Harvestworks in Association with CT::SWaM presents two audio-visual multi-channel performance works that were commissioned and produced by the Harvestworks Artist-in-Residence Program.
The evening features All the more my thoughts multiply, a new work by Jane Rigler and Elizabeth Hoffman with video by Anna Weisling and The Audio Visual Matrix by diNMachine (Michael Schumacher and Nisi Jacobs).
Thursday May 5, 2016
Location: The Knockdown Center 52-19 Flushing Ave, Maspeth, NY 11378.
Time: 7p – 10p
Schedule:
7pm doors
7:30pm Introduction / Remarks with Jane Rigler, Elizabeth Hoffman and Anna Weisling
7:45pm Performance of All the more my thoughts multiply (~25 min.)
8:30pm Introduction / Remarks with diNMachine
8:45pm Performance of The Audio Visual Matrix (~45 min.)
About the Show:
Jane Rigler and Elizabeth Hoffman with video by Anna Weisling
All the more my thoughts multiply (2016) is a collaboration among Jane Rigler (concept, dramaturgy, flutes, movement, performer), Elizabeth Hoffman (live electroacoustic sound), and Anna Weisling (interactive video). Kimono Illustrations are by Katie Lim. Text is from the “Noh Performance Guide Aoinoue” with permission by the authors Monica Bethe and Richard Emmert.
This immersive character study for flutist, interactive sound and video explores the psychology and transformation of a lone character from the Noh play “Aoi-no-ue”, taken from the massive and influential 11th c. Japanese epic “Tale of Genji.” Possessiveness marks the greatest challenge to overcome. In this mono-drama multiple gestures assume significance: spatialized sound, movements of the flutist, and patterns of light and reflection. The questions this ancient Japanese folk story asks are still relevant today: do our possessions control us? and, how can we return to a state of interconnectedness?
diNMachine (Michael Schumacher and Nisi Jacobs)
The Audio Visual Matrix – An Interdisciplinary performance system commissioned by the Harvestworks Artist-in-Residence TEAM (Technology, Engineering, Art and Music) Lab.
diNMachine will perform in eight-channel sound. It will be the first performance with the Audio Visual Matrix software diNMachine developed with Tommy Martinez in residency at Harvestworks. A short introduction will preview the performance.
The Audio Visual Matrix (AVM) is an interdisciplinary performance system that enables fast and flexible interconnections of audio and video data streams to modulate content. The inspiration comes from the “pin” type matrices found on synthesizers like the EMS Synthi, where players patch any modulation source to any destination. The AVM uses a similar grid system to create paths between elements (instruments, computers, cameras, etc.) and allows for feedback loops as well as typical modulation. See: http://avm-dinmachine.tumblr.com/
BIOS
Elizabeth HOFFMAN composes in acoustic and electroacoustic media and teaches in the School of Arts and Science at New York University. She is increasingly interested in collaborations of multi-media that involve both fixed and improvisational elements, allowing sound to respond to a given space and to performer interaction. Prizes for her electroacoustic music have come from the Bourges and Prix Ars international competitions. She is also a recipient of NEA and MacDowell Colony award, and grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Seattle Arts Commission, and the International Computer Music Association.
Jane RIGLER, flutist, composer, improviser and educator studied at Northwestern University (B.M.) and the University of California, San Diego’s music program (M.M. and Ph.D.) which inspired her to focus on complicated contemporary repertoire, improvisation, and electronic music. She is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Colorado (Colorado Springs). She has been granted numerous awards and residencies for her works that center on community building, stretching the boundaries of musical performance and audience interaction. In 2009-10, Jane received the NEA-Japan United States Friendship Commission Fellowship and this year will attend the Civitella Ranieri artist residency. Her album Rarefactions (2015, Neuma Records) has been called “gripping” and “exciting.”
Anna WEISLING explores the relationship between sound and image and the performance possibilities shared by both. She has a Master’s degree in Sonic Arts from Queen’s University Belfast and is currently pursuing a PhD in Digital Media at Georgia Tech.
