still life by i8u
September 17.09
SIMULCAST 2.0 at ((audience)) in Syracuse, NY (Festival schedule below)
SIMULCAST 2.0 : Four Canadian sound and radio artists were asked to provide a single, unchanging sound.
Presented by the Montréal-based organization Silophone this past July in Sackville, these works will be re-broadcast as part of the ((audience)) radio festival on Red House Radio
Featuring sounds by Hélène Prévost, Mario Gauthier, i8u and Stéphane Claude.”
19|20.09.09 Hélène Prévost “12:00”
20|210.9.09 i8u “still life”
26|27.09.09 Mario Gauthier “Transparence”
27|28.09.09 Stéphane Claude “Waves Array”
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Announcing the U.S Premiere of ((audience)), an international festival of 5.1 surround sound art presented in movie theaters as “cinema in the dark” U.S. Premiere of ((audience)) Thursday, September 17 – Sunday, September 27, 2009 Red House Arts Center, Syracuse, NY NEW YORK – Curators Alexis Bhagat and Lauren Rosati announce the U.S. Premiere of ((audience)) at Red House Arts Center in Syracuse, NY, launching with a two-week festival of art, experimental media, live music, a radio program, and featuring works by seven international artists in the 2009 program of ((audience)). Conceived in 2006, ((audience)) is an unprecedented project that explores the cinema as a 21st century concert hall. Currently, sound artists must “perform” what are essentially multi-track recordings, interpreting the playback of their compositions to account for technical and acoustic variations in different sites. ((audience)) bypasses this problem by considering the cinema-hall as a standard technical and acoustic platform and site. The centerpiece of ((audience)) is a 2 ½ hour “film” of 5.1 surround sound works by seven international artists intended for presentation in movie theaters as “cinema in the dark.” This program will travel to partnering organizations from Delhi, India to Providence, RI to Montreal, Canada — accompanied by curatorial lectures, performances and screenings on a city-by-city basis — through 2010. SCHEDULE OF EVENTS The inaugural two-week ((audience)) festival features six nights of programs, each exploring a different perspective on the cinema as concert hall: Thursday, September 17 / 5-8pm SOLO EXHIBITION, OPENING RECEPTION: mudboy, Last Wishes A kinetic, in-the-dark installation consisting of several light ‘paintings’ opens in the Joan Lukas Rothenberg Gallery at Red House. The kinetic paintings use handmade optical projectors, LED lights and open source 8-bit controller technology to produce a constant moving image. Friday, September 18 / 7pm LIVE PERFORMANCES: Loud Objects and MV Carbon / Zach Layton This evening of experimental music at the Red House features the Loud Objects, performing live 1-bit circuit bending on an overhead projector, and MV Carbon and Zach Layton, performing on sitar, cello, electronics and feedback. Saturday, September 19 / 7pm SCREENING: ((audience)) Premiere The centerpiece of ((audience)) is a 2 1/2 hour program of sound artworks by eight international artists. Presented “in the dark” with full 5.1 surround sound, the evening will be an immersive experience in cinematic audio. The ((audience)) Main Program contains works by: Jamie Allen; Bryan Jacobs; Loud Objects; Simona Brinkmann; Natasha Barrett; Emmanuel Madan and Anna Friz; Cedric Maridet and a Syracuse exclusive by Uli Schuster. Thursday, September 24 / 7pm TAPE-MUSIC CONCERT: Music on All Sides This “in the dark” evening explores the use of 5.1 surround sound in the composition of experimental and new music. Featuring the work of John Hudak; R. Luke Dubois; and Brett Balogh and Stephen Hastings-King. Friday, September 25 7pm / SCREENING: Cinema for the Eyes and Ears This “psychedelic video mix” is composed of fractals, stochastic structures, autumn leaves, sprouting seeds, nebulae and one pumping stereo soundtrack. Featuring work by Sean Niessen; Dave Fischer; Sam Pellmann and Miranda Raimondi; and Michael Northam. 9pm / SCREENING: Psicklops A rare screening of mudboy’s “dark cinema psycho drama.” Sunday, September 27 / 2pm KARAOKE BRUNCH / CLOSING PARTY Join the curators of ((audience)) and Red House staff for a very special event combining live karaoke, coffee and waffles from Funk N’ Waffles. To be broadcast LIVE on Red House Radio. September 17 – September 27 / All day RADIO FEST For ten days, special programs on Red House Radio will be broadcast to coincide with the ((audience)) festival, including live performances, DJ mixes from contributing artists, artist talks and spotlights, and new and historic works of radio drama. Curated by Alexis Bhagat and Lauren Rosati. GENERAL INFORMATION For more information about ((audience)) at Red House Arts Center, please visit http://theredhouse.org or call 315-425-0405. Red House Arts Center is open Monday through Friday from 10am -5pm. Festival passes allow admission to each event and cost $20. Individual events cost $10. The opening of Last Wishes by mudboy on September 17 is free and open to the public. All events will be held at Red House Arts Center. Red House Arts Center / 201 S. West Street, Syracuse, NY / 13202 315-425-0405 / press@theredhouse.org ABOUT ((AUDIENCE)) ((audience)) is dedicated to the advancement of aural arts by providing wide distribution and new contexts for works by emerging and established sound artists and composers. For our first decade, ((audience)) will focus on the cinema as a technical and distributive platform, organizing a biennial nomadic art festival in partnership with select arts organizations worldwide. Conceived in 2006, ((audience)) will premiere in Syracuse, NY this year and will continue to travel internationally through 2010. We are partnering with local arts organizations in cities worldwide and expect to hold 12 further screenings/ festivals. Curatorial lectures, performances, artist presentations and exhibitions will coincide with screenings on a city-to-city basis. For more information on ((audience)), please visit http://au.dience.org. ((audience)) / mail: 39 Ave. A, Box 103, NY, NY 10009 / lauren@au.dience.org temporary HQ: 125 Maiden Lane, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10038 ((audience)) is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Swing Space program.
In composing “still life”, I recalled a fascinating experience during a recent stay on the Frioul archipelago, near Marseilles. While walking and recording sounds for various projects, I noticed a snail on the steps leading to my studio. Everyday I walked up and down those steps; I was constantly excited at the prospect of observing the progress this snail would manage. It was very cold and it looked to me as if the snail wasn’t moving at all. My enjoyment of the snail was the surreal concept that I could not observe its immediate progress but was aware of it by gauging how much progress it had made each day.
This project being in line with the minimal aesthetic I am interested in of late, i have decided to approach the sound of imperceptible change as audio “still life” .