E.S.S.I. Exhibitions
(experimental sounds, sculptures and installations)
International Sound Artists
Each year sound artists are invited from overseas to contribute to E.S.S.I. (Experimental Sounds, Installations and Sculpture exhibition). The intention is to open up international dialogue between all sound artists and to form networking relationships.
JASON KAVANAGH - Scotland
“[clm]”
My compositions first begin with a concept. Not a sound, but an impression of what that sound is. This involves an interpretation that is filtered through me. I recognise the Self to be a key constituent of any sound and what I aim to produce are sound pieces that capture the subjective and inter-subjective activity and experiences which underpin the way in which a listener engages with their aural reality. I attempt to convey that by their very engagement with sound, the listener actively changes the reality of what they are perceiving. This piece began with field and studio recording, followed by a high level of sound design. The recordings were processed and manipulated into the sounds which you can hear. The sound files were then queued as samples and I recorded a one take arrangement, this arrangement was then gradually sculpted and moulded into the finished work by further alteration of volume, EQ and effects parameters."
MARESUKE OKAMOTO - Japan
with HUGUES VINCENT
“Zen2DaujyoBU”
I treat my body as a universe, my inner self consisting of countless creatures that live in a mysterious order and discipline. It is an unknown habitat that has its own private existence. To extend from this I had to learn to communicate with others that has taken over a quarter of a century. As a result I have been able to create multiple universes through the language of music and express by using traditional world instruments. This becomes a common language with others and the experience is beautiful. My inner universe constantly expands and if it was ever to shut down, then it would be the same as my own death.
“Zen2 DaijyoBU” in Japanese. means “Everything is OK, no problem don’t worry” (It is grammatically incorrect use of Japan words and it is a fad word used by young people). However I like the irony of this expression to the actuality of having to work, produce and provide effort to create a Universe that you can comfortable rest within and be proud of. Sometimes not everything is ok and you do have to worry.
CEZARY GAPIK - Poland
JAIME RGUEZ - Spain
#0401
Active in the Polish underground for over two decades, Cezary’s work incorporates the fundamentals of avant-garde music by Stockhausen, Feldman, Ferrari et al with computer processing and collaborations with artists such as Scorn; creating music based on drones and micro-tonal sound interlaced with field recordings and glitch edits. The track is the result of improvisations on a laptop (softsynth - NI Reaktor) plus prepared electric guitar.
E.T.G - Peru
“Lignes-Linien-Lines”
This is a trio of musicians Elisabeth Flunger (percussion), Tomás Tello (guitar, harmonium, electronic devisces) and Gérard Delesse (bass clarinet, alto saxophone and flute). Ada Günther is drawing. Our idea of playing is to interact in a chain reaction way; this means to respond to each others playing and through this, create a sensitive and dynamic torrent of sound. Our sound is composed of different kinds of qualities of sound. Elisabeth plays with a collection of metal trash objects and creates an ambience composed of repetitive rhythmic patterns that work like physical soundscapes. Gérard uses the wind instruments with a very wide approach and links the landscaping style of Tomás with the percussion of Elisabeth. Tomás uses guitar and electronics to make a constant sound layer that wraps the other sounds together.
SEAN DERRICK COOPER MARQUARDT - Germany
“Lines of Endearment”
Lightening is a “type of” declaration of love to the lines of life that guide us. Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt is the developer of “Accidental Guitar” method. It is a holistic and grounded concept that includes three main aspects. The first of these is the creation of sounds and sound worlds by combining the guitar with distortion effects; a type of “routing” or “mapping” technique where the musician does not lose himself, however, but instead works in a deliberate manner with the tools available to him. The second dimension is improvisation; an approach that Cooper Marquardt has chosen, systematically rejecting predetermined choreographies and all forms of rehearsal or planning. This applies not only to live performances, but also when making recordings in his studio. Finally, the third dimension to this concept is the specific situation that the musician encounters when playing: the atmosphere and setting, the persons, conditions and moods present in the space in question lead to a contextualisation of his music.
Film Clip re-edited and music re-mastered by Tolga Imam for purpose of this exhibition.
(Original film clip by Angela Grasser. Original film and music editing by Lind Bohm). All text provided by Artist. Text based on a conversation with Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt in February 2011 with Birgit Anna Schumacher, author and curator.
