Category: Audiovisual


LIVE: MULTI-HAT EVENT

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18 January 2019

MULTI-HAT EVENT

Tuesday, January 29, 2019, 20:30-24:00

Place: Lavaklubi, Kansallisteatteri (National Theatre)

Address: Läntinen Teatterikuja 1, Helsinki

Free admission

Multi-Hat Event

An evening of video art, music, sound, performance art, design and conversation.

Special guest: video and performance artist Barbara Rosenthal (USA).

 

ARTISTS

Video + Sound, performance – Barbara Rosenthal
Co-hosts – Charlie Morrow, Maija-Leena Remes
* * *
Video graphics + Music – Otto Romanowski
Sounds – Juhani Liimatainen
Sound poet – Juha Valkeapää
Video + Sound – Petri Kuljuntausta
Video, new city project – Martti Aiha
Video + Multitrack sound – Olga Palomäki
Turntable – Harri Koskinen
Video + Sound – Remes & Morrow
3D sound-masking, soundscapes – MorrowSound

SOUND POETRY
Juha Valkeapää & Juhani Liimatainen: Winter Birds
Charlie Morrow: Arctic Sounds (video+audio)

VIDEO WORKS
Barbara Rosenthal: Two Mediated Performances:
1. I’m Growing Up (using projected masks)
2. Existential Photo-Run (blind scrambles through her own projected, distorted photographs)

Martti Aiha: Sculpture Dance & UrBaana
Petri Kuljuntausta: Handshake (with live soundtrack)
Remes & Morrow: Two Cellos 1-2 (performers Juho Laitinen, Seeti Laitinen) & Time Spiral (Hannu Kähönen, designer)
Olga Palomäki: Parallel Landscape I-II
Otto Romanowski: Border

DESIGN
Harri Koskinen: Turntable (the performers will play the instrument during the evening).

DISCUSSION
All artists.

Barbara Rosenthal (born in the Bronx, lives in New York City) is an American avant-garde artist, writer and performer. Her existential themes have contributed to contemporary art and philosophy. Her pseudonyms include “Homo Futurus,” taken from the title of one of her books, and “Cassandra-on-the-Hudson”, which alludes to her studio and residence since 1998 on the Hudson River in Greenwich Village, NYC, and “the dangerous world she envisions”.
Rosenthal is idiosyncratic and prolific. She is known for often revisiting past works, recombining old elements with new, and often appears in her work in some way. These may include x-rays, brain scans and clothing. Sometimes she utilizes physical or textual elements from her journals. As a creative artist within the fields of surrealism and existentialism, Rosenthal brings existential content, via the subconscious, to conceptual art and is known for her intense introspection. and by using herself “as a guinea pig”, explores what it means to be human. Her personal vision evolves with advancing technology.
As an artist, Rosenthal is known as an Old Master of New Media because of her long history in media including photography, video, performance, projection installation, interactive, electronic and digital media, text, collage, prints, artists’ books and objects. Almost all are produced in editions. Most combine camera, text and performative aspects. Elements of Rosenthal’s body of work, “Surreal Photography” are often present.
http://www.barbararosenthal.org/

Note: On Monday 28.1.2019, 18:00-21:00, Barbara Rosenthal event is at Vuotalo, Vuosaari Helsinki. Discussion at 17:00 at Vuotalo Cafe. See more about the event.

Charlie Morrow (born in Newark NJ, based in Barton, Vermont and Helsinki ) is an American sound artist, composer, conceptualist and performer. His creative projects have included chanting and healing works, museum and gallery installations, large-scale festival events, radio and TV broadcasts, film soundtracks, commercial sound design and advertising jingles. He holds patents in immersive sound method and believes: “the future lies in composing environments as well as music as we know it: bringing the skills of composition to where we live, work and circulate, as in a city.” Born to a family of doctors and inventors, Morrow uses his creativity to make tools to share with others—not only musicians and sound artists, but teachers, architects, and engineers – “so that they might create positive spaces for work, education, and healing.” He is creative director of Charles Morrow Productions LLC CMP PBP. www.charliemorrow.com, www.morrowsound.com

Olga Palomäki is a visual and sound artist. S/he is fascinated by the lost, forgotten and the unseen. Palomäki makes experimental sounds based on field recordings. Olga’s sound works are influenced by dark ambient- and drone music. S/he captures man-made sounds and background noise, using them as instrumenta by modifying the recordings and shaping them into a new form. Palomäki makes videos that illustrate the world created by the sounds. Palomäki’s works have been on display in several solo- and joint exhibitions, radio shows and sound art/experimental music events, film- and video festivals and screenings in Finland and several other European countries. Palomäki has perfomed live at different venues in Finland and abroad. S/he graduated from Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Fine Arts Programme in 2007. http://olgapalomaki.net/

Maija-Leena Remes is editor, writer and translator in multiple languages. She creates and develops MorrowSound presentations, exhibitions, installations and business in Europe and in the USA. She has produced 3D sound recordings, videos and interactive media. She created the Modern English libretto and subtitles for MorrowSound’s DVD Beowulf, featuring Ben Bagby singing solo in Old English. She edited the MorrowSound Empire State Building audio tour script and supervised its translation into seven foreign languages. She is editor of medical, technological and literary texts for various international clients. She is literary translator of essays and 30 books for numerous publishing houses. As a permanent free-lance journalist of the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, she translated, edited and directed production of subtitles and voice-overs, ranging from plays, movies, songs and documentaries to children’s programs. Her hobby is music and she is an amateur violist. As a child she was singer and performer on YLE Radio. With Charlie Morrow, she is co-producer of video works including Two Cellos and Time Spiral.

