SOUNDBOXES WORKSHOP with DEREK HOLZER @ NK PROJEKT (BERLIN)

Saturday May 11 2013, 14:00-18:00
Sunday May 12 2013, 14:00-18:00

Discover the hidden sonic qualities of objects from our everyday world in this one day workshop, combining the arts of electronics, noise, sculpture and collage. The basic elements of this workshop are a wooden box, a speaker, a small audio amplifier, and a contact microphone. To this, brave box-builders will add their own found objects, graphics, images, memories and ideas to create a unique electroacoustic cabinet of curiosities.

No previous electronics experience is necessary for this workshop. Each participant is required to bring several items to the workshop, please see below.

WHAT TO BRING:

I will provide most of the tools and materials necessary for constructing the box, however there are a few things you should bring yourself:

1) A BOX: This should be made of thin wood or very strong cardboard. Plastic can be also used, but it doesn’t sound very good. And please, no metal! It is too difficult to cut and drill with the tools we will have. This box should be a minimum of 10x10x4cm, or bigger if you want to use a larger speaker or have more room to decorate and add objects. Cigar boxes, small suitcases, instrument cases or jewelry/silverware boxes are all good things to look for. At least one side of the box should be no more than 5mm thick, to allow the hardware to be mounted.

2) A SPEAKER (OPTIONAL): I will have a selection of speakers for participants to use. However, if you have something special please bring it along, but please make sure it fits in the box you have chosen!

3) FOUND OBJECTS: Please bring as many found objects as you can to decorate your soundbox or use as a sound source via the contact microphone. Bones, shells, small sticks, bells, strings, wires, springs (especially!) or anything else made out of solid yet resonant material make great sound sources. Photographs, cloth, leather, paper or any other kind of material can be useful for covering the box and making collages. Paint, markers and pens may also be useful.

FURTHER INFO:

You can see videos and photos from previous SoundBoxes workshops here:

http://macumbista.net/?page_id=1897

You can see all posts related to SoundBoxes, including ones I have made for sale recently, here:

http://macumbista.net/?tag=soundboxes

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Derek Holzer (1972) is an American sound artist based in Berlin, whose current interests include DIY analog electronics, sound art, field recording and the meeting points of electroacoustic, noise, improv and extreme music. He has played live experimental sound, as well as taught workshops in noise art technology, across Europe, North America, Brazil and New Zealand.

http://macumbista.net/

BASIC INFO:

Fee: EUR 30 (participation) + EUR 10 (materials)

Registration is required and can be done by sending an email to info@nkprojekt.de with the subject line “SoundBoxes”. This is a one day workshop, please indicate which day (SAT or SUN) you would like to attend when making your reservation.

Number of Participants: Minimum 6/Maximum 12

LOCATION:

NK Projekt
Elsenstr. 52 2HH 2Etage
12059 Berlin
+49(0)17620626386

[Image: block diagram of the Triadex Muse, from “Musical Applications of Microprocessors”, 2nd Edition, Hal Chamberlin (1987)]

The deadline for applications for the next Migrating Art Academies titled “Aesthetic – Responsibility – Drones” (2-7 May 2013, Berlin) is still a couple weeks away. We will select a few European participants to be sponsored with travel, accommodation and per diem.

Find info on MIGAA here: http://www.migaa.eu/aesthetic-responsibility-drones/

Info on my electronics workshop follows.

Autonomous Sonic Agents Workshop with Derek Holzer

In sonic terms, a “drone” can be considered an ongoing process which acts of its own accord. While this is commonly thought of as a steady tone or chord, much of my own work involves the creation of more complex, autonomous agents responsible for various parts of an audio composition. In this workshop, we will investigate different methods, involving loudspeakers, feedback and simple 9-Volt electronics, for creating such generative, self-playing sound systems. Each participant will construct their own primitive noise synthesizer, which they will present on the final day of the workshop. Please bring some type of wooden (preferred–cigar boxes are perfect!) or plastic enclosure to hold your circuit as well as any kind of speaker you can salvage from toys, radios, portable stereos or hi-fi systems.

Info/inspiration:

http://macumbista.net/?page_id=497
http://macumbista.net/?page_id=1187
http://macumbista.net/?page_id=1897

Experimental Sound Instruments Workshop, TAIK MediaLab Helsinki from macumbista on Vimeo.

