Derek Holzer-ExperiMontag set-11.03.13(edit)

Posted in Documentation on March 14th, 2013 by admin

Derek Holzer-ExperiMontag set-11.03.13(edit)

Solo performance for self-made analog synthesizer, speaker box, found objects and room @ ExperiMontag (Madame Claude), Berlin, 11 MAR 2013. Edited and mixed to be played at maximum volume.

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ExperiMontag Performance, Monday 11 March 2013

Posted in Announcement on March 10th, 2013 by admin

Maulex [DK] turntables, textures
Jelena Glazova [LV] voices, drones
Derek Holzer [USA/DE] modulars, rooms

Mon, 11.03.13 21:00
Madame Claude Berlin, Lübbener Straße 19, 10997 Berlin, Germany

An evening of experimental instruments and deep sound textures at one of Berlin’s best-known nights for adventurous music.

-=Maulex=-

René Middelhede is a graduate student at DIEM (Danish Institute for Electro-Acoustic Music) and is working with drone and abstract textural music under the artist name Maulex.

It’s not music that flows rapidly from room to room, rather it moves slowly across the room and fills it with microscopic nuances that constantly change color.

The concert is based on an alternative use of the turntable as a medium. It is developed into an instrument by which complex textures and repetitive rhythms can be generated.

www.phloq.dk | www.soundcloud.com/maulex

-=Jelena Glazova=-

Sound artist/visual artist and poet based in Riga, Latvia. Working in interdisciplinary areas of contemporary art, combining in her works image, poetic text, experimental sound and installation.

Experimental music activity field – noise/drone, usually constructed from processed vocals.

www.jelena-glazova.com
| jelenaglazova.bandcamp.com

Jelena will perform with the visuals by Latvian video artist Zane Raudina.

www.zaneraudina.net

-=Derek Holzer=-

Solo performance for self-made analog synthesizer, speaker box, found objects and room.

Derek Holzer (1972) is an American sound artist based in Berlin DE, 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.

macumbista.net

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Migrating Art Academies

Posted in Announcement on February 16th, 2013 by admin

[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.

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Gig at O’Tannenbaum this Friday, Berlin

Posted in Announcement on January 16th, 2013 by admin

(Bread-burning synth photo by Terje Toomistu)

I will be playing a live improvisation for DIY analog modular synthesizer next Friday at O’Tannenbaum, along with bareth/stadler (Florinn Bareth–e-violin, Max Stadler–electronics) and Nicolas Humbert.

Info

Several years ago, I largely abandoned the digital sound world to spend time building a modular analog synthesizer which reinterprets and hybridizes the forms and functions of the legendary Serge and Buchla systems from the 1960s and 70s. During my improvisational performances, I summon the chaotic, generative powers of this machine to explore the physical affects of volume, frequency and complexity within a given space. For fans of Maryanne Amacher, Bernard Parmegiani, Eliane Radigue and Slayer.

Friday 18 Jan 2013, 21:0
O’Tannenbaum
Sonnenallee 27
Berlin 12047
Germany

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MusicMakers Hacklab at CTM.13 – “Indeterminism Machines”

Posted in Announcement on December 22nd, 2012 by admin

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

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A.LIVE with Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez at Basic Electricity Berlin

Posted in Announcement on September 22nd, 2012 by admin

A•LIVE Information Metabolism from Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez on Vimeo.

I will be playing a live, improvisational set for modular synthesizer, found objects and SoundBox at Basic Electricity Berlin on Friday 28 September 2012. Joining me will be video artist Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez with her live electronic microscope visuals. This will be our first, exploratory outing with the A.LIVE bio-art project, and we’re both quite curious to see how it goes. Hope some of y’all out there can make it.

Incidentally, the audio in the above video comes from the soundtrack of Machine Deva, the recent collaboration I did with my father, Steve Holzer. Interesting to hear it in another setting… Machine Deva recently won the Best Experimental Film prize at the Columbia Gorge International Film Festival. Way to go, Dad!