Martti Aiha is a widely acknowledged artist, not least for public sculptures in Helsinki such as the starkly monumental Rumba (1992) at Salmisaari and the more ambient Länsilinkki (2011), an artistic articulation of a bridge for the ‘Western Link’ highway. Aiha’s idiosyncratic mix of frivolous automatism, reliable craftsmanship and heavy-duty construction became a hallmark of Finnish art in the 1980s and also earned him a following in the other Nordic countries. He was, for instance, awarded the Prince Eugene Medal in Sweden in 2013. His new book- Martti Aiha: Drawings published by Parus Verus.

Otto Romanowski has studied the theory of music, computer music and composing at the Sibelius Academy, in addition to musicology at the Helsinki University. Romanowski is one of the most notable Finnish authorities in computer music. His works are essentially interdisciplinary and inter artistic, and since 1990 he has concentrated also on creating computer graphics and multimedia. Romanowski is a renowned lecturer in music technology and is currently employed as a lecturer at the Sibelius Academy Department of Music Technology in the University of the Arts Helsinki. http://romanowski.art

Border, (video+audio)
In the concert, we will hear version with real-time improvisation. Total dur. about 5-7′. Border is simple by definition, but many borders are actually very complex (mentally, culturally or politically). Hopefully world and people would need less and less borders.

Juha Valkeapää & Juhani Liimatainen

Juhani Liimatainen is a Finnish sound designer and sound artist who worked as a sound designer at Yleisradio (Finnish Broadcasting Company) between 1974-2002, and as a professor of sound design at the Theatre Academy of the University of Arts, Finland. At Yleisradio he maintained and developed the Experimental Studio, taught composers and musicians, and oversaw the design and execution of live electronics for studio and concert productions. He has done studio work with composers such as Paavo Heininen, Magnus Lindberg, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Kaija Saariaho, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Since 2002 Liimatainen has been professor of sound design at the Theatre Academy of Finland. He is a longtime member of the Toimii Ensemble, where he has been responsible for sound reproduction, live electronics, tapes, and videos, and with which he has appeared frequently as part of the solo group in Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft. He has also worked with the Avanti! orchestra and the Finnish Theater Orchestra, among other ensembles, and has performed with the groups Free Okapi, Son Panic and HumppAvanti! Liimatainen’s sound design and compositional work includes numerous theatrical productions, operas, festivals, and recordings.

*   *   *

Juha Valkeapää is a vocal artist and performance maker with a 25-year long career of performances, installations, radio pieces and soundscapes – solos and various group works – vocal & sound & performance art, theatre, music, dance. The key elements of his art are voice / sound, presence, space and improvisation. Juha is more than a vocal artist and performance maker. The subject sets the form: most of his art is based on sound and performance, but if the subject demands a three-meter high wooden guy, he will sculpt one, and if it needs a book, he will write one. Wooden Guy is a sound sculpture. He performs with it in A Guy and a Wooden Guy. And he has written a booklet, with the same title, of the process of making it & other stuff.

*   *   *

Winter Birds

The duo creates a scenery of everyday and mythological birds, like sparrow, great tit, starling, pigeon, seagull, swan, eagle owl, raven, loon, cuckoo, phoenix, and Tux penguin. Juhani plays synthesizers, Juha his voice. And they dress in feathers. The Bird Concert’s first version was performed at Saaren kartano in May 2018.

Petri Kuljuntausta is a composer, improviser, musician, and sonic artist. He has performed underwater music for an underwater audience, improvised with the birds, and made music out of whale calls and the sounds of the northern lights. As an artist he often works with environmental sounds, live-electronics, and installation art. Kuljuntausta has performed or collaborated with Morton Subotnick, Atau Tanaka, Richard Lerman, David Rothenberg, and Sami van Ingen, among others. He has made over 100 recordings for various record labels in Australia, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Sweden, UK and the USA. Star’s End and Inner Space radio shows selected Kuljuntausta’s ”Momentum” as one of the most significant CD releases of the year. Kuljuntausta has published three books on Sound Art and Electronic Music. In 2005 he won an award, The Finnish State Prize for Art, from the Finnish government as a distinguished national artist. http://kuljuntausta.com/

Harri Koskinen has an uncompromising, bold design aesthetic that has gained him international renown since the early days of his career. Practicality, a spare style and a conceptual approach to product and spatial design are Koskinen’s trademarks. Founded in 2000, Koskinen’s creative industrial design agency Friends of Industry Ltd. is involved in concept and product design. In 2009, Koskinen launched his first namesake furniture collection, Harri Koskinen Works.
Koskinen’s works have been on display in exhibitions around the world. He has been awarded several major design prizes, such as the Kaj Franck Design Prize (2014), Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize (2009), the Pro Finlandia Medal (2007) and the Compasso d’Oro prize (2004). His clients include Alessi, Arabia, Artek, Cassina IXC, Design House Stockholm, Finlandia Vodka Worldwide, Gallerie Kreo, Genelec, Iittala, Issey Miyake, Montina, Muji, Panasonic, Seiko Instruments Inc., Swarovski, Venini and Woodnotes.

