Review – Valence (LINE) – 2012 – Boomkat.com

Valence on LINE  054 – 2012

*Limited edition of 500* Montreal’s I8U, known for releases on Room40 and Atak, presents her first recordings as France Jobin. This switch to her own name signifies a purification of aesthetic on ‘Valence’, offering three beautifully deep and meditative compositions swimming in the same infinitely tranquil waters as Eliane Radigue, Franca Sacchi or Celer. The work overall takes it’s inspiration from her interests in quantum physics and digital composition, and finds parallels between the “wacky world of subatomic dimensions” and the elusive emotions she encounters within experimental electronic music. We’d love to delve deeper into this, but our quantum physics diplomas were actually bought in the Arndale market. Instead we can tell you this is a beautiful piece of work to behold, defined by incredibly subtle microtonal shifts and pure, tactile frequency isolations which are thrilling to experience (if you’re thrilled by that kind of thing), all delicately strung between icily crisp digital highs and lushly resonant harmonic coloration.

Sublimation

©Tu M’, 2009

Sublimation: An Exercise in the Immersive

Exhibition
March 3 – April 7, 2012

Opening 
Saturday, March 3, at 5 pm

Audio Screening
Studio 04
Saturday, March 3, from Noon to 7:30 pm

Live Performances
Studio 01
Saturday, March 3, from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm
(pass required, available at OBORO from Tuesday, February 28)

Curators: 
Helen Frosi, France Jobin and Yann Novak

Sublimation: An Exercise in the Immersive is an exhibition featuring a range of audio-visual works  that respond to the idea of the sublime. The exhibition presents eight international artists: Mark + Laura Cetilia (US), Ryan Connor (US), Robert Crouch (US), Gary James Joynes/Clinker (CA), Mimosa|Moize (TW, UK) and Tu M’ (IT).  These works saturate the sonic and visual landscape, drenching and enveloping the audience and must be experienced to be truly understood.

The six audio-visual works on view in Sublimation: An Exercise in the Immersive explore the sublime through their creation of expansive, saturated and meditative environments.  Each artist’s work accentuates an understanding and appreciation of multi-sensory experiences.

The artists in this exhibition explore a wide range of artistic styles and practices, from audio and video field recordings (Morning by Mimosa|Moize), the utilization of broken lenses for light and sound manipulation (Letterlens to Kid Eyes by Ryan Connor), and the incorporation of ceremony and ritual (Provody by Gary James Joynes/Clinker).

One of the more well know works in the exhibition comes from artist duo Tu M’ (Rossano Polidoro and Emiliano Romanelli) who contribute a work from their Monochrome series: Monochrome # 09+V06, a reductive landscape that has been distilled down to fragile atmospheric shades of blue. Robert Crouch pushes the idea of traditional landscape further with his work Dusk, which presents an impossible landscape where a single surface shifts from land formation to skyline and back again.  Landscape leads to location based work in Mark + Laura Cetilia’s Visiting Hours where the piece is formed from recordings within the Museums of Bat Yam, Israel where the piece was first exhibited.

The opening night of Sublimation: An Exercise in the Immersive is accompanied by two complementary programs; an audio screening including works by: Katherine Bennett (US), Celer (US, JP), Stéphane Claude (CA), Heribert Friedl (AT), Robin Parmar (UK, CA, IE), Tomas Phillips + Craig Hilton (US), Scant Intone (CA) & Tom White (UK); and a concert consisting of live performances by:  Robert Crouch (US), David Kristian (CA) and Mimosa|Moize (UK).  The audio screening serves to highlight a larger range of work that fits into the idea of the sublime.  The live performances is a chance for both artist and audience to be consumed by the same visceral experience, to be drawn into and among the same heights and depths of the sonic and emotional spectrum.

Artists:

Exhibition:
Mark + Laura Cetilia (US), Ryan Connor (US), Robert Crouch (US), Gary James Joynes/Clinker (CA), Mimosa|Moize (UK, TW), & Tu M’ (IT).

Sound Diffusion:
Katherine Bennett
(US), Celer (US, JP), Stéphane Claude (CA), Heribert Friedl (AT), Robin Parmar (UK, CA, IE), Tomas Phillips + Craig Hilton (US), Scant Intone (CA) & Tom White (UK).