Students from my Experimental Sound Instruments workshop demonstrate their hand-made projects on the final day. Their instruments involved a variety of technologies, including Arduinos, solenoids, motors, transducers, pickups and amplifiers which I presented over the week. This workshop, which I give at the school annually, ran from 04-08 February 2013 at the TAIK MediaLab in Helsinki, Finland. The students presenting were Johanna Storm, Ari-Pekka Leinonen, Scott McGregor, Saku Kamarainen, Ana Gutierrez, Thomas Svedstrom and Rajeev Siewnath.

My next MLab workshop should be in Oct/Nov.

[Image: Triadex Muse block diagram]

I will be giving a 2-3 day, hands-on workshop on building semi-autonomous, autopoetic sound circuits (likely based on simple CMOS/shift-register constructions) as part of the upcoming Migrating Art Academies event at the Weissensee Art Academy Berlin.

The theme of this event, curated by my friend Mindaugas Gapsevicius among others, is Aesthetic – Responsibility – Drones, and it will take place 2-7th of May 2013, at the Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Weissensee Art Academy Berlin. The public events are free, however participants will be selected from an open call. Invited participants will be granted travel/accommodation costs.

Students and artists from the Nordic/Baltic region are especially encouraged to apply… (you know who you are!). The registration form is here, and the deadline is March 31st.

This morning I sat in the Marfa Public Radio studio with Rachel Lindley and talked about my Learning to Listen workshop. Rachel was fantastic, she really has The Voice and from the one-paragraph press release, she asked the most intelligent questions that just about any journalist has ever asked me. I really feel like this interview gives a comprehensive overview of how I present the concept of the soundscape in a workshop situation.

You can listen to the whole interview (approx 30 min) at:

http://marfapublicradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/130107-Derek-Holzer-LONG.mp3

The workshop itself at the Marfa Book Company went extremely well, with at least 25 folks both nights. In the usual style, I played several field recordings from various corners of the globe, and together we figured out what kind of of information–both subjective and objective–we can learn from a recorded or composed soundscape. Thanks especially to Tim Johnson for hosting this experience.

I will play a set for modular synthesizer, locally found objects and SoundBox, at the Michael Strogoff gallery, 124 E. El Paso St, Marfa, Texas at 8PM on Wednesday 09 Jan. Y’alls are welcome!

Now Playing

kevin drumm–relief[2012 emego]
mika vainio, kevin drumm, axel dorner, lucio capece–venexia[2012 pan]
tim hecker & daniel lopatin–instrumental tourist[2012 sstudios]

LEARNING TO LISTEN: an Artist Talk and Workshop with Derek Holzer
Jan 06-07 2013, Marfa Book Company, 105 South Highland, Marfa, Texas 6PM-8:30PM
Jan 09 2013, Michael Strogoff, 124 E. El Paso St, Marfa, Texas 8PM

http://www.facebook.com/events/482451101793088
http://www.facebook.com/events/531958506823249
http://www.facebook.com/events/520745507958609

I do what I do because I never learned to play the guitar. Starting with an interest in field recording and environmental sound, I soon moved to teaching myself to build first digital and then analog non-traditional sound instruments as a way out of the problems of “virtuosity” in music. A great deal of my work involves simply listening, whether to natural or electronically generated soundscapes, searching for that beautiful chaos of birds, hailstorms or cicadas that produce the kinds of dense, arrhythmic textures that I enjoy the most.

As my work is so much about learning to listen, this two day artist-talk and workshop will focus on the art of listening. I’ll start by introducing my history, my practice and the instruments I create. We’ll continue by listening to several field recordings by myself (and possibly others), using these as a springboard to talk about listening from the perspectives of both science (physics, acoustics, psychoacoustics, psychology, etc) and culture (musicology, anthropology, architecture, urban planning, film studies, etc).

There will be opportunities on the second day for workshop participants to play and discuss their own soundscapes, and we will work towards a definition of what “soundscape” actually means. The workshop concludes with an introduction to some of the tools I use to both record natural soundscapes and create my own electronic soundscapes.

This workshop is open to the public and participation is by a donation of your choice. Please bring your own paper and a writing/drawing tool as these will be very important during the workshop!

I will also make an approx 40 minute live performance on Weds, 09 January at 8:00PM in the Michael Strogoff art space, 124 E. El Paso St. The performance is also free or by donation.