 

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Akusmata Sound Festival 2018

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15 November 2018

Akusmata Sound Festival 2018
3. – 5.12.2018

mon 3.12. | Zach Rowden solo (USA) + duo Zach Rowden & Petri Kuljuntausta
tue 4.12. | Johanna Sulkunen Sonority (DK) & Tapani Toivanen (in collaboration w/ We Jazz festival)
wed 5.12. | Ilia Belorukov (RU) & Dmitri Zherbin, Lauri Wuolio, Sama Sasha (in collaboration w/ Jozik Records)

Doors: 18:30 | Live: 19:00

*   *   *

Akusmata

Tukholmankatu 7 K, 00730 Helsinki

Zach Rowden

Zach Rowden (USA) deals with the acoustic and performative possibilities of the upright/electric bass & fiddle. He plays improvisations and create new sounds by preparing his double bass with, for example, a cowbell, binder clips and wooden dowels. Current projects/collaborators include Iancu Dumitrescu and the late Ana-Maria Avram’s Hyperion Ensemble (member/soloist), The Ghost (with Michael Foster, Derek Baron) Tongue Depressor (with Henry Birdsey), Charmaine Lee, Tyshawn Sorey, Robert Black, Leila Bordreuil, Paul Flaherty, Chris Cretella, Matt Sargent, and Wendy Eisenberg. Venues he has played include Harpa, Issue Project Room, The Kitchen, Silo City, Firehouse 12, Romanian Radio Hall, Cafe OTO, Heimathafen Neukölln, Real Art Ways as well as beautiful living rooms/basements/warehouses across the United States and Europe.
https://zachrowden.bandcamp.com/

Petri Kuljuntausta

Petri Kuljuntausta (kuljuntausta.com) is a composer, improviser, guitarist, and sonic artist. He has performed music for an underwater audience, improvised with the birds, and made music out of whale calls and the sounds of the northern lights. As an artist he often works with environmental sounds and live-electronics, and create sound installations for galleries/museums.

Kuljuntausta has performed or collaborated with Morton Subotnick, Atau Tanaka, Richard Lerman, David Rothenberg, and Sami van Ingen, among others. He has made over 100 recordings for various record labels in Australia, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Sweden, UK and the USA. Star’s End and Inner Space radio shows selected Kuljuntausta’s ”Momentum” as one of the most significant CD releases of the year. Kuljuntausta has published three books on Sound Art and Electronic Music. In 2005 he won an award, The Finnish State Prize for Art, from the Finnish government as a distinguished national artist.

Johanna Sulkunen Sonority

(in collaboration w/ We Jazz festival)

Johanna Sulkunen, voc & electronics + Tapani Toivanen, visuals (DK/FI)

Please note that the tickets (18,00/12,00€) for this concert will be sold only in advance through the We Jazz festival and Lippu online ticket service.

*   *   *

Johanna Sulkunen has been a noted figure in the Copenhagen scene for over ten years. Now she presents her groundbraking solo concept Sonority live at We Jazz. What we get to witness is a combination of left-field pop, electronica, contemporary classical music mixed with jazz influences. A unique live experience not to be missed.

Sulkunen’s sonic journey touches on life’s big questions. She imagines this journey to Kōan, the paradoxical-absurdist riddle without a solution, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and provokes enlightenment. Sulkunen’s Sonority references at times the fractured syllables lingo of Norwegian Sidsel Endresen, the ascetic minimalism of Pauline Oliveros and Morton Feldman and the detailed electronics soundscapes of Ikue Mori. But repeated listenings reveal more and more nuances and colors in Sulkunen bold journey. Her new found language and manipulated voice are used as a provocative Kōan. Forcing the listener to adopt a fresh, a deep listening-meditative approach, sometimes even dream state of mind to language and voices. To accept its transient suchness and not to attach to any of it. To experience fully, now and with big ears, its myriad, colorful aspects before it flows into nothingness.

https://soundcloud.com/johannaelina/sets/sonority_koan/s-Aj9HG
https://youtu.be/XA2LuHl2kBk
www.johannaelinasulkunen.com

Belorukov & Zherbin

The duo of Ilia Belorukov and Dmitri Zherbin performs electronic improvisations.
 
Ilia Belorukov (RUS)
 Ilia Belorukov is a musician from Saint-Petersburg, Russia. He works in the directions of improvised, noise and electroacoustic music. He’s a member of different projects with local and foreign musicians. He collaborates with artists who work in other musical directions (from hardcore and metal to academic contemporary music); with dancers and painters; with theater. Ilia practices an experimental approach of sound extraction on alto saxophone with objects, uses electronics and other instruments. He is also a founder of Intonema label (www.intonema.org) and one of curators of Spina!rec label (www.spinarec.bandcamp.com).
http://belorukov.blogspot.fi/

Dmitri Zherbin
Dmitri Zherbin is a musician and sound artist. The music of Dmitri Zherbin is dark, murky and abstract – definitely not easy listening, but definitely an adventurous one. DZ: -“It’s hard to say how and when exactly I became interested in experimental music. I listen to lots of stuff, not only experimental. I think it was those American rock bands (Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Animal Collective, just to name a few) who first introduced me to experimental side of alternative music. I also got introduced to DIY culture by going to hardcore punk shows. Putting on gigs, releasing records – it’s all from there. Only that at some point I realized, that I felt more comfortable playing different kind of music. So yeah, it might seem a bit complicated, but I think all those elements together somehow affected my current musical preferences.”

Lauri Wuolio

Lauri Wuolio is a Finnish composer and artist. He studied in the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, focusing on sound art and obtaining his MA degree in 2012. In the written part of his thesis he studied campanology (the study of bells) in context of contemporary sound art. His final work “In Girum Imus Nocte” consisted of a set of bells struck by mechanical hammers and infrared sensors tracking the movements of the audience. Wuolio has composed music to films and stage. He is also an active live performer. His stay in Berlin in 2009 marked a shift to percussion instruments and two years later he got his first cupola (handpan). “I have played music since I was four. I started with cello, then came piano, saxophone and classical guitar, but I didn’t feel free until I found the cupola.”

