea € 35 / € 30 concession Lockwood, Hildegard Westerkamp Conflux For STEIM take tram 4, 6, 7 & 10 Available from post offices, and Jacob Kirkegaard 26, 27 & 28 February at 18:00 to Frederiksplein. www.ticketservice.nl, Free Record Saturday 27 February at 20:00 & 19:00 at Melkweg Mediaroom Shops, GWK-station offices, (doors open 19:30) at Paradiso Admission: free For Artis Planetarium take VVV and regular Paradiso presale € 15,00 / € 12,50 concession tram 9 & 14 to Plantage Kerklaan, addresses, see www.paradiso.nl (including Paradiso membership) as if it were the last time or tram 10 to Alexanderplein Friday 26 February & walk 5 minutes. Day Ticket Beyond Space at 18:00, secret location (valid for conference with a Tribute to Maryanne Amacher Admission: free, registration & evening programme) by Naut Humon, TeZ, Paul Prudence, necessary via www.subtlemob.com 26, 27 or 28 February Evelina Domnitch & Dmitry Gelfand € 20 / € 15 concession & Francisco López Exhibition & Filmprogramme No presale – only available at the Sunday 28 February at 19:30 at NIMk box-office of de Balie on each (doors open 19:00) at Artis Admission € 4,50 / € 2,50 specific day. Subject to availability. Planetarium (concession) but free of charge € 15,00 / € 12,50 concession with any festival ticket for the Evening Tickets: Venue: Artis Planetarium (main entire exhibition period. Deep Spaces entrance Artis, Plantage Kerklaan with Jürgen Reble & Thomas Köner 38–40, 1018 CZ Amsterdam) Reduced Admission Haswell & Hecker and Monolake, Available for students, CJP and 65+. Keith Rowe & Streifenjunko. Evening tickets are available via post Groene Amsterdammer readers’ Thursday 25 February at 20:00 offices,www.ticketservice.nl , Free voucher for Acoustic Spaces for (doors open 19:30) at Paradiso Record Shops, GWK-station offices, € 10,00 and NRC readers’ voucher € 15,00 / € 12,50 concession VVV and regular Paradiso presale for Beyond Space for € 10,00. (including Paradiso membership) addresses, see www.partadiso.nl All reduced admissions only available at the box-offices of the venues. Expanded Space with Bruce McClure, Optical For additional information Machines, Greg Pope, Paul Sharits about the programme, updates and Anthony McCall and amendments please visit: Friday 26 February at 20:00 www.sonicacts.com (doors open 19:30) at Paradiso € 15,00 / € 12,50 concession (including Paradiso membership)

56 57 brouwersgrachtprins hendrik kade de ruijterkade

PRACTICAL INFORMATIOn PRACTICAL INFORMATIOn

amsterdam Thursday 25 February 2010 CS central station piet heinkade 10:00 nassaukade lijnbaansgracht 10:00–17:00 11:00 Jamboree marnixstraat nieuwezijds voorburgwal prins hendrik kade raadhuisstraat damrak Session 12:00 rozengracht nieuwmarkt 13:00

14:00 singel nassaukade 3 rokin

prinsengracht

herengracht keizersgracht plant. middellaan6 15:00 amstel

weesperstraat waterlooplein 16:00

5 leidsestraat herengracht 17:00 leidse 17:00–19:00 • opening exhibition plein keizersgracht 2 18:00 17:30–18:00 • opening performance Brandon LaBelle HC Gilje, Jacob Kirkegaard, Ralf Baecker, 1 weesper- Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, Carlo Bernardini, plein vijzelstraat prinsengracht 4 19:00 Yoko Seyama, Nan Hoover, Steina Vasulka nieuwe spiegelstraat mauritskade weteringschans sarphatisstraat 20:00 20:00–01:00 • Deep Spaces 20:00–23:00 20:00–23:00 museumplein stadshouderskade 21:00 Monolake & Tarik Barri, Jürgen Reble & Thomas Köner, Line Describing Anarchic Haswell & Hecker, Keith Rowe, Kjell Bjørgeengen, a Cone Spaces 1 Paradiso 4 STEIM 22:00 Fred Worden, Makino Takashi Anthony McCall JoDi and Weteringschans 6-8 Utrechtsedwarsstraat 134 Jonatan ‘Cactus’ 1017 SG Amsterdam 1017 WK Amsterdam 23:00 Söderström www.paradiso.nl www.steim.org tel. 020 6264521 tel. 020 6228690 00:00

2 de Balie 5 Melkweg 01:00 Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10 Lijnbaansgracht 234A 1017 RR Amsterdam 1017 PH Amsterdam www.balie.nl www.melkweg.nl tel. 020 5535151 tel. 020 5318181 Paradiso Paradiso Small Hall 3 Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst 6 Artis Planetarium de Balie Keizersgracht 264 Plantage Kerklaan 38–40 STEIM 1016 EV Amsterdam 1018 CZ Amsterdam NIMk www.nimk.nl www.artis.nl Melkweg Mediaroom tel. 020 6237101 tel. 020 5233400 Artis Planetarium

58 59 PRACTICAL INFORMATIOn PRACTICAL INFORMATIOn Friday 26 February 2010 Saturday 27 February 2010