DAY ONE – Sunday 06 January 2013 18:00-20:30
Marfa Book Company, 105 South Highland, Marfa, Texas

–Introduction to Holzer’s work: field recordings, digital instruments, analog instruments
–Introduction to Soundscapes: R. Murray Schafer, Pauline Oliveros, Chris Watson, CRESSON, John Cage and others
–Listening Exercises I: field recordings from around the world by Holzer and others

DAY TWO – Monday 07 January 2013 18:00-20:30
Marfa Book Company, 105 South Highland, Marfa, Texas

–Continuing Soundscapes: working towards a definition of the soundscape, the difference between soundscape and “music”
–Listening Exercises II: soundscapes from around the world by Holzer, others and participants
–Tools of the Electronic Soundscape: field recorders, microphones, software, synthesizers, effects

DAY THREE – Wednesday 09 January 2013 20:00
Michael Strogoff, 124 E. El Paso St, Marfa, Texas

–Live sound performance for found objects, SoundBox and analog modular synthesizer

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Derek Holzer (1972) is an American sound artist based in Berlin, Germany, whose current interests include DIY analog electronics, sound art, field recording and the meeting points of electroacoustic, noise, improv and extreme music. He has played live experimental sound, as well as taught workshops in noise art technology, across Europe, North America, Brazil and New Zealand.

http://macumbista.net

I will be the general assistant for this upcoming hacklab/workshop scenario at CTM.13 in Berlin. It’s a very interesting bunch of characters involved, and the application process just started. So send some shit in!

MusicMakers Hacklab @ CTM.13 – “Indeterminism Machines”
Submission Deadline: 11.1.2013
Hacklab Runs: 29.1 – 1.2.2013

We don’t want to just talk about the future: we want to invent our own Golden Age. The MusicMakers Hacklab at CTM.13 will be an open, collaborative environment in which participants can learn about new technologies and get their hands on making their own musical inventions. It’s a space in which people can build a rapid prototype of anything they imagine, creating new ideas around music making and creation, from composition to performance and DJing.

We’re inviting people across media to encourage collaboration: musicians, developers, artists, designers, people working in skills like sound and music, but also code, fashion, visuals, and industrial design and craft.

Throughout the week, we’ll welcome artist and developer presentations from Keith Fullerton Whitman, Imogen Heap, Lucas Abela, Tim Exile, Ali Demirel, Native Instruments, Ableton, and others to be announced. Participants will share hands-on skill sessions on topics like physical computing and custom controllers, wearable technology and fashion, live visuals, Pure Data/libpd, Max for Live, Reaktor, OpenSoundControl, Quartz Composer, Processing, and more.

PARTICIPANT INFO

Selected participants who have proposed a project idea will be named official Hacklab Fellows and be provided with:

* A free CTM Festival Pass;
* Highlighted profile on CTM and createdigitalmusic.com websites;
* The chance to show your finished work at the live showcase at Berghain Kantine on 1 Feb, as part of the CTM.13 program.

In that spirit of sharing and community, the Hacklab will be open to walk-ins from both hackers and the general public.

HOW TO APPLY

To be part of the Hacklab Fellows program, please submit:

* A 150-word description of the project you’d like to execute;
* A 100-word bio;
* If you’d like, send us any images, sketches, videos, or websites you’d like to help us promote your participation and see what’s inside your head. (optional)

Remember that you can include an idea about collaboration in your proposal – some Hacklab participants might want to join in your project.

Send your submission (and any questions/comments) to: musicmakers(at)ctm-festival.de by 11.1.2013.

Presented with createdigitalmusic.com in collaboration with SemiDomesticated and CTM
Curated by Peter Kirn
General Assistant: Derek Holzer

Direct link: http://www.ctm-festival.de/news/current-news/news/article//call-for-works-sign-up-for-the-musicmakers-hacklab-ctm13.html

Machine Deva Sound Track by macumbista

Original soundtrack by Derek Holzer for the short film “Machine Deva”, by Steve Holzer (19min, 2012, TX, USA). A very abstract love story created directly on 16mm film, using familiar and not-so-familiar direct manipulation. Hand color and intervention on found footage with unusual transfer techniques put the visual experience somewhere between cave paintings and a hand-held video of a dream world.

Tracklist

1.0: brief introductions/those who cannot remember [6:06]
2.0: first mutation [4:34]
2.1: the lecture(“étant donnés”) [1:51]
2.2: take the elevator [1:04]
3.0: second mutation/the dance [4:43]

Recorded April 15-May 15 2012, RSS-82 Berlin.

