Category: Sound Works


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

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.

Diane Barbé, Irwin Barbé & Pablo Diserens (DE/FR): in-animate matter (LIVE)

Diane Barbé, Irwin Barbé & Pablo Diserens
in-animate matter (LIVE)


Friday 16.6.2023 at 19:00.
– Voluntary entry fee –


field recordings, wind instruments, analogical synthesis, ecology, music


in-animate matter
Diane Barbé, Irwin Barbé & Pablo Diserens present in-animate matter, an experimental research project that brings together field recording, wind instruments and analogical synthesis in a practice of soundscape representation and imitation. During a two-week residency at the biological research station of Kilpisjärvi in the Arctic, the three artists investigated the symbiotic linkages between biophonic and geophonic entities in the fells, and will present a series of sound vignettes encountered on their journey.in-animate matter is funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Community and by the European Union.

Diane Barbé

Weaving together experimental music, biophonic research and activism, Diane Barbé (she/they) explores human and non-human worlds through sound. Based in Berlin since 2015, she operates at the intersection of ecology and music, working with field recording as much as with synthesis and acoustic instruments. Her debut album of cinema-without-images, “a conference of critters”, was released on the Berlin phonography label forms of minutiae in October 2022. She is currently creating an ensemble of wind instruments, percussions, bird calls and little sound devices, called The Alien Kin, used to explore the playful and ineffable spaces of interspecies communication and nonhuman languages.
latest release: a conference of critters, 2022

Irwin Barbé

Irwin Barbé (he/him) explores the border areas between abstraction, fiction and documentary through musical and visual practices. His work weaves links between heterogeneous worlds : acousmatic music and biomimicry, psychedelism and astronomical research, sensory illusions and urban planning, fractal geometry and mass consumption. These non-dualistic explorations have been presented in various forms over the last years : exhibitions, live performances, books, albums…
latest release: azurescens, 2022

Pablo Diserens
Pablo Diserens (she/they) is a field recordist, musician and artist devoted to non-human realities, attentive listening and possible forms of coexistence between species. Through an ecologically engaged multidisciplinary creative practice, she investigate diverse biomes and acoustic events using acoustic and visual recording techniques. Her work mixes sound, music, images and text to emphasize deep listening and connection. Here, acoustic ecology, photographic and electroacoustic forms bring to the fore the biological and geological properties of the environments explored. In solidarity with a wounded planet, Diserens’ practice invites people to attune to the present in an attempt at rethinking caring strategies and our relationship with the world and its biotic communities.
instagram @pablodiserens
latest release: upstream ensemble, 2023

​Karri Kokko: Open Studio — Avoimet ovet

Karri Kokko: Open Studio — Avoimet ovet

4.-9.10.2022

–THE EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED–


Poet Karri Kokko, who specializes in visual and conceptual poetry, moves his desk to the gallery for a week and invites his friends, colleagues and the public to participate in poetic work. The program also includes surprise visits, music performances, live streamed performances from home and abroad.


Karri Kokko is a Finnish poet specializing in asemic writing and visual poetry. He’s the author of more than thirty books, his first collection of poetry, Uno Boy, was published in 1982. Karri’s work can be found at Lettttere (lettttere.tumblr.com), Nokturno (nokturno.fi/authtor/karri-kokko), Instagram  (instagram.com/karri_kokko) and Soundcloud (souncloud.com/karrikokko). He lives and works in Helsinki.

Governing Bodies mini-festival: Emergence & Microbes

Governing Bodies mini-festival: Emergence & Microbes

Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 16.00 – 21.00

-free entry-


Welcome to join the international research group Governing Bodies for an evening of sounds and performances at Akusmata Saturday June 4, 2022. We start at 16.00 and will finish around 21.00. Feel free to drop in at any time.

FREDDIE ROSS (art historian): ethics of microbes, lecture performance
TINA MARIANE KROGH MADSEN: performance
JEAN-LOUIS HUHTA: performance
Till TILL BOVERMANN: performance

Photo by Till Bovermann


Governing Bodies is a group of artists, musicians and researchers who have met, discussed, cooked, eaten and made interdisciplinary art events about microbes since 2018. In June 2022 the group will travel to Helsinki where they will share their knowledge, experience and also learn from and with you.

