Category: Sound Installation


Akusmata Polyphonic 2024

Akusmata Polyphonic 2024

Thu-Fri April 4-5, 18-21 -free entry-

Vuotalo Cultural Centre, Mosaiikkitori 2, Helsinki

-Performers-
Thursday, April 4
CRACKLEBOX ORCHESTRA (Antti Auvinen, Petri Kuljuntausta, Juhani Liimatainen, and Juhani Nuorvala)
JUKKA KÄÄRIÄINEN
TMS (Tina M.K. Madsen, Malte Steiner)

Friday, April 5
•LAILA SKOVMAND & CARSTEN KÆR
•JENS L. THOMSEN
•PETRI KULJUNTAUSTA
•IMPROV ORCHESTRA

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AKUSMATA POLYPHONIC 2024 is an intensive sound art and electronic music event at Vuotalo Cultural Centre in Helsinki. Invited musicians, composers and sound artists are offering for the audience a wide spectrum of new sonic expression from the fields of experimental & electronic music, sound art, improvisation and ambient. The program includes modular sound systems, do-it-yourself musical instruments, and improvised music with attitude. The event features performers from the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Germany and Finland.

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TMS
TMS is an experimental electro-acoustic noise-performance project by the artists Malte Steiner and Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen. The format of the TMS project is improvisational performances built out of Steiner and Madsen’s sonic interactions, where noise-scapes and complex structures emerge. The tools used in each TMS work and performance can depart in custom software, synths and effect pedals, or self-built controllers, where inputs are analogue as well as digital; modulated, transformed, and distorted. The physical interactions with materials have since the beginning been a specific focus point for TMS, and to create a more performative and visual sound experience.
   At the Akusmata Polyphonic Festival, TMS will debut their new piece “Occurrences”. They have created a cybernetic system which registers and processes their sonic inputs coming from metal percussion and tactile resonance via piezo-microphones. The computer responds to their playing and calculates control data, not only for internal sound synthesis but also for an external modular synthesizer and real-time generated visuals.
Website: https://www.block4.com/musicprojects/TMS/index.php
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CRACKLEBOX ORCHESTRA
Cracklebox (or kraakdoos) is a custom-made, a touch and pressure sensitive device that squeeks and makes incredible noises. Cracklebox is based on a single operational amplifier, one of the earliest models to be produced. The history of Cracklebox starts from the late-1960s, when Michel Waisvisz designed and built the very first Crackle circuit together with Geert Hamelberg. Later the Crackle boxes were produced at STEIM center for research and development of new musical instruments in the electronic performing arts, located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. STEIM closed the doors in 2000 and the production of the original Crackleboxes ended.
   The Cracklebox Orchestra is a group of composers and sound artists who continue to explore the instrument’s potential as a group and come together to perform with the Crackleboxes. The concert features compositions by cracklebox musicians Antti Auvinen, Petri Kuljuntausta, Juhani Liimatainen, and Juhani Nuorvala.
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Portrait taken by photographer Bardur Eklund.

JENS L. THOMSEN
Jens L. Thomsen is a composer and sound artist from the Faroe Islands. He has a BA in Music Technology from University of West London as well as an MSc in Acoustics from London South Bank University. His work often explores the relationship between art and technology. Notable sound works include NORÐ which was commissioned by the Southbank Centre and exhibited at Royal Festival Hall in London, Føroyar 5.2 which with the use of seismic technology allowed him to play on mountains as if they were instruments, and the Æðr soundscape which is transmitted in a Faroese subsea tunnel using FM signals.
   His main artistic outlet is through the project ORKA which he started 10 years ago by building homemade instruments out of found objects on a farm on the Faroe Islands. ORKA has twice been nominated for the Nordic Council Music Award. Jens spends a lot of time producing in the studio and is credited on close to a hundred releases. At the moment he tours as part of Yann Tiersen’s live band.
On February 2, 2024 Jens released the groundbreaking EP ÆÐR via Kervið. ÆÐR (meaning ‘vein’ in English) is a uniquely atmospheric two-track EP, exploring modernity and post-war freedom through a Faroese lens. Commissioned for Eysturoyartunnil, a 12km subsea tunnel – the largest of its kind – in Jens’ native Faroe Islands, a structural marvel with striking art that has both a voice and aesthetic identity of its own. The EP currently lives as a live audio installation, broadcast around the clock on FM radio for anyone travelling through the tunnel. This is the first time a soundscape has been permanently installed and broadcast via this kind of technical solution allowing the sound to become part of the experience of the space itself. At the Akusmata Polyphonic concert, Jens will be performing the piece on stage.
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Image by Juho Liukkonen


