DAY 1
Report
Sound Workshop KiT/TEKS/Nordic sound art
10.10-20.10 2007
(Background material needed)
The workshop participants: Tisha Noor Murkarji, Nestory Syrjälä, Marie Muller, Christina Reenberg Jensen, Dodda Maggy, Linn Halvorsrød, Nanna Hellberg, Morten Skrøder Lund, Espen Lomsdalen.
Supervisors: Ivar Smedstad, Per Platou, Rune Søchting
Observer: Asbjørn Tiller
Per Platou and Ivar Smedstad started off by giving a brief introduction to the project and what the main emphasis for the project was going to be. A main theme for the workshop will be surround sound. The approach will be cinematic. That is, a main emphasis will be put on the connection between sound and image and the spatial characteristics of sound.
On the last night of the workshop (Saturday 20th) work from the workshop is going to be presented at the Trondheim Matchmaking Festival (TEKS). In addition the workshop is to be presented daytime at the conference part of the festival.
The participants gave a short presentation of themselves (a more thorough one to be given on day two)
The participants have various background and connection to working with sound which is good. Some working with sound art, some with installations and sculpture and some working with live sound and improvisation. It’ also interesting to note that they work just as much with analogue technology as with digital.
Presentation 1 Per Platou
Platou presented parts of his work both as an artist and as curator. There was a special emphasis on the works where sound is a prominent element.
In Nood sound is captured from internet then processed and looped. These sounds are then used for music production. Two cds has been released from this project in addition to workshops an so on. Platou has also participated in early experiments on playing, improvising and doing concerts over internet.
In Death Valley Platou cooperated with composer Geir Jenssen/Biosphere and artist Amanda Steggell to create an audiovisual installation. The music was divided into five channels, thus representing a kind of surround system as the sound emitted from a rotating sculpture consisting of five ’horns’ faceing different directions.
The 8th Sister was situated underwater outside The seven sisters in the northern part of Norway. In this work Motherboard project sonar was used to depict an underwater sculpture of a woman, thus provoking the myth of the seven sisters as known in the area.
Presentation 2 Ivar Smedstad
Smedstad presented his work from early 80s to present. Inspired by the Vasulkas, Smedstad came into experimenting with video at an early stage. He sees the auditive and visual elements as equal components in his work. Sugar () represented the first editing work. After that he has been experimenting with a notation system for sound and picture. From the work High Fidelity (1986). Sound became even more prominent in the video. Smedstad now started recording sounds separate from the video, thus bringing more organic sounds into the audiovisual combinations. Also the picture became more processed. At this point Smedstad was connected to the Electronic Art Intermix and Experimental Television Centre in New York. The latter containing loads of pioneer video hardware.
The video Drain (1993) represented a shift in technology from the analogue to the digital. Smedstad was at this point situated in Cologne. After a while this resulted in experiments with morphing, and Smedstad can be considered a pioneer in this field. The video Century Fuge 255 (1996) is a good example of this work. From recent work he presentet Viewsic 4 Empty Houses (2005). Sound is in this work the vital element because it is the sound that trigger the imagery.
In all of Smedstads work environmental sounds and images make the basis for the work.
Presentation 3 Asbjørn Tiller
Tillers presentation was more theoretically based than the to previous presentations. Some historical lines were followed in connection to the mixing of sound, noise and music, starting off with the experiments of Russolo, Cage and Schaeffer. These were sees in connection to more recent developments in this field like The World Soundscape Project, Eno’s ambient music and contemporary installation work. The main emphasis was on the materiality of sound and how this materiality imply something visual wether this be abstract or concrete.
There is a connection between sound production in film, audiovisual experiments and electroacoustic music in the sense that most of the sounds we hear in these expressions are rendered. That is, they are interpretations or enhancements of the original sounds. Central in this is the sounds materializing indecies which points so a sound source and the ’feelings’ connected to this source.
The materializing indices are in close connection to the sound’s intrinsic and extrinsic space. That is, the space in sound and the sound in space.
Day one came to an end with the rigging of technical equipment for doing surround sound in two separate studios. After that; Socialising.
Report
Sound Workshop KiT/TEKS/Nordic sound art
10.10-20.10 2007