In Wuolio’s music one can hear traces of Steve Reich, Brian Eno and more contemporary electronic acts such as Tim Hecker, Boards of Canada and Pan Sonic. “When younger, I was soaked with sounds and rhythms of experimental electronic music. Now this history vibrates in the acoustic music I make.” In autumn of 2013, after a couple of handmade cdr-releases, Wuolio released his first album under the moniker Kumea Sound, which combines his sound art background to his experience as a street musician. His second album, “Real Music for Unreal Times”, was released in 2015. Third album, “Oceans of Sadness, Mountains of Hope” was released digitally in autumn of 2017. Wuolio lives and works in Helsinki.

http://www.wuolio.fi/

Sama Sasha

Sama Sasha is an experimental music project of Helsinki-based musician, artist and illustrator Sasha Kretova. In all her creative outlets Sasha‘s main focus has always been on simplicity and finding inspiration in everyday things that may otherwise seem boring and mundane. For her sound work Sasha collects “waste” sounds from social media and uses objects that surround her to make her compositions.
https://unline.bandcamp.com/track/27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meYxphA7EKQ

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LIVE: Graphite Barrier: Ann Rosén – Mikko Raasakka – Petri Kuljuntausta

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31 October 2018

GRAPHITE BARRIER

Ann Rosén – Mikko Raasakka – Petri Kuljuntausta

CANCELED. Due to some unforeseen circumstances we regretfully have to cancel this event. However we are planning new concerts for 2019. We will let you know.

 

Concert at Myymälä2 gallery, Uudenmaankatu 23 F, Helsinki

Saturday, November 10th, 2018, at 19.00

Musicians: Mikko Raasakka clarinet and objects, Petri Kuljuntausta electric guitar and objects, and Ann Rosén electronics.

Produced by Akusmata and Myymälä2.

GRAPHITE BARRIER – an instrument, composition and project by Ann Rosén.

The Graphite Barrier instrument consists of graphite, paper, computer and Ann Rosén´s own software with which she can create and control sounds by drawing. Through playing the Graphite Barrier instrument one can play, conduct and generate graphic scores all at the same time.

https://vimeo.com/channels/935518

https://soundcloud.com/schhh-production/sets/the-great-barrier-orchestra

http://storabarriarorkestern.se/

Ann Rosén

Ann Rosén‘s sound art involves expanding the palette of sounds using her own selfbuilt instruments. Glitches, sparks and clicks, white noise and electronic artefacts characterise her sound world, as do spatial soundscapes created using real-time synthesis. Many times there are visual elements of design, equipment and materials innovatively integrated into her performances. In recent years the composing – usually in combination with Ann Rosén’s self-made electronic musical instruments – has taken an increasingly large place in her oeuvre. In the work RESILIENCE and through the BARRIER ORCHESTRA, her long artistic activity is mirrored in modular pieces for the custom-built instruments KNEECUFF and INTEOCH, voice and mixed instrumentation. THE BARRIER ORCHESTRA and the piece RESILIENCE are part of Ann Rosén’s The Great Barrier Orchestra project, which aims to challenge our inner and outer barriers, deepen collaboration with the musicians, composing and developing new instruments, playing techniques, music and art.

Mikko Raasakka

Mikko Raasakka (www.raasakka.net) is a freelance clarinetist living in Helsinki, Finland. Mikko completed his artistic doctorate at the Sibelius Academy 2005. He works as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, improviser and pedagogue. Mikko has premiered dozens of new clarinet works, including five concertos. As a member of defunensemble, an ensemble devoted to contemporary electro acoustic music, he appears regularly at the European new music festivals. Mikko makes regularly recordings for the Finnish Broadcasting Company. His solo CD Eliangelis (Alba Records 2014) had an enthusiastic reception. Mikko is the author of a guide on contemporary clarinet technique Exploring the clarinet. In addition to all members of the clarinet family Mikko plays the liru, an archaic Finnish folk clarinet.

Petri Kuljuntausta

Petri Kuljuntausta (kuljuntausta.com) is a composer, improviser, guitarist, and sonic artist. He has performed music for an underwater audience, improvised with the birds, and made music out of whale calls and the sounds of the northern lights. As an artist he often works with environmental sounds and live-electronics, and create sound installations for galleries/museums.

Kuljuntausta has performed or collaborated with Morton Subotnick, Atau Tanaka, Richard Lerman, David Rothenberg, and Sami van Ingen, among others. He has made over 100 recordings for various record labels in Australia, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Sweden, UK and the USA. Star’s End and Inner Space radio shows selected Kuljuntausta’s ”Momentum” as one of the most significant CD releases of the year. Kuljuntausta has published three books on Sound Art and Electronic Music. In 2005 he won an award, The Finnish State Prize for Art, from the Finnish government as a distinguished national artist.

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LIVE: Sound Forum

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12 May 2018

SOUND FORUM

Fri 18.5.2018 at 19:00
Voluntary 5e entrance fee
Place: Forum Box, Ruoholahdenranta 3a Helsinki
Produced by Akusmata
* * *
Supported by
Nordic Culture Point
Nordisk Kulturfond / Puls
Pro Helvetia
Kultur Stadt Bern
Stadt Biel / Bienne
Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern
* * *

ARTISTS

Michael J. Schumacher (USA)
solo electronics w/ PMcSS, a portable multichannel sound system

Duo Michael J. Schumacher + Petri Kuljuntausta, guitar & electronics

Ann Rosén (SWE)
solo electronics with the candles and sensors

Duo Christian Kobi + Christian Müller
Christian Kobi (SUI), soprano saxophone
Christian Müller (SUI), bass-clarinet, sampler and electronic sound

Brinicle
Mike McCormick (CAN) electric guitar
Håkon Norby Bjørgo (NOR) double bass
Michaela Antalová (SVK) drums

City Mirage
Nina-Maria Oförsagd video
PerViktor Hjalmarsson (SWE) piano
Petri Kuljuntausta electronics and guitar
Philip Holm tailor’s fiddle, bass
Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo text reading
Sergio Castrillón (COL) cello
* * *


MICHAEL J. SCHUMACHER

Composer Michael J. Schumacher (USA) has devised a portable multichannel sound system (the PMcSS) for the presentation and performance of his compositions and improvisations. Complete with speakers, amplifier, interface, wires and computer, the entire system weighs 30 pounds and can be carried in a suitcase and backpack. Schumacher has toured Europe with the system (a second tour is in May 2018) and given numerous one-off concerts in the United States, as soloist as well as with improvisors including instrumentalists from various musical disciplines, poets, dancers, performance artists and videoists. Currently, Schumacher has been presenting a set of compositions called Variations, a 45 minute set of short (3-7 minute) pieces that transpose the classical idea of variation into the areas of spatialization and timbre.