I will be offering copies of the Machine Deva soundtrack on CDR and DVDRs of the film itself some time in mid-November. Due to the extremely detailed nature of the hand-animation, which seems to be hopelessly corrupted by any sort of compression process, Machine Deva will never likely get put online. So unless you happen to be around when Steve or I screen it, this might be your only chance to view this remarkable work. Get in touch if interested…

Now Playing

neil youngon the beach[1974]

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Regnskov 2012 in Copenhagen and Aarhus

Posted in Announcement on August 16th, 2012 by admin

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]
wovenhandlive at roepaen[2012]

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Film by Maren Sextro (repost) + Helsinki show

Posted in Announcement, Documentation on June 2nd, 2012 by admin

Filmmmaker Maren Sextro created this portrait of me for Groove.de in May 2012. Together, we visited the flea market and my studio, and spoke about my approach to sound, performance, “circuit bending” (a term I rarely use to describe my own constructions), DIY electronics and self-education.

Maren was kind enough to send me an HD version so that I could present this without the disgusting advertising, so once again I am in her debt. Enjoy.

Helsinki Show

Next week I make a quick trip to Helsinki, where the MUU Gallery will be opening the latest “MUU for Ears” show. I will be showing one of the “nonlinearity suite” videos, playing a live set for small analog synth, soundboxes and found objects on 7 June and leaving a few artifacts there for the two-week run of the show. Some of these artifacts may be for sale. I will post more on this before I depart.

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Interview for Groove TV + updates

Posted in Documentation on May 24th, 2012 by admin

I was interviewed by filmmaker Maren Sextro a few weeks ago about my DIY electronic instruments, you can see the results here. In the 60 seconds of film trailer that plays before the interview, I recommend you go to the kitchen for a glass of cold milk. The video itself is very well done, on the other hand, and I thank Maren warmly for her work on this.

Still places left for the workshop this weekend, or drop by O’Tannenbaum on Sunday night for the presentation and their fine selection of Belgian ales. They have one that tastes just like vinegar that I’m not so sure about, though…

And finally, Machine Deva premiered to rave reviews at Cine-Marfa last weekend. Steve and I are still picking ourselves back up off the floor after the amount of work that went into finalizing the soundtrack and getting it to the festival. I will have some CDRs to sell of this later on, watch this space.

Students of the Sonic College (Haderslev, Denmark) and the the SoundBoxes they built with me yesterday at NK in Berlin.

Now Playing

birchville cat motelbeautiful speck triumph[2004 last visible dog]
douglas leedyentropical paradise[1968 seraphim]
swanswe rose from your bed with the sun in our head[2012 young god]

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SoundBoxes Workshop Berlin

Posted in Announcement on May 6th, 2012 by admin

SOUNDBOXES WORKSHOP with DEREK HOLZER

Workshop: May 26 & 27, 2012, Time 11-19
Workshop Venue: NK Projekt, Elsenstr. 52 2HH 2Etage, Berlin Neukoelln

Presentation + live Macumbista set: Sunday May 27 2012, Time 20.00
Presentation Venue: O’Tannenbaum, Sonnenallee 27, Berlin Neukoelln

Discover the hidden sonic qualities of objects from our everyday world in this workshop, combining the arts of electronics, noise, sculpture and collage. The basic elements we will employ 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.

TIMETABLE

Day One: Introduction to simple noise/electroacoustic electronics, circuit soldering.

Day Two: Box-building, decoration and collage, experimentation with found objects as sound sources.

Final Presentation: All participants will present their finished soundboxes to the public at the end of the second day!

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.

4) EFFECTS PEDALS (OPTIONAL): Any kind of battery-powered effects pedals, such as distortions, filters or delays, can be very useful in creating more nonlinearities in the feedback loop.

FURTHER INFO:

The NK Projekt’s page for this workshop:

http://www.nkprojekt.de/soundboxes-workshop-with-derek-holzer/

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

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

Or use the “soundboxes” tag to see all posts related to SoundBoxes:

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 35 (participation) + EUR 10 (materials) Registration is required and can be done by sending an email to info@nkprojekt.de with the subject line “SoundBoxes”

Number of Participants: Minimum 6/Maximum 14

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

Another satisfied customer… [March 2012, Zagreb].

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