Hotels of Northern Europe

Posted in Documentation on March 11th, 2011 by admin

Yes indeed I have been traveling and working almost nonstop since the start of the Year. A quick rundown of my activities:

09-15 Jan 2011 – Mechanical Sound Instruments workshop, TAIK University of Art and Design, Helsinki FI

Workshop = awesome! Design students built Arduino-powered electro-acoustic instruments like this one below. I’ll be editing video docs I made in Helsinki soon.

Electro-Acoustic Musical Instrument from Palash on Vimeo.

Hotel room = passable. Töölö Towers is the University’s home for wandering academics, with a very institutional vibe, spotty wifi coverage and full length mirrors for me to shoot very serious-looking self portraits in…

18-21 Jan 2011 – Tuned City: sound+space workshop, Estonian Academy of Arts Media Dept, Tallinn EE

Workshop = 5.5 out of 10. I’m still figuring out what kind of tools are necessary to crack the shells of the Estonian oysters. After some prodding, most of the students really gave their best in making and discussing the recordings. One girl Facebooked and texted the entire workshop until I pointed out that her computer was “broken” and she’d be better off at home.

Hotel = decent. Maneezi house, guestrooms of the Estonian Arts Academy, has everything you would ever want in a post-Soviet flat…a long flight of stairs, some heavy metal doors, a warm radiator and even running water.

01-05 Feb 2011 — Regenwald2011 workshop+installation, West Germany/Club Transmediale, Berlin DE

Workshop = mostly good. Trying to wrangle seven very different artistic personalities into one piece in only five days is never easy. I have decided that giving them less freedom rather than more is the only solution. The audience response to the piece, on the other hand, was quite positive and enthusiastic.

Hotel = not applicable. One of the longest stretches I’ve been able to sleep in my own bed in ages!!!

07-11 Feb 2011 – Field Recording workshop, Royal Music Conservatory, Aarhus DK

Workshop = one of the best! Very high level of capabilities by these composition students at the Electronic Music department there. I gave them one hour to take three random one-minute field recordings from their neighbor and make a short piece out of them, and they all pulled it off! And that was only one of the exercises. If only every group I taught had their shit so together.

Hotel = comical. The Cabinn is a concept hotel, they told me. As near as I can figure, the concept was to make the hotel room itself as much like the sleeping couchette on an overnight train as possible.

A few weeks later I saw an exhibition of living/working spaces by French-Israeli artist Absalon at the KW Berlin. Made to the measure of his own body, and likely inspired by the fact that most of the artist’s short life was spent in the Israeli military, the constructions impressed me as the ideal prototype of future dehumanizing architecture for the 21st Century.

12-14 Feb 2011 – Tuned City:sound+space, Estonian Academy of Arts Architecture Dept, Tallinn EE

Workshop: another five and a half. The concept here was to teach architects to experience urban space through sound, and this worked pretty well. The students brought in recordings of various spaces around Tallinn for us to listen to and analyze. My mistake was in giving them “homework” for the last day. Despite assurances from everyone that they had time and energy to do it, only two came back the next day.

Also during this week I braved the -25C weather to investigate some locations for next summer’s Tuned City event, such as the lobby of the Linnahall, a disused auditorium/ice rink constructed for the 1980 Olympic games.

Hotel: deceptively posh. Somehow I was taken in by the spacious rooms, tall windows, tacky wallpaper and inoffensive framed prints of the Old Town Maestro. Until I realized that the strip-club-disco downstairs wouldn’t stop the party until 7am.

23-27 Feb 2011 – Neanderthal Electronics, NK Project, Berlin DE

Workshop = can I call this an 8? What should have been a warm homecoming was dampened by some kind of breakdown in publicity. The three guys that did show up for the workshop kicked some serious ass though, and made really nice boxes which they played the following Monday for the Experimontag at Madame Claude. Photos and such soon.

Hotel = forget it! I locked the door to my flat and stayed in bed for three whole days when all this was over.

Now Playing

ben frostlive at berghain, berlin 24.02.11
earthangels of darkness, demons of light I[2011 southern lord]
elehradiant intervals[2011 important]
flower travellin’ bandanywhere[1970 philips]
tim heckerravedeath 1972[2011 kranky]

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Tuned City Tallin on Touch Radio

Posted in Documentation on September 30th, 2010 by admin

Touch Radio 56 | Thomas Ankersmit

29.09.10 – Hangar Performance, Tallinn, May 29th 2010 – 19:02 – 192 kbps

Solo saxophone performance inside abandoned seaplane hangar, Tallinn harbour, Estonia. Recorded by John Grzinich, May 29 2010, at the introduction event for Tuned City Tallinn 2011.
www.tunedcity.net
www.thomasankersmit.net
www.touchradio.org.uk/touchradio_56_thomas_ankersmit.html