PETRI KULJUNTAUSTA
Petri Kuljuntausta compose electronic music, improvises as a guitarist and with electronic instruments, plays with animals and birds, makes underwater performances and performs in different natural spaces with environmental sounds. He has a long career as an experimental electronic musician and sound artist.
Kuljuntausta is currently working on two new projects. He develops the technique of how to play with nature and animals, without disturbing their sound processes. He is currently composing a new opera and writing a book about the subject of the opera. The Akusmata Polyphonic concert will feature his new works and improvisations.
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LAILA SKOVMAND & CARSTEN KÆR DUO
Laila Skovmand and Carsten Kær started working together in 1996 and since then their paths have met in a variety of setups. Latest was in the 28-hour “Red List Concert” in September 2023 in Aarhus, where they were on stage for 28 hours, challenging perception of time and setting focus on endangered species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Akusmata Polyphonic features free improvisations from two collaborators who have been making music together for a long time. Music is created at the moment of performance. The audience witnesses how the musicians find open possibilities in the space between the piano and the voice.
      Laila Skovmand, voice
The backbone of Laila Skovmand’s artistic work is a boundless curiosity and open-mindedness giving impetus for vocal and compositional inventions. As a singer and composer she deliberately places herself in the gap between genres and media. From here she explores the liminal states of human experience in order to question and challenge assumptions and narrowed perspectives. Laila Skovmand is artistic director of Between Music and is the creator of the underwater concert AquaSonic where she has invented a new underwater vocal technique. Laila graduated as a singer from the Royal Academy of Music Denmark and from Roy Hart International Voice center in France. She also holds an Advanced Postgraduate Soloist Diploma from the Royal Academy of Music as performative composer.
      Carsten Kær, grand piano
Carsten Kær is an award-winning Danish jazz pianist and composer. First and foremost he is a curious improviser, influenced by contemporary classical music. He is also deeply connected to the cornucopia of World Music, Cuban and Brazilian music, and Indian konnakol. Carsten is “a lyrical dreamer who opens our inner landscapes with his surprising soundscapes and leads us by forgotten paths to an untouched place within ourselves.” He is initially self-taught, but graduated from RMB at the Royal Academy of Music in Århus in 1998 and has since been traveling the world, collaborating and recording with numerous well-known artist.
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Portrait by Kamilla Śladowska

JUKKA KÄÄRIÄINEN
Jukka Kääriäinen is a musician focused on experimental music. Depending on the situation, Jukka’s instruments of choice include an acoustic guitar with preparations or an electric guitar with a bag full of effects. Kääriäinen has performed in many European countries and at international festivals in the United Kingdom, Spain, and France. In addition to solo concerts, he regularly performs in bands and has collaborated with many leading European improvisers such as Teppo Hauta-Aho, Kalle Kalima, Harri Sjöström, Axel Dörner, Kriton Beyer, Rieko Okuda, Anil Eraslan, Mikko Innanen, and Joel Grip, premiering works by composers such as Riikka Talvitie, Sebastian Hilli, Sami Klemola, Clara de Asis, and Tytti Arola. At Akusmata Pollyphonic, Jukka will perform pieces for solo electric guitar.
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IMPROV ORCHESTRA
The two-day event ends with a joint improvisation performed by the musicians present. Acoustic and electronic instruments are heard on stage, sound and tone, acoustic vibration and electric signal, ambient and rhythm meet in the performance.
Whatever the musician’s instrument and sound source, the common denominator for performers is creating a meaningful performance by listening to others and reacting to their playing.
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LIVE: Xenia Ramm – The Silence of Sea Tower

Xenia Ramm
The Silence of Sea Tower / Release #2

Wednesday 11.10.2023 at 18-20.


There is a tower by the sea. An artist is in a pocket of the tower, works, lives in the tower, is still in the tower. The tower speaks, the artist listens. In the night, when the tower is silent, the artist sings and the tower listens. In the night, when the tower is silent, the artist can hear the sea in her pocket.