In Finland special focus will given to microbes and emergence. Nature is filled with examples of how complex behaviours arise from relatively simple elements: we see this in how ants behave, or in how fish shoals or bird flocks interact. The term emergence is used to describe these fascinating manifestations of self-organisation that can, at first glance, seem inexplicable. Where does the extra injection of complexity suddenly come from? One thing is clear: these emergent phenomena can only be understood as collective behaviours — there is no way to make sense of them without looking at dozens, hundreds, thousands or more of the contributing elements. These wholes are indeed greater than the sums of their parts.


Festival program (1.-5.6.2022)

Wednesday, 1.6. evening
Listening in — diving into an ocean of emergent behaviour.
* 19.00 performance / deep listening at SOLU
* 20.00 EEG-synth experience / meditative one-on-one sessions (2-3 EEG synth sessions) – separate room at SOLU.
* 21.00 Food at SOLU

Thursday, 2.6.
Emergence is surrounding us — examples of emergence on macroscopic and microscopic levels and how they influence us and our life world.
* 10.00 breakfast at SOLU
* 11.00 Introduction to Emergence at SOLU
* 12.00 Kurt Johannssen (ABOUT TIME, CLUMPING AND THE COMPLEX) at SOLU
* 13.00 Lunch
* 16.00 Riina Hannula, Microbial Medi(t)ation (Yoga for Microbes, group exercise) at SOLU (or outside, weather permitting) Please bring/wear comfortable long-sleeved clothing, at SOLU
* 17:30 Bart van den Put: Retinalalian Group Hum_1 — breathing-sounding the retinal code, at SOLU
* 18.30 Annette Arlander “Letter to a Dead Spruce” video screening at SOLU
* 21.00 Dinner

Friday, 3.6.
On microbes and macrobes — scales of observation, behavioural patterns, and inter-system similarities.
* 10.00 breakfast at SOLU
* 10.30 Discussion about emergence with neuroscientist Veikko Jousmäki at SOLU
* 11.30 Till Bovermann Performative walk – City as Organism. (Departure from Solu.)
* 13.00 Lunch on the way
* 14.00-16.00 Sauna, Furuvik Rantasauna
* 19.00 Book release “Governing Bodies” at SOLU
* 19.30 The Experiences of Art as We don’t Know It and Governing Bodies. A round table discussion about creating books with trans-disciplinary content with the Freddie Ross, editor of Governing Bodies and representatives from Bioart Society. Moderated by MaiBritt Giacobini Arnér.
* 21.00 Dinner
* 22.00 Carima Neusser, Performance at SOLU

Saturday, 4.6.
Politics of emergence — layers of consciousness, layers of interpretation.
* 10.00 breakfast at SOLU
* 11.30 Carola Uehlken– walking through city, landscape, building? (Departure from SOLU) Please bring your own headphones and smartphone.
* 13.00 Lunch
* 16.00 Evening at Akusmata
– Freddie Ross – ethics of microbes – lecture performance
Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen – performance
Jean-Louis Huhta and Till Bovermann – performance
* 21.00 Individual dinner

Sunday, 5.6
Beyond emergence? — dispersion and re-formation.
* 11.00 breakfast at SOLU
* 12.00 Summary and departure

[The SOLU Space can be found at Luotsikatu 13, 00160 Helsinki, More info here.]


Governing Bodies is supported by The Nordic Culture Fund in Copenhagen Längmanska kulturfonden, Nordic Culture Point in Helsinki as well as Kulturfonden för Sverige och Finland.


AKUSMATA POLYPHONIC 2022

AKUSMATA POLYPHONIC 2022

Venue: Vuotalo Cultural Centre, Helsinki

13.–14.5.2022


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



Akusmata Polyphonic 2022 (images by Fredrik Willberg)


CONCERTS I – II – III

Friday 13.5.2022 at 18:30

Place: Vuosali (Vuotalo), Mosaiikkitori 2, Helsinki

-free entry-

Performers:

STATIC TELLER (Den)

(Jørgen Teller w/ Jimi Tenor)

STEPPING STONES (Swe / Fin)

(Compositions by Ann Rosén, Sten-Olof Hellström, Petri Kuljuntausta)

POLYPHONIC TONCHESTRA (Fin/Swe/Isl/Den/Ger)

(K. Bévand, E. Kalman, K. Kovasin, Pál Ivan, J. Pedersen, J. Teller)


CONCERTS IV – V – VI

Saturday 14.5.2022 at 18:00

Place: Vuosali (Vuotalo), Mosaiikkitori 2, Helsinki

-free entry-

Performers:

EGIL KALMAN (Swe)

STÓRMKRÓKUR (Isl)

(Jesper Pedersen and Páll Ivan frá Eiðum)

KATHARINA BÉVAND (Ger)


Supported by Nordisk Kulturfond / Puls, Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme, Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation, and Vuotalo Cultural Centre.


