ISSUE Project Room and Harvestworks are pleased to present two performances featuring acoustician Paul Geluso’s immersive 3D Sound Object, a speaker system capable of reproducing complex directional sound radiation. As part of a series of commissions and outreach activities that feature the operation of the 3D Sound Object, these performances highlight key techniques and listening strategies in approaching sound within unique acoustic spaces.
Friday, July 14th, composer and synthesis pioneer David Rosenboom and vocalist and sound artist Viv Corringham each premiere pieces focusing on their varied approaches to Geluso’s invention. Together, these artists “sound out” the sonic qualities of ISSUE’s historic McKim, Mead and White Theater at 22 Boerum Place, giving shape to their amplified sound works as virtual 3D sound sculptures. Developed by Geluso while in residence at Harvestworks, the Object has become a platform for new experimental compositions by contemporary composers, specifically exploring the model radiation of acoustic instruments, the spatialization of existing recorded sound, and the creation of synthesized sound in three dimensions. Described as “painting with sonar,” the Object catalyzes the collaborative construction of a 3D soundscape as well as the scanning and exploring of ISSUE’s unique sonic environment.
The evening features the world premiere of two works commissioned specifically for the 3D Sound Object, Shattered Song, Shadow City by Viv Corringham and Nothingness is Unstable by David Rosenboom.
David Rosenboom’s Nothingness is Unstable interprets his own drawing series “Natural Scores” as well as his harmonic cycle system “Earth Encomium” to explore how “Nothingness usually collapses into something-ness” in live electronic performance. The work features sounds collected in Indonesia and the U.S. articulated by large banks of complex digital resonator circuits, shaped by performing actions with analog acoustic sources. These sounds are diffused into space with the unique Geluso 3D Sound Object to create an immersive musical wrapping. Into this sonic environment, Rosenboom also blends excerpts from his interactive piece "The Experiment," which was written for Hopscotch, a mobile opera for 24 cars produced by The Industry in Los Angeles in 2015. In this scene, voices move around in 3D sound space while responding (via brainwaves) to questions posed by an anxious investigator attempting to determine if Heaven and Hell are merely features of the mind.
Corringham’s Shattered Song, Shadow City integrates live voice with recorded narrative and environmental sound. The work features phrases and words, in a variety of languages, plus field recordings that move through the 3D Sound Object.
David Rosenboom (b. 1947) is a composer, performer, conductor, interdisciplinary artist, author and educator known as a pioneer in American experimental music. Since the 1960s David Rosenboom has explored the spontaneous evolution of musical forms, languages for improvisation, new techniques in scoring for ensembles, multi-disciplinary composition and performance, cross-cultural collaborations, performance art and literature, interactive multi-media and new instrument technologies, generative algorithmic systems, art-science research and philosophy, and extended musical interface with the human nervous system. His work is widely distributed and presented around the world. He holds the Richard Seaver Distinguished Chair in Music at CalArts where he is also Dean of The Herb Alpert School of Music. David Rosenboom is a Yamaha Artist.
Vocalist and sound artist Viv Corringham creates concert music, radio works, soundwalks and installations. She has received two Composer Fellowships from McKnight Foundation, through American Composers Forum, and many grants and awards including Jerome Foundation and Meet the Composer. She has an MA Sonic Art from Middlesex University, London, UK and is certified to teach Deep Listening by the late composer Pauline Oliveros. Her work has received international recognition and been presented in twenty two countries on five continents. Recent work has included festivals in Athens (Borderline), Pellice Valley Italy (La collera delle lumache), Hong Kong (Around Sound), New Zealand (Vitamin S), London (Her Noise at Tate and Soundworks at ICA), Florence Italy (Tempo Reale) and Australia (SoundOut), an artist residency at Emily Harvey Gallery, Venice Italy, and as artist mentor in Manila Philippines and Hong Kong. Her ongoing sound project, "Shadow-walks", has been presented in 23 cities internationally, most recently as multi channel installations at Harvestworks Digital Media Arts, New York and Superbudda, Turin, Italy. Recordings are available on Innova, Deep Listening, Linear Obsessional, Slowfoot, NoMansLand, ARC Music, MASH, Slam, Rhiannon, Jungle Records, Emanem, Move, Artship and Third Force.
