Regnskog Bergen 2010 from macumbista on Vimeo.

Regnskog 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 the assortment of resonant metal objects suspended by wires in the performance space. Additionally, an 8×8 matrix mixer allows the sound from any of the objects to be sent to any of the performers, making the whole piece an experiment in generative chaos.

The structure of the piece is improvisational, shifting between relatively static installation-like moments and performative sections where the artists seek new relationships with the objects and each other. The audience is free to move around the performance space, engage in conversations and explore the resonant objects, thus adding new life to the rainforest.

The performers: Harald Fetveit (Oslo), Gisle Frøysland (Bergen), Derek Holzer (Berlin), Ryan Jordan (London), Jørgen Knudsen (Bergen), Signe Lidèn (Bergen), Julien Ottavi (Nantes), Jørgen Træen (Bergen)

Produced 10-16 October 2010 in Bergen, Norway by Piksel.no. Video by Derek Holzer and Elisabeth Nesheim.

Photos courtesy of Elisabeth Nesheim, Signe Lidèn and svennevenn

Reflections

After some years working in this experimental music scene, you realize that even if you put a bunch of performers in the same room and tell them they are working on the same thing, they all remain soloists at heart. Regnskog suffered initially as any group project might from egoistic hotdoggery, with some artists unable to look past the object in front of them as their own personal PA system. Once we got past that phase, things opened up quite a bit on the second night with many of us experimenting with the entire room as instrument and system, much as I originally intended. A small but highly engaged audience explored the room as well–listening, looking, touching and even singing with the pieces! It was a massive learning experience for me personally, which I hope to benefit from with the next two prospective versions of the project in Berlin and Tallinn during 2011. Details as soon as they are confirmed…

17 November: TONEWHEELS performance @ Résonances Electroniques Festival, Museum of Fine Arts, Dijon FR

19 November: TONEWHEELS discussion + performance @ /dev/art/, 19h / 23h, BlackBoxe, 17 rue de la Chapelle 75018 Paris FR, FREE

20 November: TONEWHEELS performance @ I-R-L Performances / Optica Festival avec Art of Failure and Chloé Mazlo & Son of a Pitch, 20h30, Centre Mercoeur, 4 rue Mercoeur 75011 Paris FR – M° voltaire/charonne, paf: 5 euros

Thanks to Octarine Productions, Jack/Kevin/Laurent@RYBN and the beautiful Tomoko Sauvage for support putting this trip together.

Now Playing

kevin drumm–live at bardens boudoir, london, uk 29.01.08 mp3[2008]
kk null–akumu[2008 vital]
mattin (ed.)–noise and capitalism book[2009 arteleku audiolab]
paul demarinis–buried in noise book[2010 kehrer][danke carsten!!!]
prurient+cold cave–stars explode[2010 hospital productions]
merzbow+balázs pándi–live at fluc wanne, vienna 18.05.10 lp[2010]

One video from my Neaderthal Electronics workshop in Malmo last week, and a roundup of the UH Festival night where I played last Saturday. Enjoy!

Neanderthal Electronics: Kajonimba (Electric Cajon Kalimba) by wihle

Here’s a small presentation of my newly built electric rhythm instrument I made in a workshop by Berlin-based sound artist, Derek Holzer. The result sounds something like Tom Waits with semi-constant feedback.

The box includes a primitive spring reverb, two piezo-mics, a broken baby monitor set (a send and a receive unit), two super simple amplifiers and a built-in speaker for acoustic performance. I’ll add an output later to be able to play my kajonimba through external speakers.

UH FEST DAY #4 Oct. 9 by UHFEST
Featuring Bartha Mark & Takacs Borza Akos, Valerio Tricoli w/ Robert Piotrowicz, Piotr Kurek, Derek Holzer, Kria Brekkan, Lasse Marhaug and Thomas Fehlmann, but sadly no Lau Nau…

Derek Holzer zajzenész, aki mindenféle talált tárgyakból szeret zenét előcsalni, néhány héttel ezelőtt többek között a devecseri piacon is járt. Az ott beszerzett eszközöket is felhasználva zenélt-zajongott például a bicskei menekülttáborban. Az UH Fest Go Social programjának keretében meglátogatott több magyar civil szervezetet, és látott olyan dolgokat, amilyeneket egyáltalán nem szoktak ide érkező zenészek. Úgyhogy amikor a fellépése elején arról beszélt, látta a tévében, hogy gyakorlatilag megsemmisültek olyan részek Devecseren, ahol ő maga is járt, az nem csak a tragédia súlya miatt volt más, mint amikor az egy estére ideérkező zenészek alibiznek valamit arról, milyen Budapest…

Full review (plus the beautiful Lau Nau, a shy Kría Brekkan (ex-múm) and the ever-uncompromising Lasse Marhaug) here: http://quart.hu/cikk.php?id=5532. Seems like they gave me an “A”!!!

