Panel discussion begins at 6pm; Performance begins at 8pm
Harvestworks produces an investigation into the phenomena of no-input, a style of sound art using internal mixer feedback to generate sound. Presentations will feature No-input icon Toshimaru Nakamura who will be joined by sound artists Philip White, Bob Bellerue, Bonnie Jones, and Phillip Stearns in a panel that will explore the limits of the sound-generating technique, it’s influence on the audience and how each artist has expanded their equipment to address stylistic concerns. The panel will be followed by a performance with special guest Gene Coleman where participants will exhibit the their idiosyncratic approaches to controlling an instrument that defies control.
Toshimaru Nakamura has been producing sound art on his self-named "no-input mixing board," after long unhappy years with the electric guitar. The name describes the method of his sounds. "No" external sound source is connected to "inputs" of the "mixing board." Toshimaru is a distinguished and original voice in electro-acoustic improvisation. Since 1998, Nakamura has been exploring the possibilities of his no-input mixing board system.
Philip White is a sound artist whose performances and presentations center on a nonlinear feedback system, which consists of a mixer and several homemade circuits. In addition to his work with analog and digital electronics, White has created a large body of intermedia pieces that explore meaning in information transmission.
Bob Bellerue is a sound artist based in Brooklyn NY. His work utilizes custom electronics and programming, incorporating feedback, prepared field recordings, demusicalized objects, and found oscillators. The artist states,"my work is based in feedback circuits used for synthesis; recontextualized field recordings; texture/drone/nonmusical instruments (shanai, rebab, gambuh, chinese cymbals, hunting calls, junk metal, sheets of glass); and a performance presence best characterized as animist/animalistic. I attempt to harness the sounds within nature, without imposing a deterministic melodic/rhythmic structure."
Bonnie Jones is a Korean-American writer, sound artist, and performer working primarily with electronic sounds and text. Born in 1977 in South Korea, she currently resides in Baltimore, MD. Bonnie creates improvised and composed text-sound performances that explore the fluidity and function of electronic noise (field recordings, circuit bending) and text (poetry, found, spoken). She is interested in how people perceive, “read” and interact with these sounds and texts in our current technological environment. Bonnie has presented her work in the US, Europe, and Asia and received her MFA from the Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College.
Phillip Stearns creates at the intersection of art, philosophy, and science, drawing upon a variety of disciplines including sound installation, music performance and composition, video, circuit sculpture, photography, and conceptual art. Deconstruction, dissection, and reconfiguration are methods he commonly employs in his hands-on approach to creating works with materials ranging from electronic objects, biological systems, images, light, video, and sound. His process is aimed at revealing hidden macrocosms of potential, new materials for expression, and new paths for inquiries into understanding the state of things. In his work with technology, the machine is understood as the living manifestation of human intentions where the development and application of our technologies, machines, and tools, reveals our desires and dreams—both conscious and unconscious.
Gene Coleman is a composer, musician and director. He has created over 50 works for various instrumentation and media. Since 2001 his work has focused on global culture and music's relationship with architecture, video and dance. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with experimental filmmakers Stan Brakhage and Ernie Gehr, and Robert Snyder for music. Coleman is the recipient of the 2013 Berlin Prize in Music Composition and was composer in residence at the American Academy in Rome (Fall 2011), Shofuso House Philadelphia (2009), Westwerk in Hamburg (2007), Taipei Artists Village (2007), Irtijal Festival in Beirut (2005), Takefu Music Festival (2002) and in Tokyo (2001 Japan-US Fellowship). Over the years he has collaborated with a wide range of musicians and composers; from Jim O'Rourke and Otomo Yoshihide to Helmut Lachenmann and George Crumb. Many groups have commissioned his music and film work and presented it around the world, including Klangforum Wien, The Japan Society, The Ernst von Siemens Foundation, Chamber Music Now, Network for New Music, Ensemble On-Line, Phace Contemporary, I-House Philadelphia, E-Mex Ensemble, Tom Buckner, MoMA, The Crossing and others. More info at: http://vimeo.com/genecoleman (and soon) http://genecolemancomposer.com
About Harvestworks
Harvestworks is a nonprofit Digital Media Arts Center that presents experimental artworks created in collaboration with our Technology, Engineering, Art and Music (TEAM) Lab. The Harvestworks TEAM Lab is an environment that provides project expertise from consultants, technicians, instructors and innovative practitioners in all branches of the electronic arts. Our programs are made possible with funds from New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, the Jerome Foundation, mediaThefoundation, Meet The Composer Cary Performance Fund, The Edwards Foundation Arts Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Andy Warhol Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Materials for the Arts, and the Friends of Harvestworks. This project is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts' Electronic Media and Film Presentation Funds grant program, administered by The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes (www.NYSCA.org www.eARTS.org).