The Silence of Sea Tower is an auto fictional, site-specific sound art piece, painting a sonic portrait of a building and the liminal aural space between its inhabitants.
9 months of recordings, of the noisy silence in the artist’s studio, is released as soundscape on cassette tape. The work situates itself between ambient noise music, field recording and conceptual spatial art, curating an experience of a place and allowing that place to travel.

The Silence of Sea Tower is performed as the concert iteration Narrative Noise, incorporating elements of storytelling and opening hidden, anthropomorphic aspects of the work.
The composition is deconstructed and reconstructed live, every performance presenting a unique version of the piece.
The concert is played by an orchestra of analogue tape players, each adding their own mechanical sounds and characteristics to the mix.

This event is the second release party for The Silence of Sea Tower, self-released by Xenia Ramm / Merry Thorny Productions.
The tape can be purchased at the event.



Upcoming cassette performances:
22.9.23 / Levoton Tutkimus / Uniarts Fest -taidefestivaali, Taideyliopiston Kuvataideakatemia HKI
11.10.23 / The Silence of Sea Tower / Release #2 / Akusmata HKI
October / The Silence of Sea Tower / TBA CPH

Magnus Bugge: None

Magnus Bugge
None

15. – 22.9.2023, Mon-Fri 14-18 (Sat-Sun 12-16)

The sound installation is part of Envelope – an immersive sound festival across the Nordic – Baltic region.



None: A machine learning based approach to deep listening, atmosphere and fidelity.

In ‘None’ I became occupied with the vast worlds of sound in latent and liminal spaces that would normally be considered ‘silent’. I recorded such sounds: room tones, barely audible field recordings, tape hiss, gear hum, and processed them in various ways to listen closer. I applied machine learning and trained a model on this desolate sound world. The sampleRNN model is ‘a novel model for unconditional audio generation based on generating one audio sample at a time’. One audio sample is basically the elementary particle in digital audio. It is a single point that is meaningless without the context of what becomes before and after, in itself it has no direction, and crucially, no sound. However, knowing the trajectory and velocity you may predict where it will travel based on an idea of what music is. In my case, the intelligence have never heard music before, only silence, and thus predicts based on this.

Created by Magnus Bugge
Machine learning done at Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts
Handbells by Laura-Marie Rueslåtten
Mastered by Helge Sten at Audio Virus LAB
Visual artwork by Tord K Øverland

Sound installation “None” BY Magnus Bugge at Akusmata sound art gallery in Helsinki is part of Envelope – an immersive sound festival happening from September 09 till October 23, 2023 as an event series across the Nordic – Baltic region in person and online. Festival hosts spatial music concerts, sound art installations, seminars and workshops by Nordic-Baltic artists. It is a creative collaboration between organizations and artists from Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to explore the future of audio technologies. Festival is supported by State Culture Capital Foundation (SCCF), Nordic Culture Fund, Lithuanian Council For Culture among others.
https://www.envelopefestival.com


Magnus Bugge is a composer and artist working with sound art, electroacoustic music and related visual arts. He has an exploratory practice where works emerge from studies of concrete and abstract subjects, often inspired from science, technology and physics, in addition to purely auditory phenomena. With experience from stage art, concert, film, installation and fixed media releases, the conclusion is that media is not of importance, as ideas and works will develop in their own way according to their will, and the artist should follow. The tools, primarily synthesis, field recordings, programming, machine learning and tape music techniques are equally not important, but mere means for executing work, experiencing and observing. In addition to his solo practice, Magnus is part of the stage art collective Verdensteatret.

LINKS
https://www.magnusbugge.com/
https://vimeo.com/user7385678
https://magnusbugge.bandcamp.com/

Kenneth Kovasin: DIY – Do It Yourself

Kenneth Kovasin
DIY – Do It Yourself

2. 5.8.2023, 14:00-18:00 (daily)

CLOSING CONCERT: 5.8.2023, 18:00: BRYSKT (after the exhibition closes)



During the COVID pandemic I started a harsh noise project “BRYSKT” that focused on a number of aspects: my passion for building instruments, my bi-lingual Fenno-Swedish legacy and harsh violent music. What started as a therapy project has become a massive part of what I do. “DIY – Do It Yourself” is a testament to 3 years of finding my voice as a harsh noise musician, through replication and creation of tools of the trade based on pictures and ideas which I found online.
The spark for the instruments constructed for this project has been ignited by products found in hardware- and hobby-stores in addition to developing ideas which were inspired by other people. All the parts are commercially available including basic microphones, and instrument and effects pedal components. Everyday objects can be easily combined into weird tools of sonic mayhem.
In the exhibition “DIY – Do It Yourself” you will have the possibility of trying out an array of different self-made instruments and filling the room with a soundscape interactively conjured up with these tools. All instrument sounds will be processed in an effects chain which is similar to the one which I use to create the noise frequencies for “BRYSKT”.