For more Info, see http://michaeljschumacher.com/
‘Composing is Listening’: https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/michael-j-schumacher-composing-is-listening/

Michael J. Schumacher’s lecture will be held earlier on that day at the Theatre Academy main building (Haapaniemenkatu 6). The lecture is open for the public.

 


ANN ROS​É​N​

CANDELA
Shadows and light, candles and sound. By moving lit candles and creating shadows with her hands Ann Rosén (SWE) ​creates live electronic music. Dark twisting harmonies, subliminal glitches and drones are counterpointed by fragile noise drops and the sound of a distant overclocked computer breaking down. The instrument is essentially a bowl equipped with candles, light sensors and a microprocessor that sends data to a synthesis engine. The instrument is very responsive to its surroundings and Ann Rosén can play by moving her instrument in relation to existing light and shadow patterns as well as directly manipulating the candles and sensors. Ann Rosén’s sound art involves expanding the palette of sounds with timbres using sensors to register changing tensions in cloth instruments to control computer generated sounds and processes. Glitches, sparks and clicks, white noise and electronic artefacts characterise Ann Rosén’s sound world, as do spatial soundscapes created using real-time synthesis.

www.storabarriarorkestern.se
www.annrosen.se
https://youtu.be/Zkr3l-hXxLA

 


CHRISTIAN KOBI – CHRISTIAN MÜLLER

A SECOND DAY
Christian Kobi (SUI) ​and Christian Müller (SUI) present with A Second Day a radical and novel sound world, in which they explore the sound potentialities of their reed instruments: bass clarinet and soprano saxophone. While the five pieces are based on precise concepts, they are played in a free and open way, emphasizing the instruments’ characteristics as well as the different musical approaches.

A Second Day is an exploration in the microstructures of sound. Christian Kobi uses a highly sensitive microphone to capture the rich acoustic sound and sound colors of his soprano saxophone. The electronic musician and clarinet player Christian Müller works with an experimental realtime-sampler and electronic sound effects to zoom into the sound objects played on his bass clarinet. As soulmates in the search for new sound qualities of their respective instruments Kobi and Müller create a subtle and peculiar sound universe.

http://www.christiankobi.ch/
http://www.christianmueller.me/
http://www.christianmueller.me/proj_kobimueller.html


BRINICLE

BRINICLE is an Oslo-based improvising trio comprised of Mike McCormick (CAN) on electric guitar, Håkon Norby Bjørgo (NOR) on upright bass, and Michaela Antalová (SVK) on drum kit and percussion. All highly dynamic and thoughtful instrumentalists, their performances can be unabashedly chaotic, introspectively calm, and anywhere in between.

After meeting in the fall of 2015, the members of BRINICLE quickly discovered their common interests in the energy and dynamism expressed by avant-garde improvisers and the exciting instrumental colours suggested by post-rockers, and began to make music that meets somewhere in the middle. In the last three years, they have played concerts in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Switzerland and their debut recording “First Frost” will be released in Spring 2018 on Creative Sources Recordings.

https://www.facebook.com/brinicleband/
https://mikemccormickmusic.com/music/brinicle/
https://soundcloud.com/brinicle-band


CITY MIRAGE

City Mirage (FIN/SWE) is a performing group that combines a video screening with improvised music, sound, text reading and performance. In City Mirage screenings different cities of Far East are brought together through a number of selected video sequences. The video is a visual score for live music improvisation. It gives impulses for the performers and form for the interpretation. The order and number of the video sequences is different in every performance. Thus every performance ​of the ​​City Mirage ​will be different and unique. ​​In City Mirage the main question is about how we sense and understand the environments, understand and visualize time by observing movement of its habitants and by studying historical layers of the spaces. Sounds shape our understanding of a place and open us different dimensions of time and space – leading and shaping our interpretation.

http://cargocollective.com/citymirage
https://vimeo.com/259431529

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Lasse-Marc Riek & Verena Freyschmidt: Schattenpfade Helsinki

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29 March 2018

Lasse-Marc Riek & Verena Freyschmidt
Schattenpfade Helsinki

An audio-visual installation

Multichannel sounds, Paper Art, Light

Open: 3.-6.4.2018

Opening Hours: 14-18, Tue-Fri

The concert of Lasse-Marc Riek on Friday 6.4. at 18:30.


Schattenpfade Helsinki
An audio-visual installation by Verena Freyschmidt and Lasse-Marc Riek.

The walk-in installation piece “Schattenpfade” by Verena Freyschmidt and a multichannel sound-composition by Lasse-Marc Riek. The cut-out traces abstract forms and structures are emphasized in their interplay with light. Emanating from multiple locations in the space, the composition of natural and artificial sounds completes the cut-out and lets emerge in an enticing atmosphere of sound, light, and shadow.
This work is designed and composed for the Akusmata.

As part of the exhibition, there will be a Gruenrekorder stand with recordings from the publication catalog.

Lasse-Marc Riek

Lasse-Marc Riek (1975, Germany) uses different forms of expression in his production methods. His works are interdisciplinary and can be conceived as groups of works of both visual art (action and conceptual art) and sound art. His art of sound can be described in terms such as acoustic ecology, bio acoustics and soundscapes.

Here, Riek uses field recordings, storing them with different recording media, editing, archiving, and presenting them in different contexts.

