Zbigniew Karkowski was born in 1958 in Krakow, Poland. He studied composition at the State College of Music in Gothenburg, Sweden, aesthetics of modern music at the University of Gothenburg’s Department of Musicology, and computer music at the Chalmers University of Technology. After completing his studies in Sweden, he studied sonology for a year at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Den Haag, Netherlands. Zbigniew Karkowski has studied with composers Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen, and Georges Aperghis and has produced numerous works in the fields of both acoustic and electronic music including chamber works, pieces for large orchestra and opera. He is also a founding member of the electroacoustic music performance trio Sensorband and has worked with notable underground icons, Merzbow, Pita (Peter Rehberg), Kasper Toeplitz, Francisco Lopez, Daniel Menche and Hafler Trio.

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Zbigniew+Karkowski

Michael Haleta:

Michael Haleta (born in 1978 in Princeton, NJ) is an intermedia artist living and working in Atlantic Highlands, NJ. He studied the cello from an early age up until the guitar, effects pedals and free form improvisation peaked his interests in the generation of sound. “Everything starts from a dot.”-Kandinsky. Haleta is interested in individual sounds and bits rather than complete things. In terms of visuals, he graduated in 2001 with a BA in information design from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). A list of current visual and audio-based collaborators include: BBNB: Dawn and Michael Haleta, HD: Jeffrey Donaldson/Haleta, Zbigniew Karkowski/Haleta, the Voltage Spooks: Rick Reed/Keith Rowe/Haleta, MATH: Jeremy Sigler/Haleta and 2673 (Kevin Winters)/Haleta. Haleta has worked and/or played together with numerous composers, artists and musicians, including: Paul Neidhardt, Stephan Moore, Shaun Flynn, 2673 (Kevin Winters), Rick Reed, Jeremy Sigler, Keith Rowe, Jason Urick, Kasper Toeplitz, Scott Smallwood, Seth Cluett, Dan Deacon, Zbigniew Karkowski, Jeff Donaldson, Andrya Ambro and more. He has released audio for Alienation, Raw Special Effects (RSE), Carpark, Antiopic and Hoss records. Michael runs the small edition label/autonomous shop, Raw Special Effects (RSE) which is scheduled to release material by EVOL, Peter Rehberg and many others within the year 2010. A small portion of Haleta’s visual research can be viewed here: http://rse.sevcom.com/