Michael J. SCHUMACHER is a composer, performer and installation artist based in New York City. Working predominantly with electronic and digital media, he creates sound environments that evolve over long time periods. He imbues these generative, algorithmic structures with an abundance of sonic material, resulting in forms that flow through a wide range of moods, timbral combinations and textural densities.
Schumacher’s sound installations have been heard at Art in General, Apex Art, PS 1, The Kitchen and Sculpture Center in New York City, CCNOA in Brussels, Singuhr Gallery and Tesla in Berlin, the Museum for Applied Arts in Frankfurt , the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon, Triskel Arts Center in Cork, Ireland, Transmissions Festival and ESS in Chicago, Tone Deaf Festival in Kingston, Ontario, The Sound Art Museum in Rome, )toon Festival in Haarlem, RADAR in Mexico City and others. www.michaeljschumacher.com
Nisi JACOBS plays bass, keys, percussion in diNMachine. diNMachine’s new release The Opposites of Unity on Greedy Dilettante Records is out 1.22.16. Dance to Reason, mixed/produced by Bill Laswell, was released in 2014. Recent performances include Union Pool, Le Poisson Rouge, Secret Project Robot with Ken Jacobs’ Nervous Magic Lantern, Pianos, Silent Barn, Palisades, Cameo Gallery, Shapeshifter Lab, Bowery Electric, Trans-Pecos, AS220 and BSP Lounge.
Nisi has a BFA in painting from The Cooper Union. Her sound piece ‘Grommets’ with Ken Jacob’s stroboscopic video was presented in 5.1 surround at the Berlinale 2015. Nisi’s video pieces and installations have been included in programs at Tribeca Film Festival, Hong Kong Film Festival, Circulo de Bellas Artes of Madrid, Maya Stendhal Gallery, Diapason Gallery, Jeu De Paume Museum, SONAR Festival, CalArts Film/Video Cinematheque, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, The Alejandro Otero Museum, National Cinamatheque of Spain, Manchester Metropolitan University of England, River-to-River Film Festival, Ear to the Earth Festival, among others. Nisi has curated multichannel A/V programs for SYNCH Electronic Festival, Phatory Gallery, HOWL Film Festival and Diapason Gallery.
Nisi instructed video editing and sound design from 2003-2012 at numerous institutions, primarily NYU Graduate Center of Advanced Digital Applications (2005-2012), and certified Apple Authorized Training Centers (Final Cut Pro, Motion ACT). She has been Ken Jacobs’ editor/colorist at Big Commotion Pictures, LLC since 2001 (see selected editing credits below).
About Harvestworks
Harvestworks’ mission is to present experimental artworks created in collaboration with their Technology, Engineering, Art and Music (TEAM) Lab. The Harvestworks T.E.A.M Lab supports the creation of art works achieved through the use of new and evolving technologies and provides an environment for experimentation with project consultants, technicians, instructors and innovative practitioners in all branches of the electronic arts. http://www.harvestworks.org/
About CT::SWaM [Contemporary Temporary Sound Works And Music]
CT::SWaM [Contemporary Temporary Sound Works And Music] is an artist-run series that has been presenting performances, installations and workshops in spaces such as Eyebeam’s former Chelsea location, Fridman Gallery, and The Knockdown Center in NYC, as well as Neu West Berlin in Berlin. The series, initiated by Daniel Neumann in 2012, focuses on spatial sound works, where the distribution and localization of sounds is a primary compositional parameter and a central feature for the listener. These works consider architectural, acoustical and technological factors in exploring the complex and dynamic relationship between sound and space. The formats are open and include contemporary sound experiments, electro-acoustic multi-channel composition, improvisation, non-traditional performance configurations, lowercase artistic presence, and workshops – all of which diverge from a fixed perspective on audible space.
Kimono Illustrations by Katie Lim
Instagram: k_lim20