10:00 10:00 10:00–10:40 • keynote Derrick de Kerckhove 10:00–11:00 • lecture Barry Truax 11:00 11:00 10:40–12:00 • session 1 Architectures of Sound 11:00–20:00 Daniel Teruggi and Raviv Ganchrow 11:00–12:00 • lecture & screening Fred Worden 12:00 exhibition 12:00 HC Gilje, Jacob 12:00–17:00 12:00–17:00 13:00 Kirkegaard, Ralf two rooms, 13:00 two rooms, 13:00–14:00 • session 2 Exercises in Immersion Baecker, Jan-Peter flipped 13:00–14:30 • session 5 Soundwalks, Acoustic 13:00–20:00 flipped Naut Humon and Christopher Salter 14:00 E.R. Sonntag, Carlo Hans W. Koch 14:00 Spaces and Field Recordings Hildegard Westerkamp, exhibition Hans W. Koch Annea Lockwood, Edward Shanken & Yolande Harris 14:00–15:30 • session 3 Utopian Spectacles Bernardini, Yoko HC Gilje, Jacob 15:00 Branden W. Joseph, Trace Reddell and Robert Whitman Seyama, Nan Hoover 15:00 14:30–15:30 • session 6 Invisible Architectures Kirkegaard, Ralf and Steina Vasulka Marcos Novak and Dirk Hebel & Jörg Stollmann Baecker, Jan-Peter 16:00 16:00 E.R. Sonntag, Carlo Bernardini, Yoko 17:00 16:15–18:00 • session 4 The Poetics of Hybrid Space 17:00 16:15–18:00 • session 7 The Hot Space in Music Seyama, Nan Hoover Eric Kluitenberg, Lancel & Maat, Duncan Speakman, Steven Connor, Yutaka Makino, Hans W. Koch and and Steina Vasulka 18:00 Peter Westenberg and Elizabeth Sikiaridi 18:00 Takuro Mizuta Lippit 18:00–18:45 • as if it were the last time 18:00&19:00 • Conflux 18:00&19:00 • Conflux 19:00 Duncan Speakman, secret location Yutaka Makino 19:00 Yutaka Makino

20:00 20:00 20:00–00:00 • Expanded Space 20:00–23:00 20:00–23:00 20:00–00:00 • Acoustic Spaces 20:00–23:00 20:00–23:00 21:00 Bruce McClure, Greg Pope & Gert-Jan Prins, Optical Light Music Anarchic 21:00 Annea Lockwood, Barry Truax, Jacob Kirkegaard, Wavefield Anarchic Machines, Paul Sharits, László Moholy-Nagy, Takashi Ito, Lis Rhodes Spaces Hildegard Westerkamp, Gilles Aubry, BJ Nilsen, Synthesis Spaces 22:00 Yann Beauvais, Gill Eatherley and Daïchi Saïto JoDi and 22:00 Éric La Casa and Yolande Harris Ji Youn Kang, Alo JoDi and Jonatan ‘Cactus’ Allik and Olivier Jonatan ‘Cactus’ 23:00 Söderström 23:00 Messiaen Söderström

00:00 00:00 00:00–05:00 • DISCO 3000 01:00 Sonic Acts Out in Space Special

02:00

03:00 Paradiso Paradiso Small Hall 04:00 de Balie STEIM 05:00 NIMk Melkweg Mediaroom Artis Planetarium

60 61 PRACTICAL INFORMATIOn COLOPHON Sunday 28 February 2010 Sonic Acts is curated, compiled and produced by 10:00 Arie Altena, Nicky Assmann, 10:00–10:40 • keynote Michael J. Morgan Martijn van Boven, Gideon Kiers, 11:00 Lucas van der Velden and 10:40–12:00 • session 8 Spatial Perception Annette Wolfsberger 12:00 Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, HC Gilje and Jacob Kirkegaard 12:00–17:00 Technical Production by 13:00 two rooms, Erwin van’t Hart, Gerard Koot, 13:00–15:00 • session 9 Gardeners of the Future 13:00–18:00 flipped and Hans Lentz 14:00 Roger Malina, Paul Prudence and Philip Beesley exhibition Hans W. Koch and closing session HC Gilje, Jacob Graphic Design by 15:00 Kirkegaard, Ralf Femke Herregraven 15:00–15:30 Launch Tubelight 15:00–18:00 Baecker, Jan-Peter 16:00 Sonic Hub E.R. Sonntag, Carlo Special support by Bernardini, Yoko Bow Evers, Matthew Jarvis, 17:00 Seyama, Nan Hoover Mark Poysden and and Steina Vasulka Hans van Rompaey 18:00 18:00&19:00 • Conflux Thank you 19:00 Yutaka Makino A big thank you to the amazing crews of the venues and our 20:00 19:30–22:30 • Beyond Space fabulous volunteers! Tribute to Maryanne Amacher, Evelina Domnitch 21:00 & Dmitry Gelfand with Francisco López, TeZ and Sonic Acts is produced Paul Prudence in association with 22:00 Paradiso, De Balie, Netherlands Media Art Institute (NIMk) & STEIM 23:00 Sonic Acts is supported by

Paradiso Paradiso Small Hall de Balie STEIM NIMk Mediapartners Melkweg Mediaroom Artis Planetarium

62 63 www.sonicacts.com