Kenneth Kovasin is a Fenno-Swedish sound artist and experimental musician from Helsinki, Finland. His works are created with self-built instruments and are often minimalistic.
Kenneth has toured at festivals in the United States, Sweden and Estonia with his project [ówt krì] and has performed many concerts in Finland.
Kenneth’s first sound installation “Urban Evolution” was on display during the (con)temporary festival organized by LéSPACE in Helsinki between September 18th and October 3rd, 2015.
“From Bow to Stem – A Daxophone study” was exhibited at Akusmata in Helsinki between August 3rd to 7th 2020. For the festival “Porvoon Lights” in 2023 Kenneth collaborated with light artist Janne Parviainen on his creation “Vapautuminen”, providing an accompanying soundscape with the track “Flight to Kailash”.
When not performing music Kenneth also produces concerts in cooperation with the Akusmata Sound Gallery. He is also one of the founding members of Frekvenssi, a collective promoting audial art in Finland.

Johanna Sulalampi: Kuroma – keraamisia ääniveistoksia

Johanna Sulalampi
Kuroma – keraamisia ääniveistoksia

Ma–Pe  17.–21.4.2023, klo 14-18.



Kuroma on keraamisten ääniveistosten kokoelma, joka on syntynyt huomion reunamilta purskahtelevien ja hiljaisesti vaikuttavien inhimillisten ja ei inhimillisten toimijoiden hallitsemassa toimintaympärisössä. Pienhiukkaset, jäkälät, roiskeet, traumat, punajuurikroketit, lämpötila, kohtaamattomuus, ilmankosteus, R-juna, pelko tulevaisuudesta, astma, sosiaalinen hämmennys, ironia, unettomuus, merkityksensä menettäneet äänimerkit sekä pintojen heijastukset ovat suodattuneet yli ja ali virittyneen ihmisen hermoston ja elimien lävitse ääneksi ja keramiikaksi.
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Tekijäänsä Johanna Sulalampea inspiroivat äänessä olemattomien olentojen
äänet, kollaasit ja maskit, äänen ruumiin tilalliset muodonmuutokset sekä synestesia. Veistokset muotoutuivat toiveista löytää äänelle kulkureittejä, sijainteja ja suhteita toisiinsa, sekä mielenkiinnosta tarkastella äänen liikkeen ja visuaalisen impulssin aikaansaamia psykoakustisia vaikutelmia. Saven keramiikaksi aikaan jähmettyneet kehot muodostavat onteloita äänelle elää ja pesiä. Veistokset kätkevät sisälleen 24-kanavaisen ambisonisuutta hyödyntävän äänijärjestelmän.

Sarah Badr: Azimuth

AZIMUTH
Sarah Badr

Sat-Sat  10. – 17.9.2022

Opening times: Sat-Sun 12-16, Mon-Fri 14-18.

“Azimuth is an immersive biomorphic model of the entangled orders of simulation. It is a
reflection of a basic natural reality while masking basic reality — the idea of nature.”

The exhibition is part of the Envelope Festival for Immersive Sound, 10.9. – 29.10.2022.



In Azimuth, audiovisual artist Sarah Badr channels a tension between organic and synthetic forms, digitally rendering pulsating alien objects and shimmering surfaces that change and transform in a responsive, symbiotic relationship with the tactile sounds she corrals into the intricate texture of her compositions.

   Resolutely synaesthetic, Azimuth oscillates between the recognizable and the impossible, a dichotomy that is suggested in the work’s title. An azimuth, in geometry, is an angular measurement in a spherical coordinate system commonly referenced in the field of immersive sound.

   When applied in astrology and used as a celestial coordinate, an azimuth is the horizontal direction of a star, or other astronomical object. In one sense the title, and the work, is functional, referring to a unit of measurement. But when applied to the world around us, it becomes ontological — a marker for locating an object in physical, or artificial, space.