Sound Performances: 
Robert Crouch
(US), David Kristian (CA) & Mimosa|Moize (UK).

 

Curators:

Helen Frosi is an artist and curator with an interest in sonic and olfactory arts, currently based in London (UK). Helen is co-founder and creative director at SoundFjord the UK’s first sound-devoted gallery and research unit. As a serial collaborator with nomadic tendencies, Helen has programmed internationally for organisations and festivals as well as creative and unconventional arts spaces. Recent projects include screenings, performance and installations for, among others, Apiary Studios (UK), Café Oto (UK), Dragonfly Festival (SE), Galerie8 (UK), Gorey Arts and Film Festival (IE), ICA (UK), Pigeon Wing (UK). Helen is currently a nominator at Supersonix (UK).

soundfjord.org.uk

France Jobin (1958) is a sound/installation artist and curator residing in Montreal. She has created solo recordings for ROOM40 (AUS), nvo (AT), ATAK (JP), murmur records (JP) and LINE (USA). Her sound installation Entre-Deux presented within the new media exhibit DATA/FIELDS, was met with critical acclaim in Washington DC. Curated by Richard Chartier, DATA/FIELDS included Ryoji Ikeda and Mark Fell among others. As a curator, she has presented several events, amongst those: emptiness at Monkeytown, New York (2006), Nocturne 3, Mutek in 2007 (co-curator) and her latest endeavour Immerson (2011) at OBORO, a concert event/philosophy which she initiated and is curating.

francejobin.com

Yann Novak is a sound, video and installation artist based in Los Angeles. He has presented his installation work through solo exhibitions at 323 Projects (CA), Armory Center for the Arts (CA), Las Cienegas Projects (CA), Lawrimore Project (WA), Soundfjord (London, UK) and in two person exhibitions at the Henry Art Gallery (WA) and  Pøst (CA). In 2005, Novak re-launched his father’s Dragon’s Eye Recordings imprint with a new focus on limited edition releases by emerging and mid-carrier sound artists, composers and producers. Since its re-launch, Dragon’s Eye has published over 60 releases and has received critical acclaim.

yannnovak.com

immerson 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Chartier,  Monique Jean, Nathan McNinch

In conversation with Richard Chartier after the concert @ 19:30.
Open to all!

Concert
Immerson  2 at Oboro
Thursday, February 24 and Friday, February 25, 2011, at 6 pm, limited seating!Tickets on sale at OBORO for $10 (cash only), from Tuesday to Saturday, noon to 5 pm.
You can also dial 514 844-3250 to make a reservation with credit card.

The Artists:

Richard Chartier (b.1971), sound and installation artist, is considered one of the key figures in the current of reductionist electronic sound art which has been termed both “microsound” and Neo-Modernist. Chartier’s minimalist digital work explores the inter-relationships between the spatial nature of sound, silence, focus, perception and the act of listening itself.

Chartier’s critically acclaimed sound works have been published over the past 12 years as 40 compact discs on labels such as 12k/LINE (US), Raster-Noton (Germany), Spekk (Japan), Non Visual Objects (Austria), Room40 (Australia), Die Stadt (Germany), DSP (Italy), ERS (Netherlands), and Trente Oiseaux (Germany). He has collaborated with noted sound artists Taylor Deupree, William Basinski, CoH, and German pioneer Asmus Tietchens, as well as installation artists Evelina Domnitch, Dmitry Gelfand, and visual artist Linn Meyers. His work currently appears on 38 international sound art and electronic music compilations.