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keiji haino & pan sonicin the studio 2LP[2010 blast first petite]
kevin drummthe obstacles of romantic exaggeration[2010 karl schmidt verlag]
pete swansonwhere i was[2010 self-released]
robin foxa handful of automation[2010 editions mego]
swansmy father will guide me up a rope to the sky[2010 young god]
watainlawless darkness[2010 season of mist]
wolvserpentblood seed[2010 20 buck spin]

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Panga Cliff, Saaremaa Estonia

Posted in Text on May 24th, 2010 by admin

Panga cliff is located on the northern shore of Saaremaa, at the end of the Kuressaare – Võhma road, close to Panga village. It is the highest of the Saaremaa and Muhu cliffs, reaching to a maximum of 21.3 metres. The entire cliff is approximately 2.5 km long.

According to folk tradition, Panga cliff was a place of worship and sacrifice for the ancient, Pre-Christian Saarlanders. Local fishermen poured libations of beer and whiskey over the edge of the cliff, especially at midsummer eve, to ensure lots of fish during the coming year until well into the 19th century. One source indicated that children were killed and thrown into the sea here until the 16th Century. Another told that the last animal sacrifice took place during the 1960’s.

Photos taken on a quiet walk with Carsten Stabenow, 23 May 2010.

Now Playing

daniil kharmstoday i wrote nothing(book)
dispiritbitumen amnii/ixtab’s lure(2010 dispirit.org)
gregory jones & roy sabloskyno imagination(1980 vinyl records/2007 creel pone cdr)
john wiese & daniel menchebehold the scathing light 3″(2004 helicopter)
lunar miasmacrystal covered(2010 basses frequences)
thomas lehnfeldstärken(2000 random acoustics)
various artistsserge musician’s tape[1983]

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Tuned City: Sonic Surveys of Tallinn

Posted in Announcement on May 5th, 2010 by admin

Hear Tallinn with new ears! Buildings and architecture are usually described in visual terms. But it is often our sense of hearing which assists us in experiencing and navigating through the spaces of urban cities. There is no sound without space and no space without a sound. In every day life we are surrounded by the sounds of diverse nature and various origins. Language, sounds of nature and civilisation – sound as a carrier of information or as a factor of disturbance permanently encircles our consciousness.

During the month of May 2010, and over the summer of 2011, Tuned City Tallinn will undertake an acoustic exploration of Tallinn. The goal will be to identify and explore the sonic landmarks of the city which define its identity, shape its communication and transform the perceptions of its visitors and inhabitants. A fascinating cross-section of international artists, performers, scientists and thinkers will be brought together to present their ideas about sound and space. In addition, the public will be invited to participate directly through a series of workshops and sound walks and experience diverse site specific installations, performances and demonstrations. Tuned City Tallinn builds on ideas developed during the first ever event of its kind, held in Berlin during the summer of 2008.

Events may 2010

Tuned City Tallinn starts off with two workshop projects in the week 18.-22. may 2010, a series of artistic/scientific research projects in the following week and a first public project presentation on may 29th.

Program details:

1. PUBLIC WORKSHOPS
week 17-22 may

workshop I
Sonic Surveys of Tallinn

exploring, location hunting, mapping and field recording of urban soundscapes
May 18-22, 2010

workshop led by: John Grzinich, Derek Holzer, Patrick McGinley
registration: jg[ät]maaheli.ee

This interdisciplinary workshop (of artists, architects, urban planners, social geographers) concentrates on exploring working methods for mapping and documenting urban spaces and architectural structures of the city of Tallinn. The methods used will combine research and practical skills in surveying and recording the “sonic geographies” found throughout the city. As Tallinn has radically different zones, both architecturally and socially  our research aims to reflect expose and reflect the variety of soundscapes to be found there.

This would include the practical elements of an overall “field recording” and “listening” workshop with an introduction to sound, soundscape and field recording techniques. The structure of the workshop divides the overall group of participants into several small scouting teams (3 groups of 4 or 5 people) that make excursions to different districts of the city. A range of locations could include the Soviet ‘plattenbau’ districts like Lasnamäe and Õismäe, the park areas of Kadriorg and Nõmme and the seaside districts of Pirita and Kopli (or whatever else can be introduced) for example.

Mapping the possible overlays of sonic regions or even specific sounds will help define potential “sonic landmarks”, as one of the main themes for the Tuned City conference to be held in July of 2011. Afterward we can pool the coordinates and recordings into a “map” or Survey of Acoustic Geography of Tallinn.