Sarah Badr is a British-Egyptian artist living in Riga. Her practice focuses on world creation, complex natural phenomena, and algorithmic media. Building procedural systems for simulation and spatialisation in graphics and sound allows her to explore the association between form and place in new digital spaces. Her work involves various manifestations of the digital experience: video, 3D sculpture and animation, augmented photography, audiovisual performance, installation, and immersive sound for physical and virtual environments. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist and composer, she produces solo experimental works under the project name FRKTL. Website: sarahbadr.com

The Azimuth exhibition is part of the Envelope Festival for Immersive Sound. A series of events will take place across the Nordic-Baltic region, in person and online, from September 10th until October 29th. The festival hosts spatial music concerts, sound art installations, seminars, and workshops by Nordic-Baltic artists. Exploring the future of audio technologies, Envelope is a creative collaboration between artists and organisations from Finland, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. Website: envelopefestival.com (opening soon)

Azimuth was shown as part of ‘Listening To The Anthropocene’, a group show at Coventry
Cathedral, which was part of the 2021 Coventry Biennial, in Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, UK.

Supported by Nordisk Kulturfond, State Culture Capital Foundation (SCCF) and others.

 

Performance Protocols Nordic Sessions #3: Soundings

Performance Protocols

Nordic Sessions #3: Soundings

Sound Performances by Ana Gutieszca, Petri Kuljuntausta, Tero Nauha, Eva Sjuve, Timo Viialainen.

September 22-23, 2021 at 18:00 – 21:00.

-Free Entry-

Curated by Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen.


Wednesday 22.9 at 18:00-21:00: Performance night I (SOLD OUT!)

EVA SJUVE (activated score): Krispr (Spatialized)

TERO NAUHA: TBA (a work for prepared theremin)

TIMO VIIALAINEN: What did you do as a child when the thunder cut the power?


Thursday 23.9 at 18:00-21:00: Performance night II (*reservation required, see info below).

EVA SJUVE (activated score): Krispr (Spatialized)

ANA GUTIESZCA: Insecta

PETRI KULJUNTAUSTA: Sonification of an Organic Growth


REGISTRATION INFO

— To Book Access to the Show: Send us your name, contact information and the event date you want to attend: info@performance-protocols.net.

Please note, your reservation is not confirmed until you have received a confirmation email back from us! If you have reserved a spot for a performance and can not come, please notify us so we can give the spot to next one on our waiting list!

— Please only come to the events if you are feeling healthy and don’t have any flu symptoms. Please wear a face mask in all indoor areas.



Performance Protocols Nordic Sessions # 3: Soundings

The first part of performance protocols Nordic Sessions # 3 will be held in Helsinki from September 18.-27. 2021. The topic for this edition is soundings in performance and includes different ways to use sound as a tool, material, and theme, spanning from music compositions to performance art exploring a conceptual use of sound. This frames both amplified and non-amplified sound, performances in public space, and active listening exercises. The events will take place in the art spaces Third Space (exhibition and performance sessions) and Akusmata (performance program), and outside in public space – a park and a mall.

On September 22 and 23 in Akusmata will be sound performances performed by the artists Ana Gutieszca (MX/FI), Petri Kuljuntausta (FI), Tero Nauha (FI), and Timo Viialainen (FI). Additionally, each event will begin with the activation of a score created by artist Eva Sjuve. All of the performed works evolve around different means of soundings, from animal sounds, thunder, self-containing systems, and crisp bread. Their scores (or an iteration thereof) will be shown in the performance protocols score exhibition held in Third Space, which contains all participating artists in the Helsinki events (full list of artist can be found in the program below and online). The exhibition opens on September 18. and closes on September 27.

The full program with times, locations, and work descriptions can be found on the performance protocols website: http://performance-protocols.net/Helsinki2021/Helsinki.html


About Performance Protocols

Performance Protocols is a nomadic platform for instruction-based performance art and collaborative practices which opened its first online exhibition Walking Protocols I (INT) in June 2019. In February 2020, came the first in a series of Nordic Sessions, where bureaucratic protocols were presented and performed in Aalborg (DK). In May 2021, Walking Protocols II took place in Copenhagen (DK). After the Helsinki edition, future performance protocols Nordic Sessions will take place in Bergen (NO) in May 2022. performance protocols is founded, organized and curated by artist and researcher Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen (DK).

