Distant Pairs: James Fei & Yan Jun - 螺层 (Gyration)
Wednesday, October 26th at 8pm ET, ISSUE is pleased to stream a new collaboration between Oakland, California-based composer, synthesist, saxophonist and electronic musician James Fei and Chinese musician and poet Yan Jun, who is based in Beijing. While Fei has performed in a variety of configurations at ISSUE (including recently with Kato Hideki, Sean Meehan, and Laetitia Sonami), this new piece is a first time pairing with Yan Jun, also known for heading the Beijing organization and label Sub Jam and contributing writing toThe Wire. The duo’s new work will stream for free on ISSUE’s site.
“The Distant Pairs project seems an ideal opportunity for us to work together for the first time, after meeting over ten years ago. Circulation—walking in a circle in Yan Jun's quarantine hotel, recordings of spaces played back and altered in each other's surroundings, and frequency-shifted feedback—accumulate and filter the ephemera around each of us in the absence of physical interaction. Rather than something to be looked at, the visual component is intended to illuminate and alter the environment of the viewer.” — Yan Jun and James Fei
James Fei (b. Taipei, Taiwan) moved to the US in 1992 to study electrical engineering but lost his way in music, becoming a composer, saxophonist and electronic musician. Works by Fei have been performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble, Bang on a Can All-Stars, MATA Micro Orchestra and Noord-Hollands Philharmonisch Orkest. Recordings can be found on Leo Records, Improvised Music from Japan, CRI, Krabbesholm and Organized Sound. Compositions for Fei's own ensemble of four alto saxophones focus on physical processes of saliva, fatigue, reeds crippled by cuts and the threshold of audible sound production, while his sound installations and performance on live electronics often focus on electronic and acoustic feedback. Fei received the Grants for Artists Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in 2014 and he is president of Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation. Fei has taught at Mills College in Oakland since 2006, where he is Professor of Electronic Arts, Director of the Center for Contemporary Music and heads the Art and Technology Program.
Yan Jun is a musician and poet living in Beijing. He is engaged in experimental and improvised music and uses noise, field recordings, bodies, and concepts as material. His compositions are usually simple, with little technique, and nothing like music. Occasionally he goes to the audience's house to play plastic bags. "I wish I was a field recording."
During the Fall, 2022 ISSUE is continuing to commission artists as part of the Distant Pairs series, producing collaborative work at a time when the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted their ability to travel and perform, and altered the nature of collective work and performance. Pairing artists in disparate locations who cannot work together in “traditional” ways, the Distant Pairs series examines the collaborative process, methods of working, and partnership amidst these constrained conditions.
Full Distant Pairs Series Schedule*
Irmin Schmidt & Leah Singer: Wednesday, October 19th
DEBIT & Flora Yin-Wong: Thursday, October 20th
James Fei & Yan Jun: Wednesday, October 26th
Lucy Railton & Max Eilbacher: Thursday, October 27th - Presented online and as an ISSUE Member Event at Fridman Gallery
*All Times 8pm ET