Venue

Vuotalo Cultural Centre

Mosaiikkitori 2, 00980 Helsinki

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

Akusmata (producer)

galleria.akusmata@gmail.com

akusmata.com

Tukholmankatu 7 K, 00270 Helsinki


ARTISTS

STATIC TELLER (Den)

Call it minimal rock goes synth’n’poetry! 

STATIC TELLER is Jørgen Teller’s new solo project, but at the Akusmata Polyphonic Festival it expands into a duo as Jimi Tenor joins in. Teller has a long career as electric guitarist, electronic musician, vocalist and since 1990s he has released many records as solo artist and with Jørgen Teller & The Empty Stairs. Teller has co-labed / performed with many Danish and international musicians like Rhys Chatham, Otomo Yoshihide, Kasper Toeplitz, Jimi Tenor, Kim Cascone, Fast Forward, Jakob Draminsky, David (Pere Ubu) Thomas & foreigners, Coal Hook (w Ron Schneiderman (Sunburned)), Jean-Francois Pauvros, Sofia Härdig, Lazara Rosell Albear, Bruno Ferro Xavier da Silva… At Vuotalo’s concert, STATIC TELLER’s performance will be complemented by video projection. http://www.jorgenteller.dk/STATICTELLER.html

STEPPING STONES (Swe/Fin)

“… a magical experience, (it) breaks all barriers, it’s venturing, it’s experimental and when you open your ears, it is very appealing”, said an enthusiastic critic about a concert of The Barrier Orchestra. Three members of the orchestra, artist Ann Rosén and composers Sten-Olof Hellström and Petri Kuljuntausta, continue their collaboration by launching a new group project. STEPPING STONES is a trio which works as test lab for the musicians focusing on the new interfaces and ways of producing sound in unconventional ways. In the new work series, they combine vivid sound elements and textures into a multi-layered and vibrant whole in an elastic small group format. ANN ROSÉN’s works have been performed at the Swedish Royal Opera, Moderna Museet, and South Bank in London. In the Drawing Sessions by Rosén, she performs with the pencil as her instrument, live electronic music emerge when graphite fuses with paper. STEN-OLOF HELLSTRÖM obtained a PhD in composition at University of Huddersfield, UK. His albums Sine Cera (w/ Bowers) and Kept in the Dark (Agaig) were nominated for best experimental album at the Manifest Awards. PETRI KULJUNTAUSTA divides his time between composing, performing, building sound and media installations, and researching. In recent years, he has done underwater concerts and installations and given concerts with birds.

POLYPHONIC TONCHESTRA

Modular, electronic, analog, improvisation, digital, interactivity, composition, graphic, drone, ambient, do-it-yourself, experimental, synthesizers, electroacoustic, electric guitar, silence, rock, modulation, noise, live processing, feedback… This multinational orchestra offers sound adventures that cannot be known in advance. The orchestra plays on the edge of time and space, its musicians react to what they hear, go further and the performance develops in a direction that cannot be predicted. The journey into the unknown goes through situations where the presence of harmony and chaos is transformed into a musical play in the hands of musicians, where logic and illogicality lose their meaning. Dropping a pebble in water produces essentially the same rippling sound effect as colliding super-black holes a billion light years away in time and space. It partially suggests the elemental power of sound, linked as it is to movement, a signal of life, dynamism and creation. That is what POLYPHONIC TONCHESTRA is all about. At this concert the line-up is K. Bévand, E. Kalman, K. Kovasin, Pál Ivan, J. Pedersen, and J. Teller.