Since 1997, he has operated internationally with exhibitions, releases, concerts, lectures, workshops, awards, and projects and given performances in galleries, art museums, churches, and universities. He has made contributions in the public media as well as in public radio and received scholarships and artist-in-residence programs realized in Europe and Africa.

Riek is the owner of Gruenrekorder label, which is specialised on soundscape music and sound art.

Verena Freyschmidt
Verena Freyschmidt (1975, Frankfurt Germany) studied history and art education in Gießen from 1996 to 2000. Until 2002 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Mainz and from 2002 to 2006 at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Since the end of 2015 she has been teaching at the Alanus University for Art and Society in Alfter near Bonn. She lives and works in Dusseldorf.

“In my work, the organic structures in nature are important,” says Freyschmidt, “lines and natural spaces, actually inner landscapes.” And: “It also has something to do with research, the microcosm and the macrocosm.” She is interested in “the fractal geometry of nature”, but also works with directed coincidence.

Freyschmidts materials are mainly the paper, the pen and the scissors. According to Katja Ebert-Krüdener, she takes lines, structures and formations from what she has seen and remembered, and puts them into new contexts. This results in large-format paper cuts, as well as free artistic creations and nature’s impressions. Like organic processes, fractal structures are increasingly conquering space.”

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VOIX – A Group Exhibition

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22 February 2018

VOIX

Variety of sounds and ties to realities

A Group Exhibition

Date: 26.2. – 9.3.

Opening time:  Mon – Fri, klo 14-18.

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The University of Lapland brings to Helsinki a VOIX sound exhibition with nine artists. In the works will be examined the own space, environment, mass tourism, world conflicts, musical dimensions and independence. Artists come from Finland and China.

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Artists:

Dao (CN)
Kari Hautanen
Pekka Kumpulainen
Heidi Kenttälä
Dawei Li (CN)
Roope Mäenpää
Markku Riipi
Jari Rinne
Heikki Timonen

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DAO: EMPTY JOY

[Empty Joy] is a sound acquisition project that started in June 2017. It takes about 2 months to collect the national traditional music, Shaman’s sacrificial music, sound of nature and atmosphere in southwest China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. The movie [Empty Joy VOL1/Nothing], as a part of sound art project [Empty Joy], takes the concept of sound movie, is the Dao’s extension and experiment in his work. The sound acquisition project collects various sound, including the sacrificial music from Miao(a minority in Asia) in Vietnam, the Jinuo traditional songs, noise from flea markets in Dali(a major city in Yunnan), the sound of Buddhists’ chanting and bell ringing in Polo Temple in mountains, the sound when people practicing White Crane boxing, the sound comes from hundreds of bats in deserted temple in Vietnam and the sound recorded from Dao’s improvisation with local musicians in a reggae bar on Khao San Road in Thailand. At the same time, he inserts the clues of his experience in the movie, which are three sections of Dao performing saxophone and cello in the street. Dao uses the materials as veins of the sound movie and his story, playing a non-vison, auditory stimulation based movie.

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DAWEI  LI: 1200 SECONDS OF SUNSHINE IN BERLIN

Some images do not need to be processed or modified, just recording real pictures. The secret is the image itself, and it shows some sights to you, just like a mirror. The experimental image of 1,200 seconds of sunlight in Berlin is a coincidence. When first coming to Berlin, I was impressed by its unsettled weather that sun and rain often appeared in one day. I often saw that amounts of clouds fluttered with the wind in a fine weather, sunshine constantly appearing among the clouds. This scenery is very common in Berlin, but it can show different conditions under different substances. In a morning, I got up, seeing the sunlight filtering through the curtain into my interim studio in Berlin, where the shadows and the sunlight were interlaced with the moving clouds. I didn’t open the curtain to see the flowing clouds and sunny sky, while picturing this beautiful moment. MI Lin and I quickly move out the window workbench, starting to record this scenery. Also, some words from us and some voice of cough were included, I didn’t delete these because they were also necessary parts in the image.

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KARI HAUTANEN: UMBRELLA

A downward umbrella is hanging from the ceiling, with a small loudspeaker attached to it. The sound of rain can be heard through the loudspeaker. The umbrella acts as a parabolic reflector that reflects the sounds directly down. The sound is only heard when a PIR motion sensor detects a potential listener below the umbrella. The sound is produced using an Arduino microcomputer and an included SD memory card, plus a small loudspeaker. The umbrella is made of transparent plastic, with diameter ca. 70 cm.

 

KARI HAUTANEN: MIRROR

A board, or mirror, in which the sound that is heard transforms according to the general colouring of clothing of an approaching person. The board is located on the wall, and a viewer is able to see his or her own reflection. The camera lens monitors an approaching viewer and draws its own conclusions about the colours and the matching sounds. The computer and other electronics needed to produce the sound are latent. Colour analysis is carried out using RGB and Luminance sensors. The sound is produced using an Arduino microcomputer and an included SD memory card. Size of the artwork is 28 x 28 cm, with depth ca. 7 cm.

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PEKKA KUMPULAINEN: BOUNDARY

This artwork deals with its own space. The space of the artwork is technically bounded using a booth resembling a polling booth, with handsets and a picture inside.

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HEIDI KENTTÄLÄ: MASS TOURISM

Mass Tourism is an acoustic tour to the core of Rovaniemi Christmas Tourism. Rovaniemi and Lapland are described as magical and mythical, the home of exotic Santa Claus, where the number of reindeer exceeds the number of people. Tourists are set to enjoy reindeer rides, huskies, snowmobiles, and cross the Arctic Circle. By documenting the Rovaniemi Christmas season, I wonder how the clichés related to Christmas Tourism do sound – or not. Welcome to the journey!