I had a few words to say before my set, maybe it would be good to record them here:

As you can see from the photographs projected in the lobby, a few weeks ago I went on the UH Go Social! Tour. One topic we discussed on that trip was how all this experimental sound stuff relates to the world around us, to the bigger picture. I still don’t know if I have any answers to that question, but I do know that one of the places we visited–Devecser–has been wiped off the map since then, if you believe the pictures on the evening news.

You might want to move around the room during this set, you will find different things in it. Move around. And wait for the flood.

On the whole, the evening was fantastic from my point of view–excellent venue and PA combined with a wonderful, open-minded audience who were ready for anything. Earlier sets in the small hall by Kuupuu, Piotr Kurek and Valerio Tricoli with Robert Piotrowicz provided a more intimate initiation to the festival. It did seem like I landed on a strange planet, however, were all the women were delicate, lovely folk-birds and the men were knuckle-dragging noise beasts!

SWEDEN
Oct 4-8 – Neanderthal Electronics workshop, Nordic Sound Academy, Malmö SE
Oct 8, 19:00 – Neanderthal Electronics presentation/concert, Nordic Sound Academy, Malmö SE
Workshop limited to students of Nordic Sound Academy, presentation/concert open to the public
Venue: Inter Arts Center, Bergsgatan 29, Malmö

HUNGARY
Oct 9, 21:00 – Macumbista performance, UH Fest, Budapest HU
Info: www.fest2010.uh.hu
Venue: Merlin, Gerlóczy utca 4, Budapest

NORWAY
Oct 11-16 – Regenskog/Rainforest workshop, Piksel, Bergen NO
Oct 15-16 – Regenskog/Rainforest installation/performance, Piksel, Bergen NO
Info: www.piksel.no/2010/09/regnskog-bergen-kjott
Workshop by invitation only, guests welcome to visit. Installation/performance open to the public as follows:
– Friday evening from 20:00
– Saturday afternoon 14:00-18:00
– Saturday evening 20:00-23:00
Venue: Bergen Kjøtt, Skutevikstorget 1, Bergen

DENMARK
Oct 21-23 – Neanderthal Electronics workshop, Apparat, Ålborg DK
Oct 23 20:00 – Macumbista performance, Apparat, Ålborg DK
Workshop registration via APPARAT
Info: www.apparatlab.dk/2010
Performance venue: Platform 4, Rapsgade 4, Ålborg

Now Playing

bee mask–living’s just defying the ocean[2006 deception island]
cro-mags–the age of quarrel[1986 profile]
fennesz, daniell, buck–knoxville[2010 thrill jockey]
jon mueller–the whole[2010 type]
pete swanson–feelings in america[2010 root strata]
pop (product of power=karkowski & rehberg)–work hard play harder[2003 absurd]

Photos by napkinshoe/Amy Hope Dermot @ Flickr. Thanks Amy!!!

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stan brakhage–essential brakhage, selected witings on filmmaking book[2001]
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andrzej zulawski–diabel (aka the devil) film[1972]

From tomorrow, 18 August until Tuesday 24 August I will be in Dortmund Germany taking part in the Heavy Matter exhibition by the KHM Cologne for ISEA. I will perform on 19 August and 23 August, and you can find details of that performance below.

Heavy Matter
Westfalenforum Dortmund / Orchesterzentrum|NRW, Dortmund
20th to 29th of August 2010
Exhibition opening hours: daily 10:00-20:00

Opening @ Westfalenforum: Thursday 19 August 2010, 18:00
Performance evening @ Westfalenforum: Monday 23 August 2010, 20:00

At the turn of the 21st Century, new media has become a matter of course and the technology of electronic data processing is constantly being perfected. Just how immaterial is data really? Does it not carry a certain amount of weight, after all? In the exhibition – developed by students and members of the teaching staff of the KHM – the immaterial is exposed as “Heavy Matter”. Heavy does matter: objectively, physically and financially. Matter appears as an autonomous (disruptive) factor between transmitter and receiver.

Exhibition with the participation of:

Céline Berger, Jongwon Choi, Tobias Daemgen, Anna Gonzalez Suero, Akiro Hellgardt, Echo Ho/Lasse Scherffig, Derek Holzer, Hörner/Antlfinger, Sion Jeong, Sunjha Kim, Theresa Krause, Karin Lingnau, Ji Hyun Park, Jun Park, So Young Park, Laura Popplow, Martin Rumori, Miri Shin, Wonbaek Shin, Tine Tillman

Orchesterzentrum|NRW
Brückstraße 47
44135 Dortmund

Westfalenforum
Kampstraße 37-39
44137 Dortmund

Cthonian Cell Observation I (Continuous Pressure Wave for Elevator Car)

DEREK HOLZER
Sound Performance, 2010

An evening-long concert drawing on the underworld mythology of heavy metal and noise music for an audience of one, taking place in the narrow confines of an elevator car filled with an overpowering, physical mass of sound pressure.

More info on this performance here.

