| field
effects 19: tape take two
friday,
june 25, doors 8pm
964 natoma, sf, ca, usa
requested donation $6-10
The
world makes music, remember to listen.
The Field Effects series
showcase the use of found sound, found materials, and field recordings in media
art, presented in a uniquely comfortable environment. For this show, we will
listen to contemporary prepared compositions (otherwise known as 'tape music')
from four American sound artists and composers. Three of the artists will be on
hand to present their work (Phillip Bimstein will unfortunately not be able to
join us in person). Field
Effects 19 will feature work from composers: maggi
payne
Maggi Payne is Co-director of the Center
for Contemporary Music at Mills
College, teaching recording engineering, composition and electronic music.
She also freelances as a recording engineer/editor and historical remastering
engineer. For
Field Effects 19, Maggi will be presenting two pieces, Fluid
Dynamics and Distant Thunder. About them,
she writes: 'In
Fluid Dynamics and Distant Thunder, I use location recordings as the basis from
which I develop the works. The sources are processed using phase vocoding, convolution,
granular synthesis, equalization, and extensive layering, and although a residual
attachment to the original sounds remain, their origins are at times rather obscured/abstract.
The spatialization is natural. Static sources are convolved against naturally
moving sources so that they take on the spatialization characteristics of the
moving sources. These
sounds hold such fascination for me in the intricacies of their timbres, the smallest
perturbations being so audible in the loudest and in the softest sounds. The dynamic
potential is almost visceral for me. It is as if the listener is inside of these
entities, exploring every detail from the inside out rather than being an outsider
looking/listening in.'
Maggi
received honorable mentions in Bourges (3X) and Prix Ars Electronica Festivals,
two Composer's Grants, and an Interdisciplinary Arts Grant from the NEA, and video
grants from the Mellon Foundation and the Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowships
Program. Her works often contain visual elements, most typically video. She
has had performances of her works internationally in a breathtaking array of festivals,
colloquia, and venues [my words —AX]. Her works are available on Starkland,
Lovely Music, Music and Arts, Centaur, MMC, CRI, Digital Narcis, Frog Peak, Asphodel,
and/OAR, and Mills College labels. http://www.mills.edu/music/mus_maggi.html phillip
bimstein 'Phillip
Bimstein uses the voices, natural sounds and culture of his adopted home in his
compositions, and he practices politics with music in mind.' – All
Things Considered Composer
Bimstein was born in Chicago and is a graduate of Chicago Conservatory of Music,
where he majored in theory & composition. After
further study at UCLA in composition, orchestration and conducting, Bimstein took
a hiking trip to southern Utah and never left. He currently lives in in Springdale,
UT, where he also served two terms as mayor. As mayor he was an outspoken advocate
for protection of the environment and he has testified twice before Congress in
support of Utah's wilderness. For
Field Effects 19, we will listen to Phillip's VOX=Dominum,
which features manipulations of recordings of Iranian classical music. A
recipient of grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet
The Composer and Austria's Prix Ars Electronica, Bimstein's music has been performed
at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Bang on a Can Festival,
the Aspen Music Festival and London's Royal Opera House. His work has been performed
by ensembles including Relche,
Turtle Island String Quartet,Modern Mandolin Quartet, Present Music, Abramyan
String Quartet, Sierra Winds, Equinox Chamber Players, the California E.A.R. Unit,
and Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues. Bimstein's
CD Garland Hirschi's Cows
won rave reviews in such publications as Stereo Review, Wired, Fanfare, Stereophile,
and Schwann Opus, which said 'highly entertaining, populist-oriented collection
of serious modern music. Bimstein's compositions are a virtual breath of fresh
air.' http://www.bimstein.com ellen
band Sound
artist and composer Ellen Band creates works for performance, sound installation,
and sound sculpture. Her
work has been presented across North America and Europe. For
Field Effects 19, Ellen will present recent work created in collaboration with
New York sound artist David Lee Myers, with whom she performed during the Boston
Cyberarts Festival series, 2003. David (who also performes as Arcane Device) specializes
in 'feedback music' produced with specialized circuitry and custom electronic
systems. The work will be released soon the label Pogus. Ellen's
work has been heard in San Francisco before; her sound installation Acoustic Mirage
was part of SoundCulture 96
(and has since been featured at The Sound Symposium, St John’s, Newfoundland,
Canada, and Diapason, New York City), and she was an artist in residence at Mills
College in 1996.
In 1997, American Composers Forum awarded her a Composers Commissioning Award.
She taught sound art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (1994-1997
and 2002) and the Massachusetts College of Art (1994). Her
most recent work, Portal Of Prayer, was the first completely audio-based work
commissioned by the Institute Of Contemporary Art/Vita Brevis in Boston; the work
was installed at Logan International Airport, the Boston Public Library, and the
Codman Square Health Center. The work investigates the sonic properties of prayer,
the meditative power of the sound of prayer, and how it alters the experience
of public places. Her
CD 90% Post Consumer Sound (XI Records) received
worldwide airplay and reviews in publications such as the WIRE and Playboy. http://www.ellenband.com jen
boyd Los
Angeles based artist Jen Boyd spends her free time collecting microscopic recordings
of trees, plants, and other audible organic matter; and creating layered compositions
in real-time with the use of a portable mixer. Boyd
captures natural sounds as they unfold. Working
with contact microphones and a minidisc recorder, Boyd constructs stereo soundscapes
to give depth to the delicate sounds of hollow trees and yucca plants alike. About
the work she will present at Field Effects 19, Jen writes: 'My
piece will involve field recordings of ants: a journey into their environment.
Pretty micro and organic sounding with some lower thick sounds...'
Currently
study composition at Cal Arts; Jen has studied under artists such as Mark Trayle,
Leticia Sonomi, Bary Schrador, and Michael Fink. While at CalArts Boyd plans to
explore the depths of natural sound and their presentation as art in the form
of live performance and sound installations. Jen
is currently exploring various means of releasing her recorded works of natural
sounds and plans to continue to build an archive of Phonographies and contact
recordings. The
Field Effects series showcases artists who are interested in framing the hidden
beauty of the everyday world: beauty on the surface, awaiting our attention. Beauty
that must be delicately extracted. And beauty in potential, awaiting juxtaposition,
collage, repetition and mutilation. Seating
mostly on futons and our new flock of beanbags, to encourage comfortable deep
listening. You are always welcome to bring pajamas or a pillow.
Depending on weather, hot or cold drinks will be available on a donation-based
honor system. With luck, someone will bake cookies. This
information is not for print distribution or advertising. This is a private event
for friends, family, and our community.
questions? |