Performance Protocols Nordic Sessions is supported by the Nordic Culture Point, Nordic Council of Ministers, and Nordic Culture Fund (Opstart).

http://performance-protocols.net/
https://www.facebook.com/performanceprotocols


FULL PROGRAM

18.09 at 12:00-15:00 in Third Space: Opening of score exhibition

Opening of the score exhibition  performance protocols Nordic Sessions # 3: Soundings with works by Ana Gutieszca (MX/FI); Jenna Jauhiainen (FI); Essi Kausalainen (FI); Petri Kuljuntausta (FI); Tero Nauha (FI); Eva Sjuve (SE); Malte Steiner (DK/DE); Timo Viialainen (FI); Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen/Eero Yli-Vakkuri (DK/FI). Due to Covid19 there can only be few people present in the space simultaneously (waiting time can occur).

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18.09 at 15:00 – collective walk to Essi Kausalainen Cosmos Garden

After the opening we move from Third Space to Essi Kausalainen’s performance Cosmos Garden in Tähtitorninmäki park (lead by the artist).

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19.-21.09 & 25.-27.09 at 14:00-18:00 (and by appointment) in Third Space: Score exhibition

Score exhibition performance protocols Nordic Sessions # 3: Soundings (info above).

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19.-21.09 & 25.-27.09 in Third Space: Jenna Jauhiainen Trigger Happy (registration required, see info)

Jenna Jauhiainen, Trigger Happy performance sessions (appointments between 18:00-20:00).

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22.09 at 18:00-21:00 in Akusmata: Performance night I (registration required, see info)

Eva Sjuve (activated score): Krispr (Spatialized)

Tero Nauha: tba (work for prepared theremin)

Timo Viialainen: What did you do as a child when the thunder cut the power?

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23.09 at 18:00-21:00 in Akusmata: Performance night II (registration required, see info below).

Eva Sjuve (activated score): Krispr (Spatialized)

Ana Gutieszca: Insecta

Petri Kuljuntausta: Sonification of an Organic Growth

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24.09 at 10:00 in Tripla, Pasila: Madsen/Yli-Vakkuri Safety as Ambience

Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen/Eero Yli-Vakkuri, Safety as Ambience, a collaborative performance in public space with a meeting point outside the Tripla Mall/Pasila Railway St. (right hand side).

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24.09 at 17:00-19:00 in Third Space: Madsen/Yli-Vakkuri Safety as Ambience informal listening session

Madsen/Yli-Vakkuri will host an informal listening session with the results of the Safety as Ambience performance, now replayed in Third Space, making new connection points. You can drop in and out anytime during the session (due to Covid19 there can only be a few people present in the space simultaneously)


 

Kenneth Kovasin: From Bow To Stem – A Daxophone Study

FROM BOW TO STEM – A DAXOPHONE STUDY

Kenneth Kovasin
Mon 3.8. – Fri 7.8.2020 at 14 – 18​.

​OPENING: Daxophone Concert by Kenneth Kovasin on Saturday 1.8. at 17:00.

From Bow to Stem – A Daxophone study

The installation “From Bow to Stem” is built around Finnish wood – the Appletree, Ash, Larch and Aspen. Kenneth Kovasin has designed 24 different Daxophone tongues of these four types of wood and built a sound installation that praises the soundscape of Finnish wood. Even an Aspen tongue that broke halfway through the recording of the piece is present. Three different soundboxes were used in the recordings.
Each wood is played from its own sound source creating ever-changing spatial sound in the gallery. The Daxophone recordings are repeated in random order regardless of each other.
The Daxophone tongues are like small beautiful wooden sculptures and the instrument produces unique and exciting sounds. The form of the tongues and choices of material affect the instruments sound in great extent.


Kenneth Kovasin is a sound artist and ambient musician from Helsinki, Finland. His works are often minimalistic and created with self-built instruments. Kenneth has toured festivals in the United States, Sweden and Estonia with his project [ówt krì] and has performed various concerts in Finland.
Kenneth’s first sound installation “Urban Evolution” was on display during the (con)temporary festival organized by LéSPACE in Helsinki 18.9–3.10.2015.
When not performing music Kenneth also produces concerts in cooperation with Sound gallery Akusmata. He is also one of the founding members of Frekvenssi, a collective aiding audial art in Finland.


