Stripped and Exposed: Experiments with Sound, 2007
MIX Closing Gala: Because of the importance of sound in films, the MIX Queer Experimental Film Festival NYC has extended festival programming to include queer experimental performance audio components. MIX is working with musicians and artists from across US as well as international artists to present their works in a new exciting dialog alongside experimental filmmakers.
This live performance curation focuses on the experimentation of creating sounds, from altering traditional instruments, temporal recordings, to new technological advances for working with audio. Each artist uses various methods of understanding fundamental elements of sound to create a shift in our conventional way of hearing; exposing for us, the subtle elements of our own emotions, and the ever shifting understanding of the world around us; exciting and enticing us to explore a world full of possibilities, changes, dreams and desires. Curated by Ethan Shoshan, Approximate Run Time: 90min
Duo improvisations
James Coleman (Theremin) & Bill Hsu (computer)
James Coleman, one of very few free improvisers working with the spatially controlled Theremin, has been described as being able to “create an entire universe of ever-shifting textures” in performance. Bill Hsu uses a Wacom graphics tablet to control synthesis software, to achieve the nuanced and tactile qualities of acoustic instruments in improvisation. Coleman and Hsu are performing a set of free improvisations.
Calling Havona
Aimee Norwich (hybrid bass/noiseplayer)
The Urantia Book discusses spirituality, science, religion, history, philosophy and destiny and describes Havona as being a place where all sound originates. It is said that in Havona, harmony is the language of this perfectly balanced system of planets; and it is in Havona that sound begins and vibrates through all of existence. In “Calling Havona,” Aimee attempts to call on the celestial musical beings of Havona, so that they may show peace and beauty through their perfect sounds. www.aimeenorwich.com
LIVE TRANSMISSION: attention and drawing as time-based performance
Morgan O’Hara
The most immediate sign of life is movement. That which is alive, moves. LIVE TRANSMISSIONS render visible normally invisible or fleeting movement patterns through seismograph-like drawing done in real time. The pursuit of vitality carefully observed through human activity is drawn simultaneously with both hands and transmitted to paper. Following closely the intensity of each segment of an activity, the direction of the line as well as the quality of its intensity is transmitted. If a person makes a gentle movement, a delicate line is drawn. If the action followed is forceful or violent, a correspondingly vigorous line is made. This is done simultaneously and as much as possible without “thinking”. This is not automatic drawing, but its opposite, requiring great concentration and focus. www.morganohara.com
Despite Protestations
*V*I*R*G*O* & Charles Cohan
A provocative improvisational sound artwork that juxtaposes abstract layers of analog waveforms with incongruous concrète soundscapes of gay male pornography, gay-bashing scenes from Hollywood films, and gay civil rights protests. In Despite Protestations, veteran sound artists *V*I*R*G*O* and Charles Cohen focus on the omnipresent tension between sex, politics, and violence. Recalling the random juxtapositions of John Cage and the speech intelligibility experiments of Luciano Berio, Lars-Gunnar Bodin and Bengt Emil Johnson, *V*I*R*G*O* and Charles Cohen blend and distort their emotionally charged source recordings in numerous ways, exploring the boundary at which sounds originally laden with such profound meaning can be denuded of all coherent intelligibility.
Collision of Elements
KMZ (Ken Montgomery & Michael Zodorozny) will explore the collision of traditional electronic instruments and non-traditional sound making devices bringing about an unpredictable sonic soundscape. The audio collision will be illuminated by a mixed media visual presentation. www.atmotw.com
Mikilandia Productions
Raul De Nieves, Mikki M. Olson & Nathan Whipple will experiment with sound in forms of tape looping actions and outrageous physical performance. It’s hard for this crazy group to ever commit to a single idea as the work charges on schizophrenic personalities and paranormal activities that reach the depths of emotional psyche and farce to present to you what is uncalled for. No one is safe from their performances, so be prepared.
The Loud Objects
Tristan Perich, Kunal Gupta, Katie Shima & Chris McDonald elegantly bring a circuit to noisy life on an overhead projector, creating a semi-controlled soundscape of scrapes and glitches. The musicians, wielding soldering irons, live wires and microchips over a ramshackle overhead projector, wire up hand-programmed musical circuits, generating and manipulating electronic noise. www.loudobjects.com
SPECIAL INTIMATE PERFORMANCES: SOIE SOYEUSE (SILKY SILK)
Yvon Bonenfant
These 20-minute ‘personal performances’, created for audiences no larger than five, bring you into a world of silk and sound. Moving around you, Bonenfant chants intense stories – of wind and snow, of struggle and hunger, and of transformation and emergence – all through wordless singing and physical action. Vigorous and wild, yet somehow strangely sweet, this performance brings you into an audio encounter among live bodies and living, breathing hearts. Silky Silk is an invitation to engage with silk, to feel silk and to be silky. It opens our unconscious desire to enjoy one’s own skin, and to go on the difficult journey toward the liberation of skin to be sensual. www.yvonbonenfant.com