BUTTERCUP INSURGENT - England
“Salt Chunk Mary”
Salt Chunk Mary is intended as a sound tribute by Martin Briggs to the cut-up novels of William Burroughs. The piece utilises a generative rhythm patch in Pure Data to slice up my own field recordings and found sounds to create constantly changing, evolving, ‘shape-shifting’ rhythms, controlled by parameters which are altered in real time. This rhythm was then coupled with granular synthesis generated from other self made field recordings, again controlled by parameters which are set and altered in a real time performance setting. The sounds used were selected with Burroughs’ cut-up trilogy in mind; grinding industrial noise, snippets of jazz, electromagnetic field recordings, percussive pulses and static hiss. All combine to create an unsettling atmosphere designed to hook the listener in with rhythms which hypnotise yet deny the comfort of constance or regularity. In this way themes of addiction tension and denial are addressed.
NOS PROJECT - Greece
JAIME RGUEZ - Spain
“frOMy LittLE tOWn 2”
Chris Silver T embarks on a private journey in the sea of sounds that laps the shores of his mind. The results of this experience can be heard in the soundscapes of NOS Project; ambient memories of places one visits in dreams. “frOMy littLE tOWn” is made up of natural ‘found sounds’ combined with electronics. Drawing inspiration came from my hometown and my childhood memories. I used to play in the dirt roads, in the church yards and by the seaside, absorbing the sights and sounds all around me. In order to better interpret all that I used a cheap, lo-fi cassette recorder to capture the natural sounds which play the most important part and later added sonic background from synthesizers. Jaime Rguez visual composition is composed through fragmented images of memory, of past intimate landscapes united by the feelings of the human profile, an allegory that attempts to interact with the viewer’s visual sensibility to complete the winding and abstract spaces as part of their own experiences.
PAS - USA
“Music From the Interior Number: Number 57.”
PAS refers the negative form in French, metaphorically negating everything that is established to start from a new beginning. The viewpoint fuels our creativity. The aesthetic underpinnings are defined by the notion that music can be whatever the ear perceives. This is not music for commercial viability, but sonic sculptures in the mode of pure art and a love for life. Any objects that can produce sound are all considered. But the improvisations are far from haphazard. All musicians/artists are expected to listen to the works as a whole considering intensity, minimalism, change in instrumentation, texture, and silence.The philosophy is based on collaborative efforts to produce something unique which captures the audiences’ attention and makes them reconsider what music/entertainment is. The sounds are produced to put the listener in an introspective state of mind, to strip all thoughts from the listener and replace them with the universal communication of sound. In the process, we hope to alleviate the daily stresses of the listeners’ everyday lives for the time being of the performances. It can be considered meditation through sound.act spaces as part of their own experiences.
SEAN DERRICK COOPER MARQUARDT - Germany
JAIME RGUEZ - Spain
“She Lives on Light”
This composition was created after becoming aware of a real story of a woman guru named Jasmuheen. They claimed that she did not eat for five years and that she believes that you can survive from light only. Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt, is the developer of the accidental guitar method, “Accidental Guitar” allows Cooper Marquardt to maintain conscious control of his work despite its experimental nature. This awareness becomes a formative element of his music, which arises from “accidents” that the musician reacts to. Ultimately, this chain of reactions results in a certain logic, which nonetheless does not restrict the spontaneous, free momentum of his work.
Jaimie Rguez composed this experimental art video through fragmented images of land-work, with industrial landscapes united by images of simple forms of the audio by this sound. The images are the forms of a installation perpetrated specially for this theme.
IDTAL (Skye Speciale) - USA
“rEAL liVE FLEsh tUNeYard remix”
Mostly my songs just happen. The way it seems to work naturally is that I hear a piece of music I like and take it from there. With rEASL liVE FLEsh tUNe Yard remix I discovered this band and thought they were quite good so I began to play around with their sounds. In this instance I began by recording one of their tracks, I then recorded the same track on top of it and changed the pitch . Next I added the same track again, slowed it down, then made a ghost track of the whole piece and added echo. Lastly I added bass and drums to finish with a remix based on a type of cut and paste process.
EXOMENE - FRANCE
“The Synaesizer”
A synaesizer is a device that makes you see what it hears and hear what it sees. To do so its video system is directly plugged into the audio and vice-versa. If we compare it to a human being, it can hear with its eyes and see with its ears. This is called synesthesia; a union of the senses, etymologically. People who have this ability are called synesthetes. This devise is therefore an artificial synesthete, its senses having been melted together. But that quality of being a synesthete is only the consequence of its primary function, which is to generate a synesthetic experience on its user. It is an artificial synesthetic generator, what can be called a synaesizer. The technique is “databending”; a form of “hacking”. Files or data streams are interpreted as audio files. Raw data often generates raw sounds; this is why Exomene developed a specific interpretation and refining process, partly based on spectrogram’s analysis. In this version of the synaesizer, the music is generated by “Visions desaturées”, a photography series by Dorianne Wotton and the video synthesizer has been set up both by Dorianne Wotton and Exomene.