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ROOPE MÄENPÄÄ: SARABANDE

Pastiche of J.S. Bach´s (1685–1750) G-major solo cello series, part Sarabande 2018

In the metadata of music, a lot is talked about the similarities of cello sound and human voice. It is believed that people like any sound that matches their own communication style. The form of Bach’s dances is plaited into its simplest shape, which puts the instrument, its sound and the musician’s sensitivity on a pedestal. Can musical communication understood as a flowing? Audio – 3′

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MARKKU RIIPI: FINLAND 100

Finland 100 deals with 100 years of significant events in Finnish history from an author’s point of view. Those events – both happy and sad – that have been fixed in the depths of memories of authors as very important events. Duration ca. 27 min.

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JARI RINNE: SNOWBALL SOUNDS

Snowball Sounds is driven by speech and the sounds of situations. The sounds of the artwork have been collected from What’s up voice messages and vocal reports sent by young people, as well as from trips to Serbia, China, Russia and Utsjoki.

Speech is the cleanest subjectivity, the formation of identities and the positioning of self into a position. Sound produces and limits space which as a speech and act produces a social identity that is constantly changing. Alternative identities, consisting of self and other dialogic categorisation skills, as well as identification, are built for other people and the world in everyday speech. In the blizzard of speaking, self is a product of socialisation and my own subjectivity snowballs among others. The artwork deals with the identity of individuals as possible worlds, whose various facets are brought forth by the thoughts seeking to shape their piecemeal monologues. Bladdery conventions governing in a temporarily seeming society bring forth identity crystals approved by the community, and in their snowdrifts we build our own snowflakes for speeches. The sound compilation reflects on Gareth Dylan Smith’s “Snowball Self”, a conceptual notion that describes the construction of identity from multiple meta-identities and contextual identities.

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HEIKKI TIMONEN: SOLO FOR BALALAIKA – THE POLITICAL ACT

Solo for Balalaika – The Political Act – in my performance artwork, I express my political opinion on current international politics in the spirit of Fluxus art trend. This artwork is based on the famous international conflicts that we have regretfully had to follow in recent years. Video duration: 1 min 10 sec.

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LIVE: Vongoiva

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18 January 2018

Vongoiva

‘The Web of Time’ / Ajan verkko, Album Release Event!

Audiovisual show by musician Heikki Lindgren and artist Ville Westerlund

Tuesday 23.1.2018
18.30 – 20:30 (Showtime 19:00)
Voluntary 5 euro entry fee

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VONGOIVA

Vongoiva is an audiovisual collaboration by Heikki Lindgren and Ville Westerlund. At Akusmata they’ll create a performance following the themes of the new release, “The Web of Time”.

“The Web of Time” describes the concept of time acquired by our own experiences, how it flows inexorably onwards. Centuries change like the sparse strokes of a clock: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, the Middle Ages… Time before the human race and long after its end. Time when mankind learnt to enjoy beauty and began to create art.

We are accustomed to viewing the whole formation of our existence as past eras, with the present flowing into the past like a vast waterfall, carrying all the memories of humankind.

As a reminder of the very first moment of time, there is the constant hum of cosmic background radiation: a message from the very first oscillation, the moment when all matter was compressed into a single point. The moment when we all were one.

The composition concretizes time by way of image and sound. Depending on the position and velocity of the observer, sound condenses or stretches according to the Doppler effect. Redshift effect causes the same to happen to light. According to the relativistic Doppler-effect, the same analogy can be applied to the time itself when approaching the speed of light.

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Vongoiva on Heikki Lindgrenin ja Ville Westerlundin audiovisuaalinen kollaboraatio. Akusmatassa Vongoiva tekee esityksen kulkien uuden Ajan Verkko -julkaisun teemoissa.

Ajan verkko kuvaa oman kokemuksemme kautta saavutettua käsitystämme ajasta. Kuinka se kuluu eteenpäin vääjäämättömästi. Vuosisadat vaihtuvat kuin harvat kellonlyönnit. Kivikausi, pronssikausi, rautakausi, keskiaika…. Aika ennen ihmiskuntaa ja kauan sen jälkeen. Aika jolloin ihminen oppi nauttimaan kauneudesta ja alkoi kehittämään taiteita.

Olemme tottuneet tarkkailemaan koko olemassaolomme rakentumista menneinä kausina, nykyhetken vaipuessa tauotta osaksi historiaa kuin valtava putous, vieden tasapuolisesti koko ihmiskunnan muistot nykyhetkestä menneisyyteen.

Aivan aikojen alusta muistuttaa kaikkialla läsnä oleva kosmoksen taustakohina, joka on kuin meitä varten talletettu viesti ajan ensimmäisestä hetkestä. Siitä värähdyksestä, jolloin maailmankaikkeuden materia oli tiivistynyt yhteen pisteeseen. Hetkestä jolloin me kaikki olimme yhtä.

Teos konkretisoi äänen ja kuvan avulla aikaa, kuten tarkkailijan paikasta ja nopeudesta riippuen sama ääni joko tiivistyy tai venyy Doppler-ilmiön mukaisesti. Samalla tavalla käy valolle punasiirtymässä. Ja samaa analogiaa voi soveltaa myös ajalle relativistisen Doppler-siirtymän mukaan kun lähestytään valon nopeutta.

https://vongoiva.bandcamp.com/album/ajan-verkko

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LIVE: Superalma Project (BRA) & Captain Heroin

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12 January 2018

SUPERALMA PROJECT (BRA)
CAPTAIN HEROIN


Wednesday 17.1.2018
18.30 – 22:00 (Showtime 19:00)
Voluntary 5 euro entry fee

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Superalma Project (BRA)

Superalma Project was founded in 2014 by the Brazilian sound designer, music researcher and producer Igor Almeida.
The project aims to present a sound experience that unfolds through the mixing of a wide musical spectrum, bringing influences like dark ambient, drone, glitch, idm, noise and power electronics.