The Daxophone

The Daxophone is an electromechanical experimental instrument invented by the German musician and instrument builder Hans Reichel (1949–2011) in the end of the 1980’s. The instruments sound is produced by friction and vibration.
The name is derived from the German word “dachs” standing for vole due to the strange, almost animal, sounds it produces. Reichel modified the word into ”dax” to mimic the saxophone by Adolphe Sax.
The Daxophone consists of a soundbox, installed with one or many contact microphones, and a wooden tongue clamped to the body. The body is placed on a tripod to provide more comfort for the performer. The Daxophone can also be made from metal or plastic but these materials will not enable as versatile tones as wood.
The instrument is played by rubbing the tongue with a bow and pushing down on the tongue with the “Dax”, a piece of wood formed as a wedge. The tongue can also be hit or plucked on. When playing the instrument, the tongue resonates, and the resonance is then transferred to the soundbox and it’s contact microphones that amplify the sound. The Daxophones scale is broad and the tone diverse. The sound depends in great extent on the used material, the shape of the tongue and where on the tongue the bow and Dax are being applied.
Compact wood like Ebony or Oak produce softer sounds whereas softer wood like Pine easily produce harsh sounds. Compact wood like Ebony or Oak produce mellow sounds whereas softer wood like Pine easily produce harsher sounds. The instrument scale is not as exact as on a guitar or other string instrument, but a fretboard can be installed on the Dax to provide for exact notes. The other side of the Dax is curved to enable smooth transitions between notes. Due to the fact that the Daxophone is an electronic instrument, different pedals and effects add to the versatility of the instrument.
Hans Reichel released his album ”The Dawn of Dachsman” in 1987 and this was the first time the Daxophone was heard in a musical piece. His 2002 release “Yuxo: A New Daxophone Operetta” gave the instrument broader attention. Still today the Daxophone remains a rarity. A musician interested in the instrument will have no other choice but to build one. The Daxophone is not mass-produced.
Reichel has illustrated plans and directions for building his instrument on his website and a skilled carpenter is thus able to build one.


Ville Aalto: Avian Electronics | Metamorphosis

Ville Aalto

Avian Electronics | Metamorphosis

-sound installation-

March 2-6, 2020, at 14 – 18.


Avian Electronics | Metamorphosis
A sine wave metamorphoses into the song of a willow warbler, the call of a chaffinch is transformed into an electronic warning signal. White noise becomes a quiet breeze, sound generated by a random number generator babbles from a brook, crickets spring from synthesizers.
Nature as a stable, natural category does not exist. We tend to view things that previous generations have created as natural: fields, moors, ditches.
And so our unnatural ways are slowly metamorphosing into nature, traditional landscapes, conservation areas. This is quite natural.

Avian Electronics | Muodonmuutos

Siniaalto muuttaa muotoaan pajulinnun lauluksi, peipon vienosta kutsusta tulee sähköinen varoitusääni. Valkoinen kohina muuntautuu hiljaiseksi kevättuuleksi, purosta kuuluu satunnaisgeneraattorin pulinaa, syntetisaattoreista sikiää sirkkoja.
Luontoa pysyvänä, luonnollisena kategoriana ei ole olemassa. Meillä on tapana pitää luonnollisina asioita, jotka meitä edeltävien sukupolvien tuotantotavat ovat luoneet: niityt, nummet, pientareet.
Niin meidänkin luonnottomuudestamme on tulossa luonto, perinnemaisema, suojelukohde. Se on hyvin luonnollista.

Avian Electronics on Yle Areena
“Millaisia luontodokumentteja tehdään sitten, kun luontoa ei enää ole?” kysyy arvostelussaan Sampsa Oinaala hesarissa.

Esimakua maaliskuun 2. päivä Akusmatassa avautuvasta Ville Aallon soolonäyttelystä saat juuri YLE Areenassa julkaistusta ääniteoksesta ’Avian Electronics | sähköisiä luontokuvia’, jossa kiihtyvä teknologinen kehitys ja keinotekoisesti tuotetut luontoäänet sekoittuvat.

