Atau Tanaka

In collaboration with
NYU Interactive Arts and
Harvestworks

Atau Tanaka &
Adam Parkinson

George Lewis &
Marina Rosenfeld
with
Raz Mesinai &
DJ Olive



Monday, October 26, 8pm

Frederick Loewe Theater
35 West 4th Street
Admission free

↓ Program

PROGRAM

Improvisatons....................................................................................Atau Tanaka, Adam Parkinson
    For RJDJ/iPhones and BioMuse interfaces


Performance on October 26, 2009

Sour Mash.......................................................George Lewis, Marina Rosenfeld, Raz Mesinai, DJ Olive
    For dub plates and turntables


Performance on October 26, 2009

ABOUT THE ARTISTS



Atau Tanaka
Atau Tanaka bridges media art, experimental music, and research. He has worked at IRCAM, at Sony Computer Science Laboratory Paris as researcher, and as Artistic Co-Director of STEIM in Amsterdam. He creates sensor-based musical instruments, and is known for his work with bio-signal interfaces. His work has been presented at Ars Electronica, SFMOMA, Eyebeam, V2, ICC, and ZKM.


Adam Parkinson
Adam Parkinson's research encompasses notions of embodiment and embodied listening, the dynamics of group playing and the notion of the laptop as instrument, and a Deleuzian philosophy of music. His musical activities include textural laptop improvisations, loping hip hop, preposterous electro and hard, glitchy techno.



Marina Rosenfeld
Marina Rosenfeld creates large-scale performance works, installations, video, and photography. Her work has been commissioned by the Whitney Biennial, Creative Time, Tate Modern, The Kitchen, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and presented at festivals including Mutek, Donaueschingen, Ars Electronica, Pro Musica Nova, Wien Modern, and others.


George Lewis
Member of the AACM, George Lewis's work as composer, improvisor, and performer explores electronic music, multimedia installations, text-sound works, and notated and improvisative forms. His awards include the MacArthur Fellowship and Alpert Award. He has published and recorded prolifically. He is currently the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia University.


DJ Olive
DJ Olive co-founded Lalalandia Entertainment Research Corporation, labels Phonomena Audio Arts & Multiples and The Agriculture, and recorded Bodega, Live in Tasmania, and more. He has exhibited at the Whitney Biennial, Venice Biennale, and other important venues. He has performed with Luc Ferrari, Marc Ribot, Derek Bailey, Charles Gayle, Ikue Mori, and many other well-known artists.


Raz Mesinai
Raz Mesinai's music has been performed at the Lincoln Center Festival, The Kitchen, Next Wave Festival/BAM, Whitney Museum, ICA London, Saafelden Jazz Festival, Winter Garden, and more. His work has been commissioned by Kronos Quartet, Ethel, VIA, and cellist Maya Beiser, has he has received an honorary award in the Ars Electronica Digital Musics category.


ABOUT THE MUSIC

Atau Tanaka and Adam Parkinson bring a gestural physicality to laptop computer performance in their duo collaborations. Tanaka performs on a system that captures physiological neuron impulses resulting from muscle tension. The electromyogram (EMG) signal produced is a reflection of bodily activity and intent, with the results sculpting layers of sound. Parkinson runs Pure Data on two iPhones, mixing and mangling their output. He has designed a family of small, functional instruments where each is intended to perform one musical task, working within the limitations and potential of the device’s processing speed, tilt sensor and touch screen. For both, sound worlds embedded in computing serve as a point of departure to extend the notion of laptop music: Tanaka beyond the machine interface through corporeal gesture, and Parkinson by obviating the laptop completely.

They have performed at the Luminaire in London, the Cumberland Arms pub in Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Kiasma Museum in Helsinki during PixelAche 2009.

 

· · ·

 

Sour Mash, a new project by George Lewis and Marina Rosenfeld, confronts the idea of collaborative composition on a number of levels. Conceived primarily for vinyl, this flexible work acts as a stand-alone pair of compositions (side gl and side mr), which can be paired into a third combined work, heard when two copies of the vinyl are played simultaneously. This third version, imagined by the artists as a template for further re-composition by DJs or other sound-manipulators, was presented this evening with the participation of two leading sound artist/turntablists—Raz Mesinai and DJ Olive—as additional collaborators. Here, the work's vinyl itself functioned as a physically encoded score, opening the door to experimentation with the composers' palette of electro-acoustic sound.

George Lewis talks about the collaboration and the idea underlying the composition in the following article at Arts Electric:

George Lewis and Marina Rosenfeld:
Sour Mash