Chartier’s sound works and installations continue to be presented internationally. His work has been exhibited in the 2002 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art (US), Sounding Spaces at NTT/ICC (Japan), I Moderni / The Moderns at Castello di Rivoli (Italy), Resynthesis at The Art Institute of Chicago and with the traveling sound exhibit Invisible Cities. His solo and collaborative installations have been shown at the Art Gallery of University of Maryland (US), Media Lab Enschede (Netherlands), Montalvo Arts Center (US), G Fine Art (US), Die Schachtel (Italy), The Contemporary Museum of Baltimore (US), Fusebox (US), and Diapason (US).
Chartier continues to perform his work live across Europe, Japan, Australia, and North America. He has performed at noted art spaces/electronic music festivals including:  MUTEK (Canada), GRM/Maison de Radio France (France), Musiktriennale Koeln (Germany), Observatori (Spain), DEAF (Ireland), Transmediale (Germany), NETMAGE (Italy), Lovebytes (UK), The Leeds International Film Festival (UK), The Rotterdam International Film Festival (Netherlands), REDCAT (US), and La Batie (Switzerland) and at art museums including: ICA (UK), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (DC), ICC (Japan), CAPC Musée D’Art Contemporain De Bordeaux (France), Musee d’Art Contemporain (Canada), The Contemporary Art Centre (Lithuania), and Sculpture Center (NY). His live performances have taken place in conjunction with the exhibits Frequenzen [Hz] at the Schirn Kunsthalle (Germany) and A Minimal Future? Art as Object 1958-1968 and Visual Music at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (US).
Since 2000, Chartier has continued to curate his influential recording label LINE, publishing 45 CDs and DVDs documenting the compositional and installation work of international sound artists who explore the aesthetics of contemporary and digital minimalism. Chartier’s Series, the premiere release on LINE, was awarded an Honorable Mention for Digital Music by Austria’s prestigious Prix Ars Electronica in 2001.

In 2006, Chartier was invited by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden to create a sound work in conjunction with the Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibit. Titled Specification.Fifteen and composed with musician Taylor Deupree, this work is inspired by Sugimoto’s Seascape series. The audio performance premiere in the museum’s curved Lerner Room at sunset reflected the duality and stillness of Sugimoto’s series. The live recording was released on compact disc through Chartier’s LINE label. The work was awarded one of five Honorable Mentions for outstanding contemporary artistic positions in digital media art by the Jury of Transmediale.07 Award (Germany). With a special slowly shifting video piece incorporating Sugimoto’s Seascapes, a new version of Specifiation.Fifteen premiered at Berlin’s Akademie der Kuenste (Germany) in 2007. This audio/visual performance has subsequently been presented at Issue Project Room (NY) and Torun’s Center for Contemporary Art (Poland) and continues to be adapted.

http://www.3particles.com/

Monique Jean lives and works in Montréal. She studied electroacoustic composition at the Université de Montréal under the supervision of Francis Dhomont.

In addition to her acousmatic compositions, her work is also regularly associated with video and experimental films, with dance and with installations. Her harbour symphony L’Appel des machines soufflantes (“The Call of Blowing Machines”), a commission of Radio-Canada, was premiered in March 1998 at the Port of Montréal and in 1999 she was an invited composer during the Rien à voir (5) concert series produced by Réseaux (Montréal).

Finalist in the Ciber@rt (Valencia, Spain, 1999), Musica Nova (Prague, Czech Republic, 2001) and Bourges (France, 2002) competitions, her works are regularly performed and broadcast during numerous national and international concerts and festivals.

www.theresatransistor.ca
www.electrocd.com/en/bio/jean_mo/discog/

nathan mcninch is a consummate tinkerer whom on occasion makes art and music. nathan has released sound work for a handful of independent record labels including: oral, important records, moar and his own petite sono. he has also produced sound works for a variety of other mediums including: installation, video radio, and the internet.

http://petitesono.com/

About immerson:

immerson is a concert event and philosophy initiated by France Jobin that proposes creating an environment dedicated to an enhanced listening experience through the physical comfort of the audience by means of a specifically designed space.

Jobin initiated immerson in February 2011, in partnership with OBORO and in close collaboration with Stéphane Claude.

France Jobin is an audio / installation artist, composer and curator. Her audio art, qualified as “sound sculpture”, distinguishes itself in a minimalist approach of complex sound environments at the intersection of analog and digital. She participates in festivals, as well as presents installations and events internationally. Jobin has produced numerous solo albums with renowned labels such as ROOM40 (AU), LINE (US), popmuzik records and ATAK (JP).  France Jobin was a Sonic Arts Awards 2014 finalist in the category Sonic Research.

francejobin.com

Immersound wishes to acknowledge the support of Canada Council for the Arts.