Reviews [Editor’s note: Selected reviews are the formal and primarily academic names, this year including acts like posted on the Web at mitpress2.mit branch of electronic music that is fo- De La Soul, Ellen Allien, Jamie .edu/e-journals/Computer-Music- cused on extending musical capabili- Lidell, Laurent Garnier, Miss Kittin, Journal/Documents/reviews/index ties through technology.”), but Sónar and the Chemical Brothers. These .html. In some cases, they are either embraces both. The theme this year events have been amply reviewed by unpublished in the Journal itself or was a “return to the physical in the the international press, and I leave published in an abbreviated form in expression of live music.” The undis- commentaries to those specialists the Journal.] puted “soloists” of earlier Sónars, and aficionados (one link to a more portable computers, have been re- mainstream review of the festival can placed by guitars, drums, pianos, and be found at www.soundgenerator voices. With 300 activities including .com/burner/reviews_live.cfm? Events DJ sets, live sets, visual and multime- reviewid=1077). dia art, conferences and discussion Sónar by Day provides spaces for forums, a record fair, an editorial fair, the experimental films, multimedia merchandising and hardware exposi- installations, and exhibits that define Sónar 2005: Advanced Music and tions, live broadcasts, and archives at Sónar’s artistic identity and that will Multimedia Art individual viewing stations, the festi- be the focus of this review. I begin val’s programs embrace the multi- with SonarMàtica, where one finds Barcelona, Spain, 16–18 June 2005. tude of styles and media in electronic installations and contemporary art music today. And that is another comparable to Germany’s docu- Reviewed by Joyce Shintani reason it is difficult to write about menta, New York’s Guggenheim or Stuttgart, Germany Sónar. Under a sensorial attack of Los Angeles’s MoCA (Museum of Las Vegas–like intensity, at some Contemporary Art); or, as one visitor In the gamut of European multimedia point the visitor longs for, or is of- put it, “similar to the Tate Modern, festivals, from Ars Electronica in Linz, fered, sense-numbing substances, but more cutting edge.” In their fine Austria to Transmediale in Berlin, placing high demands on the most exhibit “Randonée (A Walk Through Germany, Barcelona’s Sónar is the scrupulous professional discipline. Landscaping in the 21st Century),” most resolutely dedicated to music The festival is divided into two curators Óscar Abril Ascaso, José and is also the largest. In 2005, the parts, each with its principal venues: Luis de Vicente, Andy Davies, and 12th annual International Festival of Sónar by Day takes place largely in Advanced Music made out a return of Advanced Music and Multimedia the CCCB/MACBA complex (Bar- abstraction to the forefront of con- Art took place on 16–18 June and celona Center for Contemporary Cul- temporary creation after years of pop welcomed 90,000 visitors from 40 ture and Museum of Contemporary art. Based on this view, they sought countries and some 800 accredited Art) and in the Santa Monica Art to analyze “the extent to which land- journalists. The difficulty of writing Center, and Sónar by Night takes scape art is currently surviving in about the three-day marathon of sun, place at the vast convention center, new media.” The exhibits were wide- electronic music, and (chemically in- Fira Gran Via, on a hilltop above ranging, with entries lacking only duced) good vibes that is Sónar is no- town. Sónar’s secret to success lies in from African and Middle Eastern torious, and one of the reasons is the combining mainstream electronic/ countries. Considering Spain’s vicin- sheer abundance and crossover diver- hip-hop acts of mass audience appeal ity to the African littoral, selections sity that Sónar presents. with experimental underground elec- from these geographical areas, with From its inception in 1994, Sónar tronica and electronic art music. The which a dialogue is so desperately has provided a space for artists, pro- well-organized festival thus attracts needed, would be an appropriate fessionals, and the public to meet and crowds as well as cognoscenti, who complement in future. Many of the exchange points of view. Wikipedia all mingle at the sun-drenched festi- installations have won prizes at other makes a distinction between “elec- val and enjoy a wide variety of Bar- festivals, for example Thomas tronic music” and “electronic art celona’s other attractions: endless Köner’s “Suburbs of the Void” (re- music” (“Electronic music is a loose tapas bars, beaches, and a consider- ported in a review of the Transmedi- term for music created using elec- able off program, all at reasonable ale Festival, Berlin, in Computer tronic equipment.” “Electronic ‘art’ prices. Music Journal 29[4]). Three works music is a