On January, 17th Akusmata Soundgallery presents a concert of Superalma Project, which is playing its 6th and 7th albums: “Cura circum animum mei intorquet ut in sella mei sedeo” and “Non – Genesis”, among new stuff!

https://superalma.bandcamp.com/
https://facebook.com/superalmaproject

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Captain Heroin

Helsinki based Experimental Ambient sound artist Fredrik Willberg brings forth conceptual and cinematic sounds inspired by desolation under the moniker Captain Heroin.
For the moment consumed by scavenging archived recordings he also does rare live events as will be witnessed at Akusmata Soundgallery 17th of January 2018.

https://www.facebook.com/captainheroin
https://captainheroin.bandcamp.com/

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Lauri Luhta: Architecture of Right

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6 November 2017

 Lauri Luhta
Architecture of Right

16 November – 3 December 2017
Open Thursday – Sunday  2-6 pm
Opening: Wed 15 November 6-8 pm

Opening performance

At the opening of Lauri Luhta’s sound art exhibition Architecture of Right at Akusmata, Wednesday 15 November, a soundtrack to Jenni Luhta’s video Häivähdys parempaa maailmaa (“Glimpse of a Better World“) will be produced live. A work of video and environmental art carried by text, Häivähdys parempaa maailmaa was filmed in the same surroundings of Pihlajamäki, Helsinki, that the field recordings for Lauri’s Architecture of Right sound installation took place during this year. Jenni’s video was originally finished for Pihlajamäki’s Night of the Arts in August, 2009. The work was premiered at the local bar Ralli and later shown at Orion cinema in Spring, 2010 – without a soundtrack, which it has lacked for eight years.

Video is screened at 7:00 pm. Sound is mixed by Lauri.

Refreshments are provided by Jenni. Welcome!

Architecture of Right

Lauri Luhta’s sound art installation Architecture of Right is based on field recordings made in Pihlajamäki, Helsinki, during different seasons of the year 2017. Out of the material thus assembled, Luhta has crafted a circular, spatial-temporal composition, which one can go to.
A suburb erected in the the 1960s, Pihlajamäki is visually recognisable by its landforms, its buildings and the plan of its architecture. Pihlajamäki is carved in terrain risen from the primordial sea as a home for the people and as an image of the geometric and the organic, the rational and the expressive. In Architecture of Right, one observes what kind of aural living environment the walls and hollows of the area create and what the firmament of the sky above it sounds like.
In Architecture of Right, one is moving on the Right-Hand Path, the clear and plain road of right and truth that is narrow yet open to everyone. In the work, one steps in and stands still in the soundscape that always lies in the background of the existence of an inhabitant of Pihlajamäki, amidst the world, at the world’s centre. A world of sound with its different elements and little details, with its sounds of nature, men and machines, its children, birds and airplanes, is always waiting for the one who stops and settles down on land. When that depth is reached, its basis is mined for nourishment and understanding.
Architecture of Right is a work of the author for the neighbourhood that has become his new home region, a homage to its planners, builders and dwellers. The exhibition is also dedicated to the Republic of Finland, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary and whose bright noontime thinking Pihlajamäki represents.
Lauri Luhta (b. 1980, Vaasa) is a Helsinki-based sound, video, media and performance artist, organiser of art festivals and cultural events, document archivist, theologian, custodian of being.
Lauri Luhta’s Youtube channel:
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Akusmata artists on YLE TV and Radio Broadcasts

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28 October 2017

Akusmata artists on YLE TV and Radio Broadcasts

Saturday 21.9.2017
YLE Radio1 News 17:00
YLE TV1 News 20:30
YLE News Article by Jussi Mankkinen

Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE visited at Akusmata Sound Festival during September 1st – 3rd 2017, recorded live performances and interviewed the performing artists. On Saturday, September 21st YLE broadcasted the interviews on YLE TV1 main evening News and earlier in the evening on YLE Radio1 News. A longer article was also published during the same day at YLE’s website. Included was also clips and interviews from Lovi-klubi / Lavaklubi event at the Finnish National Theatre.

YLE Radio1 News
‘New notes of Finnish experimental music. Many musicians are currently building their own instruments, and with traditional instruments they make bold experiments.’ /
   ‘Kokeellisen kotimaisen musiikin uusia nuotteja. Monet muusikot rakentavat tällä hetkellä soittimiaan itse ja perinteisilläkin soittimilla tehdään rohkeita kokeiluja.’
Sat 21.10.2017, klo 17.00
https://areena.yle.fi/1-4229791
Petteri Mäkiniemi, Tottumiskysymys & Ville Olaskari, Jarno Tikka – Suvi Linnovaara duo, Esa Ruoho, Juha-Matti Rautiainen.

 YLE TV1 News

‘Experimental Music Produces Unique Sounds’ /
‘Kokeellinen musiikki tuottaa ainutlaatuisia ääniä’

Sat 21.10.2017, klo 20.30
https://areena.yle.fi/1-3825304

Petteri Mäkiniemi, Tottumiskysymys & Ville Olaskari, Jarno Tikka – Suvi Linnovaara duo, Esa Ruoho, Juha-Matti Rautiainen.

Article

‘What a strange thing this is Ginette – in Finnish experimental music, original instruments are invented and musicians are happy in the margin’ /

  ‘Mikä ihmeen Ginette – kotimaisessa kokeellisessa musiikissa keksitään omaperäisiä soittimia ja ollaan tyytyväisinä marginaalissa’
Sat 21.10.2017
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9892678
Petteri Mäkiniemi, Tottumiskysymys & Ville Olaskari, Jarno Tikka – Suvi Linnovaara duo, Desert M, Esa Ruoho, Juha-Matti Rautiainen.
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