Derek Holzer: analog synthesizer, electronics, pure data, organ, percussion
Steve Holzer: synthesizer(1.0), guitar(2.1)

I will have CDRs of this soundtrack and DVDRs of the film itself available in late November, and I will try to organize a screening in Berlin to coincide with this. Please note that the film itself will not appear online, due to the detailed nature of the film manipulations which lose much of their impact through compression. Unless you are lucky enough to visit a screening organized by myself or Steve, the DVDR will be the next best thing. Please contact me if interested.

TONEWHEELS France Photos

Photos from Pau performance by Alvaro Ayuso

Photos from Pau performance by Nicolas Godin

Photos from Pau performance by Sandrine Ferrer

Photos from Marseille performance by Pierre Gondard

On the Road Again…

22-26 Oct: Neanderthal Electronics Workshop, Det Jyske Kunstakademi, Aarhus DK
26 Oct: Macumbista live set, SPLAB, Aarhus, DK
29 Oct – 02 Nov: Neanderthal Electronics Workshop, Nordic Sound Art, Copenhagen DK
02 Nov: Macumbista’s 40))) birthday whiskey-sipping session, hosted by Mads Bech Paluszewski-Hau, Copenhagen DK. RSVP for info.
05-09 Nov: Neanderthal Electronics Workshop, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki FI

The Rainforest project at the LAK Festival for Nordic Sound Art in Copenhagen was a complete success on many levels. The organizational team was fantastic, even without considering that this was their first ever event. While they planned for a modest 100 visitors for each day of the event, the total number turned out to be about 1500 in total. The Rainforest concert opened the festival, and continued as a live installation each day. Many thanks to Rainforest co-organizer (and true soul buddy) Mads Bech Paluszewski-Hau as well as participants Anders Børup, James Brewster, Ejvind Juul Chang and Kristian Hverring for their energy and dedication, as well as to curators Jonas Olesen and Sandra Boss as well as the whole LAK team for a great weekend.

Photos by Hanne Budtz, My Lambertsen and Antonin Matejovsky. Full LAK photoset here

SNYKradio indslag om LAK festival og Regnskov 2012 by janstricker

Practice your Danish! SNYKradio interview with myself and Mads Bech Paluzewski-Hau at the LAK festival 2012 by Jan Stricker. Don’t worry, plenty of parts in English too…

Rainforest 2012 // Regnskov 2012 – LAK festival for nordisk lydkunst by My Lambertsen on YouTube.

Now Playing

swans–the seer[2012 young god]
various artists–oh, run into me, but don’t hurt me!: female blues singers rarities 1923-1930[2008 sub rosa]

Mads Bech Paulszewski-Hau and I will be running the “Rainforest” series of workshops at two events in Denmark next month: the LAK Festival in Copenhagen (6-9 September 2012) and the BY i BY Festival in Aarhus (14-16 September 2012). There are still spaces in both workshops, particularly the Aarhus one (which will be outdoors!), so please get in touch if you are interested at MACUMBISTA at the domain GMAIL dot COM.

Regsnkov 2012 is a contemporary re-interpretation of David Tudor’s series of compositions from the 1970′s entitled Rainforest. It uses various types of sonic transducers to play live sounds through a selection of resonant, found-metal objects in the performance space. A matrix mixer allows the sound from any of the performers to be sent to any of the objects, creating an immersive, tactile and spatial sonic experience.

The project is developed in a workshop format with up to 8 participants over a period of several days. The participants will work from the bio-acoustic model of an actual rainforest, where it is necessary for each species’ survival that they can both hear and be heard within their own niche of the busy forest soundscape.

You can download a PDF of information about the project here: http://macumbista.net/files/rainforest_overview.pdf

Other up and comings:

28 Sep – [w/Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez] Basic Electricity, Berlin DE (more on this soon!)
9-13 Oct – TONEWHEELS, Le festival accès(s), Pau FR
17 Oct – TONEWHEELS, RIAM Festival, Marseilles FR
22-26 Oct – Neanderthal Electronics, Danish Art Academy, Aarhus DK (TBC!)
29 Oct-02 Nov – Neanderthal Electronics, Nordic Sound Art, Copenhagen DK
05-09 Nov – Neanderthal Electronics, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki FI
16 Nov – TONEWHEELS, VisionSonic, Paris FR (TBC!)

Now Playing

crippled black phoenix–(mankind) the crafty ape[2012]
wovenhand–live at roepaen[2012]