regrettably vague term for Sónar by Night is the venue for big particularly caught my attention for Events 83 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2006.30.1.83 by guest on 26 September 2021 their artistic density and the close re- falls into the category of software art. In another session, Chronopolis, by lationship between audio and visual The viewer points to a URL on a Polish artist Piotr Kampler with mu- elements. wall-projected computer screen and sic by Luc Ferrari, was shown, a con- In her award-winning film Aspect presses Enter. In real time, Tree ac- crete experiment screened at the (2004), Emily Richardson undertakes cesses the source code of the Web site Cannes Festival in 1982. Many of the a quick-motion filming of a forest and transforms its syntactic structure sessions offered electronic music over a year. Films of this type are fa- into the image of a tree with trunk, clips or works by video jockeys in a miliar; the technique is often used in branches, and ramifications in subtly wide variety of styles and quality. A nature films or to depict completion shaded geometric forms. At the same final highlight, Pimp My Bite, was a at construction sites. Unusual in Ms. time, simple MIDI data is generated compilation of works produced using Richardson’s film is her successful (producing, at Sónar, crystalline tones digital video, 3-D animation, Flash, accommodation of visuals to Bene- based on high/low frequencies with and machinima (films shot in the vir- dict Drew’s soundtrack of organic short/long durations), providing a tual reality of a game engine) from sounds. She closely interweaves im- slightly whimsical accompaniment the Hamburg Bitfilm Festival (www ages and sound with quiet sensitivity, that is a good correspondence to the .bitfilm-festival.org). Many of the and the resulting work is captivating simple geometric shapes. It is a fun films were unmitigated social criti- with its simple natural beauty and application that gives a satisfying cism, but the short Kunstbar (2002) poetic soundscape. aesthetic result; you can try it your- by The Petrie Lounge provided first- An extreme contrast to Ms. Rich- self online (www.texone.org/tree; class comic relief. In this imaginative ardson’s view of nature is Yi Zhou’s this Web-based version lacks the spoof on high art made in primitive OneOfTheseDays (2004), a 3-D ani- MIDI output). South Park style, different drinks are mation reconstructing the film- Also at the CCCB complex was served at the Art Bar, producing vary- maker’s dream about a civil war in an SónarCinema, an extensive collec- ing results: the Van Gogh cocktail undefined futuristic city—equally tion of experimental cinema and causes an ear to drop off, the Hierony- poetic, but chilling (her Web site is video clips. Ten viewing sessions, mus Bosch drink is real torture, and found at www.yi-yo.net). Inspired by each lasting approximately an hour, so on (this film can be viewed online the construction and demolition tak- showcased works featuring historical at www.whitehouseanimationinc ing place in her native Shanghai, the as well as current formats of audio- .com/kunstbar.htm). work is a stylized representation of visual creation providing persuasive From the CCCB complex it is a 15- destruction that has similarities with “testimony to the ever increasing min stroll down the bustling Ramblas, the gun fight in Matrix (chapter 29, common ground between the image Barcelona’s central walking boulevard, “Freeze!”). Both are held in shades of and advanced music.” to the Santa Monica Center. There, gray and depict cool, anonymous fu- The first highlight was a selection downstairs in the dark, cool base- turistic architecture. Both utilize of short films produced by the ment, diverse projects and live soft- slow motion and a breath-taking de- Groupe de Recherches des Images ware acts from around the world were ployment of scattering fragments (GRI), a collaboration of musicians presented, including a bizarre per- from destroyed buildings. But where and filmmakers in the 1960s under forming robot (www.myrobotfriend the Matrix scene is short and embed- the auspices of Pierre Schaeffer and .com). Upstairs, in the exhibit space, ded in action, Yi-Zhou’s vision of de- the Groupe de Recherches Musicales the installation “Messa di voce” by struction is longer and cooler, and, (GRM), that explored new television Golan Levin and Zach Liebermann being removed from narrative, is re- forms. Most of the 700 shorts were with Jaap Blonk and Joan La Barbara duced to its aesthetic elements. The never broadcast and “ended up in the was particularly eye-catching (www floating, ethereal soundscape under- state archive because they were con- .tmema.org/messa). It is an audio- lines the work’s dream quality, elicit- ceptually too radical.” These unique visual system consisting of viewer ing cold shivers of awe.