17 minute read
SPECIAL EVENTS
Shorts: Ritual, Noise, Affect
A compilation programme featuring short films that deal with this years’ themes at Rewire: Ritual, Noise, Affect
Advertisement
La mano que canta La mano que canta builds a web of connecting gestures, voicings, and images in time. These elements mimic each other following an open associative sequence: from the extraction of oak bark in Extremadura during the yearly cork harvest, to the peeling of an orange before a handheld fire, or the act of washing someone’s hand; from the tremor of leaves to that of a voice, to a bird’s flapping wings in the distance, or, again, the feedback loop between the performer’s chant and hand movements. Sensorial resistance to fixity and hierarchy, focus on transformation with all senses engaged in the process, are key aspects to this new work. Both freeform and minutely composed, La mano que canta proposes a lyrical interplay of correspondences where bodies, landscape, and the camera jointly perform, attuned to one another. Alex Reynolds, Alma Söderberg, 2021, Spain, 22 min
Flowers blooming in our throats Filmed after the lockdown caused by Covid-19, Flowers blooming in our throats is an intimate, poetic portrait of the fragile balances that govern everyday life in a domestic setting. The artist films a group of her friends in their own homes, performing various small actions in accordance with her instructions. Giolo chooses to walk a shifting line where gestures remain ambiguous, expressing a kind of violence that is not immediately recognisable. Eva Giolo, 2020, Italy, 9 min
soramimi FUJI|||||||||||TA
FUJI|||||||||||TA is a sound artist living in Japan. He creates his unique sound art and music which takes various natural phenomena that respond to his interest in wanting to hear unheard sounds and noises. Besides performing his music at Rewire 2022, FUJI|||||||||||TA will also present his film soramimi in response to the theme of Attention. Quoting the artist on his film: “soramimi means “mishearing” in English. It means that you hear a sound that is not actually being made. My days are filled with soramimi. Searching, Searching, Searching, But it is rarely found.” A film by FUJI|||||||||||TA, recorded at his house and in his neighborhood. Edited by Tatsunori Kasai, graphic design by Junpei Inoue, special thanks to Yusuke Nakano. The work was commissioned by VIRTUALLYREALITY.
SPEC IAL EVENTS
SPEC IAL
EVENTS In addition to the music, discourse and film programmes, Rewire offers several special events throughout the festival weekend, ranging from (sound)artworks to instore concerts. All special events are open to the public.
Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought
Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought is an exhibition which invites visitors to experience focus and distraction, to act and to contemplate. What happens when we stop thinking and start doing and perceiving? Is complexity better grasped intuitively or analytically? Can it help to delegate thinking to machines?
Rewire and iii present a selection of artworks by international and local artists in and around the new Amare cultural centre in The Hague. Performances and installations temporarily inhabit the multi-layered foyers and the surrounding streets, producing incidental events that function both as discontinuities or disturbances as well as channels to create new connections.
In a famous conversation between John Cage and Morton Feldman in 1966 the two composers consider the question “is intrusion a distraction or is it culture?” and what it means to be “deep in thought”. They suggest how being interrupted can help us move out of thought and into experience. The english word “afterthought” is usually employed in a negative sense, something of secondary importance. What could After Thought mean for us today, amongst all our mindless thinking machines and mindfulness gurus? Angelo Custodio “HUM (an/other)” (2022)
Angelo Custódio is an artist originally from Portugal and living in Amsterdam who works with voice and performance. He creates sonic based experiences which address the body and vulnerability from a crip/queer perspective. Within the program of Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought he is presenting his new work “HUM (an/other)”, an immersive participatory installation expanding listening through touch and artificial intelligence. A machine learning system reacting to visitors processes the artist’s voice. Visitors are invited to place a custom made tactile transducer on their own bodies, merging themselves with a hybrid organism. “HUM (an/ other)” is presented in collaboration with Das Leben am Haverkamp at Stille Veerkade 19 with the financial support of Mondriaan Fonds, Stroom Den Haag and Stichting Stokroos.
Arvid & Marie are an artist duo who’s work combines nature, technology and humour. With awareness that “we indeed do not understand the machines that we make” they have created performative installations in collaboration with pigs, robots, yeast and AliExpress. Under the guise of a retro futuristic musical duo they present themselves as “We are Omninaut, how delightful can we be?”. Within Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought they exhibit “The Full Body Smart Automatic Manipulator”, a pseudo-living mechatronic massage chair who talks and offers robotic intimacy services to visitors. Arvid & Marie were residents at Jan Van Eyck Academy in Maastricht in 2020-2021. “The Full Body Smart Automatic Manipulator” was supported by a Research Fellowship at Chronos Art Center Lab in Shanghai. Davide Tidoni “NEIDERLANT OU NEIDERLANT”
Davide Tidoni is an artist and researcher working with sound and listening. His work often takes the form of sonic interventions in the built environment which address presence, perception, architectural acoustics and social dynamics. He is interested in the use of sound and music in counter-culture and political struggles. For Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought he presents “NEIDERLANT OU NEIDERLANT”, a series of videos which are karaoke interpretations of Dutch songs by non native speakers. Additionally, at unscheduled times, Davide Tidoni will perform “Ultras Mashup”, a series of performative interventions acting as intentional disturbances.
