December 4th, 5th and 6th, 2014, ISSUE Project Room’s Swedish Energies Festival New York returns in the fourth-annual presentation, celebrating 50 years of Stockholm's Elektronmusikstudion, aka EMS. Presented by ISSUE in collaboration with EMS and the Consulate General of Sweden in New York, over three free evenings at ISSUE and Experimental Intermedia, the series brings together a wide-ranging international lineup of visionary electronic and improvisational musicians spanning genres of sound and visual art.
The festival opens Thursday, December 4th, 6pm, at Experimental Intermedia, Phill Niblock’s historic downtown loft space. Mats Lindström, studio director of EMS, presents 12 Stations, an epic, 7 hour tape piece by the late Hungarian-Swedish composer and organist Ákos Rózmann (1939-2009).
Live performances begin the following evening, Friday December 5th, 7pm at ISSUE Project Room’s 22 Boerum Place theater. The night opens with concrete sounds from UK-based Swedish sound artist Jenny Sunesson. Saxophonist Christine Abdelnour, known for the breadth of her textural alto techniques, plays duo with Joachim Nordwall, a member of The Skull Defekts and iDeal label-head. Sound artist Daniel Rozenhall and visual artist / graphic designer Sten Backman appear in a rare collaboration. Copenhagen’s Frederikke Hoffmeier, aka Puce Mary, plays a solo set crossing rhythmic industrial and harsh power electronics. The notorious Swedish composer and visual artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff closes the night with a solo performance. A co-founder of the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland, von Housswolff’s minimal-leaning works explore themes of electricity and communication with the afterlife.
The festival closes Saturday, December 6th, 6pm at ISSUE with a massive lineup opened by Maria w Horn. The Stockholm-based composer combines projections and raw synthesis, sculpted with minimalistic precision. Stephen O’Malley, celebrated guitarist and doom-metal legend of Sunn O)))) fame, performs a solo set. Malmö-based performance artist Kristina Matousch explores themes of digestion, eroticism, violence and exchange. Leif Elggren, the second co-founder of the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland, returns to ISSUE with Kent Tankred as The Sons of God, a duo exploring the borderland between performance, installation and music. The festival wraps up with a solo performance by Berlin-based Swedish composer Ellen Arkbro, whose works for electronics, guitar and her voice, draw on minimalism and just intonation.
Festival At a Glance:
Thursday, December 4th - 6pm-1am - Free
at Experimental Intermedia, 224 Centre St., NYC 10013
Ákos Rózmann tape piece presented by Mats Lindström
Friday, December 5th - 7pm - Free
at ISSUE Project Room, 22 Boerum Place, Brooklyn, NY 11201
* Carl Michael von Hausswolff
** Frederikke Hoffmeier
*** Daniel Rozenhall & Sten Backman
**** Christine Abdelnour & Joachim Nordwall
***** Jenny Sunesson
with Daniel Araya between sets (EMS, live)
Saturday, December 6th - 6pm - Free
at ISSUE Project Room, 22 Boerum Place, Brooklyn, NY 11201
* Ellen Arkbro
** The Sons of God
*** Kristina Matousch
**** Stephen O’Malley
***** Maria w Horn
with DJ Fabio Roberti between sets
SATURDAY AFTER PARTY: 11pm at Hollow Nickel: 494 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn
with Daniel Araya (EMS, live)