Kuuntele ääniteos YLE Areenassa: https://areena.yle.fi/1-50409434

Lue koko arvostelu ääniteoksesta Helsingin Sanomissa (huom. maksumuuri): https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000006415402.htm


Ville Aalto is a sound artist from Helsinki. He’s currently working on Avian Electronics, a project in which he uses synthesizers to produce “natural” sounds – especially birdsong – and create varying sound works with them. 2020 will see multiple installation works, an album of electronic music as well as live concerts related to the project.

AKUSMATA POLYPHONIC 2020

AKUSMATA POLYPHONIC 2020

Sound Art and Electronic Music weeks

Venue: Vuotalo Cultural Centre & Akusmata, Helsinki

  1. – 31.1.2020

17 days of adventurous music and sound art for adventurous minds!

AKUSMATA POLYPHONIC is an intensive sound art and electronic music event at Vuotalo Cultural Centre and Akusmata gallery in Helsinki. Invited musicians and sound artists are from Nordic countries, North America and Finland, offering for the audience a wide spectrum of new sonic expression from the fields of experimental electronic music, sound art and ambient. The program includes electronic music, do-it-yourself musical instruments, sound performances, and improvised music. Sound installations are open in the Vuotalo gallery and Akusmata gallery. The producer of the event is Akusmata, the first sound art gallery in Finland. The program and updates will be published at akusmata.com and Akusmata’s facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Akusmata. The Nordic artists are visiting as a part of the Puls concert program / Nordic Culture Fund.


CONCERT 1

Friday 17.1.2020 at 19:00

Place: Vuosali (Vuotalo), Mosaiikkitori 2, Helsinki

Performers:

Jacob Kirkegaard (DK)

Halldór Úlfarsson (IS) & Max Lilja duo

[ówt krì] & Lauri Peltonen

* * *

CONCERT 2

Saturday 18.1.2020 at 19:00

Place: Vuosali (Vuotalo), Mosaiikkitori 2, Helsinki

Performers:

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard (DK)

Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir (IS)


EXHIBITION 1: ‘Earth.Water.Air.Fire’

Place: Vuotalo Gallery (Vuotalo), Mosaiikkitori 2, Helsinki.

Time: 14. – 25.1.2020 (during Vuotalo’s opening hours)

-Sound works by

Jukka Andersson

Ava Grayson (CAN)

Ana Gutieszca (MEX)

Mikko H. Haapoja

Esa Kotilainen

Petri Kuljuntausta

Heikki Lindgren

The exhibition is co-produced by Frekvenssi association.


EXHIBITION 2: ‘Kinaesthetic Poetry’ (with KuNuKu Choir)

Sound installation by Jaakko Autio

Place: Akusmata gallery, Tukholmankatu 7 K, Helsinki.

Time: 17. – 31.1.2020

Open: Mon to Fri between 14.00-18.00. Weekends 11.00-16.00.
(Closed 25-26.1).

Free entry

Sound installation is part of international Art’s birthday event on Fri 17.1.2020 at 17-20.


Supported by Nordisk Kulturfond / Puls, Kordelin Foundation and Vuotalo Cultural Centre.

Vuotalo exhibition is co-produced by Frekvenssi association.

Curated by Petri Kuljuntausta & Kenneth Kovasin / Akusmata Sound Gallery.


Contact

Akusmata

Tukholmankatu 7 K, 00270 Helsinki

galleria.akusmata@gmail.com

akusmata.com

* * *

Vuotalo Cultural Centre

Mosaiikkitori 2, 00980 Helsinki

http://www.vuotalo.fi/en/about-us


WEB

Jacob Kirkegaard (DK), http://fonik.dk/about.html

Halldór Úlfarsson (IS) & Max Lilja duo, https://www.halldorophone.info/about/, http://maxlilja.com.

[ówt krì] & Lauri Peltonen, http://www.owtkri.org/

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard (DK), http://www.nielslyhne.com/

Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir (IS), http://www.bergrun.com/about

Ava Grayson (CAN), http://www.aigrayson.com/

Ana Gutieszca (MEX), http://www.anagutieszca.com/

Esa Kotilainen, https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esa_Kotilainen

Petri Kuljuntausta, http://kuljuntausta.com

Heikki Lindgren, https://akusmata.com/heikki-lindgren/

Mikko H. Haapoja, http://mikkohaapoja.net/

Jukka Andersson, https://akusmata.com/jukka-andersson/

Jaakko Autio, https://jaakkoautio.wordpress.com/