Workshop II
Form and Sound
with students of the EKA, the Conservatory and students from Kuvataiteakatemia Helsinki and KUNO
May 18-22, 2010

workshop led by: Lukas Kühne

The idea is to carry out a multidisciplinary laboratory building bridges amongst the different arts and genders. The proposal of this idea is interactive, an adventure that has to do with phenomena of natural laws and the ultimate technology. Sound does not exist without material support: it requires sources in space in order to have some kind of form and it needs ears in order to be heard. Sound depends on the material and the form of sound sources. This workshop explores the relationship between the form that creates sound and the sounds that create form.

This workshop project is meant to create artistic and scientific explorations of the unique acoustic situation of the old waterplane hangar and to find ways to preserve lively and illustrative
documentations of an outstanding spatial experience. The hangar will be changed  into a maritim museum, this development process causes a certain responsibility for the monument. A scientific analysis of the given frequencies and wavelength, the characteristics of the reverberation and diffusion in the space of the 3 domes and an investigation of the direct and related phenomena should provide a profound explanation. In close collaboration an artistic reflection should interpret, force – translate and visualize this unique sonotop.

(The artistic reflection could be build around the topic of the echo, starting with the cultural history, the mythological background – the story about the nymph ‘echo’ and ‘narcissus’ as an explanation model of the dispartment of the acoustic and the visual world. Going over to a natural scientific and musically artistic exploration with the above mentioned research project, guided tours through the architecture and artistic performances. And ending with a metaphorical and poetic view on the topic of reflection. (as reaction on causation, repetition, return of history, echos from beyond …)

2. ARTISTIC/SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PROJEKTS

In the week 24-28 of may the artists Raviv Ganchrow (NL), Thomas Ankersmit (D) and Anthony Hall (UK) will explore the old hydroplane hangar.

3. PUBLIC PRESENTATION

May 29 2010
seaplane hangar, Lennusadama port, (Küti Street) Tallinn
>>> see map

The first public event introducing the “sonic landmarks tallinn” project in 2011 will take place at and around the seaplane hangar as it serves as a great example for the deep relation of architecture and sound and would illustrate in a nice way the main idea of tuned city – to make the acoustic dimension of space and architecture perceptible.

One lasting impression from the Berlin event was of the specific acoustic qualities which each of the spaces used for the conference and performances possessed – whether it was a room designed from the acoustic perspective (such as the anechoic chamber at the Technical University or the giant radio concert hall at the Nalepastrasse), an improvised situation (such as the disused repair hall of the Wriezener Bahnhof) or a temporary public situation (such as on Alexanderplatz). These acoustic qualities provided each site which a specific identity which defined that location in space, assisted or inhibited communication and changed one‘s awareness of their surroundings and illustrated in a great way the debated topics very plastically.

In the same way as tuned city explores the different topics in direct relation to the actual spaces this pre-event in the hangar will give a taste of how the Tallinn event in 2011 will shape. In a mixture of theory, artistic presentation and direct experience we will present the results of the artistic/scientific research and documentation project as well as the results of the workshops to the audience. Some lectures will introduce the concepts of aural architecture and acoustic awareness.

_
PROGRAM:

start 4pm

Opening and welcome – Mikko Fritze, Director of Tallinn 2011, European Cultural Capital

Introduction to the Estonian Maritime Museum project – Ott Sarapuu (EE) (enquired)
History of the seaplane hangar, future plans and architectural vision.

Sonic Landmarks – tunedcity in Tallinn 2011 – Tunedcity research group (int)
A preview of  the program for Tallinn 2011 introducing the general idea behind tunedcity, the research network, the artist and projects planed for the european capital project Sonic Landmarks.

Sonic garden in the urban sphere – Valeria Merlini (I)
Lecture on acoustics aspects of landscape architecture

_
presentations by artist involved in the planing for 2011:

Raviv Ganchrow (US/IL/NL)
Crescents and Bent on Listening

Thomas Ankersmith (NL/D)
presentation and talk

Antony Hall (UK)
presentation

_
presentation of the workshop results:

Sonic Surveys of Tallinn
Workshop with MoKS (EE) – location hunting, mapping and field recording of urban soundscapes
– short performances and soundwalks

Form and Sound
Workshop by Lukas Kühne (D) together with The Estonian academy of arts EKA, The Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki and KUNO
– performances, demonstarations, soundwalks

Tuned City is part of the official program of the European Cultural Capital Tallinn 2011 and is co-produced with MoKs – center for art and social practice and is supported by the Tallinn 2011 Foundation, Estonian Cultural Endowment, Hasartmängumaksu Nõukogu, Eesti Vabariigi Kultuuriministeerium. In cooperation with The Estonian Academy of Arts, Kunshogskoleutdanninger i Norden KUNO and The Estonian Maritime Museeum.

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