EGIL KALMAN (Swe)

Egil Kalman is a Swedish musician / composer primarily playing modular synthesizer and double bass. His music aims to dissolve the brittle barriers separating traditional Scandinavian folk and contemporary electroacoustic music via minimalist compositional techniques and soulful improvisations. Utilizing just intonation tunings, hypnotic forms, synthesized sound mimicking the acoustic and vice versa, his music explores qualities intrinsic to traditional Scandinavian folk music in ways where the musical foundation is felt rather than explicitly heard. Kalman’s new album ‘Kingdom of Bells – Egil Kalman plays the Synthi 100’ will be realeased in May 2022 on iDeal Recordings: “Mind altering just tuned drones with melodies that echoes traditional Scandinavian folk music flow into abstract soundscapes reminiscent of early electronic music pioneers, but still holds a fresh sound and vibe. Deep synth music from the North!” http://egilkalman.com/

STÓRMKRÓKUR (Isl)

STÓRMKRÓKUR is an electronic duo founded by composers Jesper Pedersen and Páll Ivan frá Eiðum. The music of STÓRMKRÓKUR is seeking new inspiration in techniques used by noise musicians of yesteryear using non-linear feedback through analog sound equipment like mixing desks, stomp boxes and modular synthesizers. The sound world is raw and abstract sounding but with clear dialogues emerging between the sounds walking the fine line between chaos and order. Composer and sound artist Pedersen has written music for acoustic instruments and the electronic medium both, as an electronic musician and improviser he works with diverse groups ranging from contemporary, experimental and improvised music to ambient and drone. Páll Ivan is a multi-instrumentalist and visual artist, he has collaborated in many diverse projects and appears on recordings with baroque music over pop to metal and contemporary experimental music. <https://jesperpedersen.bandcamp.com>, <https://www.pallivan.is>

KATHARINA BÉVAND (Ger)

Katharina Bévand is a sound artist based in Berlin. She performs on modular synthesizers and creates site-specific sound installations and sound sculptures. Bévand works with processed field recordings, extended recording techniques and the resonance of spaces and objects. She exhibited internationally in Germany, Egypt, Taiwan, and in the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan in Northern Iraq. In 2021 she received a research grant from the Berlin Senate and a GVL Stipend for music production, and was part of Goldrausch Project for women artists. She has been a directive board member of the Berlin Association for New Music, BGNM e.V. https://katharinabevand.com/


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).

***

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).

***

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).

***

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).

***

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?

***

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

***

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).

***

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.


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

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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, http://akusmata.com/heikki-lindgren/

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

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

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


Jaakko Autio: Kinaesthetic Poetry (with KuNuKu Choir)

JAAKKO AUTIO

KINAESTHETIC POETRY. Homage for Sound Minds
– With KuNuKu Choir

17. – 31.1.2020

Opening times:
1st week: Mon to Thu 14.00-18.00 (closed Fri-Mon 24.-27.1)

2nd week: Tue 14-18, Thu 15:30-18, Fri 14-20 (Mon & Wed closed).
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Ending Performance
JAAKKO AUTIO & KARRI KOKKO:
Asemic notes for Jaakko Autio’s sound installation “Kinaesthetic Poetry”.
31.1.2020 18.30-20:00 pm. Free entry. Welcome!


The inspiration for this work came from contemplating the idea of “art´s origin” or “art´s birthday”. When recording the material for KINAESTHETIC POETRY -installation, eight singers (KuNuKu Choir) surrounded three water pools. By using special sound equipment, the singers voices created geometrical shapes on water surface in real time. A kinaesthetic contemplation took place between the singer and the inner water. While recording, we were specially interested on the “birth” moment of geometrical shapes, and on the minimal effort needed to sustain the moving forms in water.

The sound of KP is based on 17 minute long loop. Musical arrangement was created by KuNuKu -choir via improvisation methods. The choir leader Jussi Mattila helped the choir to find the inner alignment with the water, but the audible musical arrangement comes from the group dynamics. On the final installation presented at Akusmata Gallery (17.1-30.1.2020), the singers are replaced by eight 8” full range speakers, placed on 1:1 relation how the recording took place. The guest can investigate the conscious movements of human perception, and alignment with non-human element such as water.


Artistic Crew:
Sound artist: Jaakko Autio
Choir Leader: Jussi Mattila
KuNuKu singers: Tatu Huotarinen, Antti Rissanen, Ossi Putkonen, Kaisa Karhunen, Emma Jämsen, Ella Vähäpassi, Reetta Karhunen & Juulia Karppi
Akusmata organizer: Petri Kuljuntausta

Web: https://jaakkoautio.wordpress.com/

KINAESTHETIC POETRY is part of Art’s birthday event on 17.1.2020 and Akusmata’s Polyphonic sound art festival.