Introduction

The Chaotic Colorfields performance exploits the psychological intensification which pulsed light adds to the audience’s perception of a sonic event, as well as the physical effect upon the receptors of the eye created by contrasting colorfields. Four colored strobes are directly driven by a self-built analog synthesizer set up to calculate a variety of chaotic feedback systems. Louder than bright and brighter than loud.

Upcoming Performances

EDIT: I’ve decided to postpone this one a bit, to spend more time on making it the best it can possibly be. Upcoming shows in Den Haag, Budapest and Aalborg will be solo improvisations for self-built analog synthesizer without the strobes…

Equipment

* Self-built Analog Modular Synthesizer w/ Light Controller Module
* Stereo or Quadrophonic (preferred) PA System
* Four 1500W or brighter DMX Strobelights, each with one Color Filter (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow/Orange)
* Smoke Machine
* Total Darkness

Background

Chaotic Synthesis

Chaotic systems are deterministic dynamic systems that have a high sensitivity to initial conditions. Only dynamic systems that include a nonlinear feedback path are capable of chaotic behavior. Common examples of chaotic systems include coupled pendulums, pseudorandom number generators, and the earth’s weather system[…] Nonlinearity and feedback are necessary conditions for the existence of chaotic processes.[1]

The Colour Out of Space

The colour, which resembled some of the bands in the meteor’s strange spectrum, was almost impossible to describe; and it was only by analogy that they called it colour at all…

…as the column of unknown colour flared suddenly stronger and began to weave itself into fantastic suggestions of shape which each spectator described differently, there came from poor tethered Hero such a sound as no man before or since ever heard from a horse[…] That was the last of Hero till they buried him next day.[2]

Imaginary Colors

Non-physical, unrealizable, or imaginary colors are points in a color space that correspond to combinations of cone cell responses that cannot be produced by any physical (non-negative) light spectrum.[3] Thus, no object can have an imaginary color, and imaginary colors cannot be seen under normal circumstances. Nevertheless, they are useful as mathematical abstractions for defining color spaces.[4]

Perception of Imaginary Colors

If a saturated green is viewed until the green receptors are fatigued and then a saturated red is viewed, a perception of red more intense than pure spectral red can be experienced. This is due to the fatigue of the green receptors and the resulting lack of their ability to desaturate the perceptual response to the output of the red receptors.[5]

Color as Subjective Experience

In a viewer’s experience, the perceptual interpretation of the context is expressed in the color itself; we usually cannot, or only with unreasonable effort, separate the “real” color from its context. In particular, we are normally completely unaware of the “cognitive” aspects of color perception — discounting the illuminant, spatial perspective, shadows, memory, object concepts, available color labels, and so on.[6]

[1]Slater, Dan, “Chaotic Sound Synthesis”, Computer Music Journal 22.2 19 September 1998, pp 12-19.
[2]Lovecraft, H.P., “The Colour Out of Space“, “Amazing Stories” September 1927.
[3]MacEvoy, Bruce, “Light and the Eye”, http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/color1.html
[4]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_color
[5]Lindsay, Peter and Norman, Donald, “Human Information Processing,” Academic Press, 1972, pp 196–216.
[6]MacEvoy, Bruce, “Basic Forms of Color”, http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/color4a.html

Tiny Noise showcase/TodaysArt
subject = LOUDNESS
De Vinger, Bagijnestraat 25
Den Haag 25 September 2010

Andre Goncalvez [PT]
Derek Holzer [USA/DE]
John Fanning/Massaccesi[USA]
Koray Tahiroglu [TU/FI]
Kyd Campbell [CAN/DE]
DJ Toni Dimitrov/Every Kid on Speed[MK]

Looking forward to the chance to do another chaotic synth-controlled strobe piece here. Thanks to Kyd for hooking the whole deal up!

Now Playing

g.i. gurdjieff–meetings with remarkable men book [1963]
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thrones–late for dinner 7″[2010 conspiracy]

Just confirmed to play UH Fest on the night of 9 October, sandwiched tightly in between one workshop in Malmö and another in Bergen that I will post about later on. The UH set will be solo for chaotic analog synthesizer, smoke and lights.

So far the confirmed artists for the night are:

Derek Holzer
Lau Nau
Valerio Tricoli with Robert Piotrowicz
Kuupuu
Jazkamer
STU
Thomas Fehlmann

More fun than a poke in the eye!

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antoine chessex–le point immobile 3″ cd[2010 mnoad]
antoine chessex & valerio tricoli–chessex/tricoli 12″[2010 dilemma][merci antoine!!!]
bastard noise–a culture of monsters cd[2010 deep six]
don hassler–no subsequent interference cd[2010 vicmod]
elu of nine–elu of the nine cs[2010 woodsmoke]
jason r. butcher–chaotic synthesis recording #3 cd[2009][thx jason!!!]
keith barnard–colour harmonies cs[1985]
neanderthal–official discography[1990-92]