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