“Aircilla” is a large-scale kinetic sound sculpture, a mechanical clockwork generating three dimensional animated geometries of movement and sound. More than 250 handmade ceramic chimes hang above visitors appearing like a giant chandelier. The chimes are raised and lowered through a system of ropes, clamps, pulleys and wheels. The raising and lowering of the chimes causes them to collide, creating a soundscape that evolves hand in hand with the shape of the physical structure. “Aircilla” is a collaboration between Gemma Luz Bosch and Jurriaan de Vos. Gemma is a composer and new instrument maker working with ceramics. In her work she uses her own hand made instruments exploring the boundaries of music. Jurriaan is an installation-artist with a background in physical theatre. He is fascinated by kinetic art, transforming spaces, and the relationship between nature and technology. “Aircilla” is presented in the foyer of Amare, where visitors can experience it for a month, also during the weeks following Rewire festival. Jacqueline Kyomi Gork “The input of this machine is the power an output contains” (2021)
Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork is an artist based in Los Angeles with a background in history of communication technologies, acoustics, computer music and contemporary dance. Her work has been described as exploring the “choreographic potential of sound”. She plays with sound and architecture, often introducing sculptural elements that modulate how we listen, see and navigate space. The human voice and the human body play a central role in her work. Through the use of both speech and song, language unfolds in it’s sonic, semantic and affective dimensions. ForProximity Music: Sensing After Thought, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork will be presenting a new version, adjusted to the space of Amare, of “The input of this machine is the power an output contains:” a durational performance investigating public speech. A performer is asked to recite an AI-generated text created with a machine learning system trained on political speeches. The voice is processed by electroacoustic means shifting between intelligibility and
unintelligibility. Visitors are invited to come and go at any time and explore the textual and acoustic space together with the performers. This project was created for the exhibition Made in LA: 2020 a version at Hammer Museum with support from VIA Art Fund.
Kaffe Matthews “Buzz Bike” (2022)
Kaffe Matthews is an established composer/sound artist originally from England now based in Berlin, who has been working for over 20 years around what she calls “Music for Bodies”. Matthews creates physical listening experiences using new technologies in which musical compositions are inserted within everyday activities such as cycling, lying in bed or kayaking. For Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought she has been commissioned to make a new site specific work which combines her previous geolocated bicycle compositions in the “Sonic Bike” series with the tactile and meditative experience of her “Sonic Bed”. Using this new custom made cargo bike, “Buzz Bike”, visitors can explore downtown The Hague while lying within it, feeling and listening to this new composition moving around them whilst gazing at the sky and the tops of passing buildings. “Buzz Bike” is designed and created by Kaffe Matthews and Nick Martin in association with Imagineer Productions (Coventry, UK). Itcan hold one adult or several children. Commissioned by Rewire
Kexin Hao “Future Dance of Nostalgia” (2022)
Kexin Hao is a young artist originally from Beijing and based in The Netherlands where she graduated in 2021 from the Royal Art Academy of The Hague. Her graduation work “Total Body Workout”, investigates through joyful group exercise the authoritarian image of the healthy body. For Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought and she has been commissioned to produce a new work, “Future Dance of Nostalgia”, combining ethnographic research, rhythmic choreography and gaming. Taking the form of classic dancing videogames such as “Just Dance“,the work invites visitors to perform a choreography based on gestures related to pre-industrial, heavy
physical labour. Historical archives of work songs provide the inspiration for the music by Rachwill Breidel, who renders the old tales and melodies into clubbing beats that lead the dance. Visitors can experience the work by playing the videogame as well as by joining group dance sessions taking place daily in the foyer of Amare. “Future Dance of Nostalgia” is created in collaboration with Leonardo Scarin (game design), Ludmila Rodrigues (choreography). up to 12 people at once. Industrial vibration motors are placed under the benches. The motors are computer controlled to convey music through tactile vibrations. Visitors are invited to sit on the benches and feel the composition. Under the disguise of a cold, minimal and industrial exemplar of design furniture, the work addresses touch and intimacy within the public setting of Amare. Commissioned by Rewire
Jesus Canuto Iglesias “The Contemplation Bench” (2022)
Jesus Canuto Iglesias is an artist originally from Spain and based in The Hague, where he graduated from the ArtScience Interfaculty in 2019. He creates sound sculptures and installations that combine industrial and machine aesthetics with digital media. His work is experienced by the audience as spatial and tactile compositions. For Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought he has been commissioned to produce a new work titled “The Contemplation Bench”. The work takes the form of a large circular bench made of polished steel, accommodating Mihalis Shammas “Lyraei” (2021)
Mihalis Shammas is an artist with a background in architecture, industrial design and music originally from Cyprus and based in The Hague. He graduated in 2021 from the Institute of Sonology, creating a new electro acoustic instrument called Lyraei. A modern electronic interpretation of the ancient greek harp, this is a string instrument that is played as an electronic synthesiser. Electromagnetic induction electronics designed and fabricated by the artist are employed to excite the strings and generate continuous sounds that can be controlled with unprecedented
precision. The instrument is designed to create an immersive and physical experience in which the player leads listeners into a state of trance through dense sonic tapestries. For Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought Mihalis Shammas will perform daily concerts.
Mint Park + Quiet Ensemble
Mint Park is a young electronic musician and new media artist originally from South Korea and based in Amsterdam. Her sound-driven practice investigates space, texture, and natural phenomena. Artist duo Quiet Ensemble, based in Rome, over the last 12 years have created a series of immersive audiovisual works exploring chaotic processes. For Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought, iii and Rewire have invited Mint Park to work with Quiet Ensemble. The outcome of an intensive 1 week residency in The Hague is a collaborative performance playing with sound, light and fluid dynamics, attempting to govern a miniature ecosystem within a black box theatre space. The performance is presented multiple times per day at Theatre aan Het Spui, directly opposite the main exhibition site of Amare. Commissioned by Rewire Soyun Park + Wellgoodsness “Fantasia Realism” (2022)
Soyun Park is a digital artist working with image and interaction, originally from South Korea. She graduated in 2021 from the Graphic Design department of the Royal Art Academy in The Hague, where she is currently based. Her powerful and entrancing graduation work “Wunderkammer 10.0”, created in collaboration with Inwoo Jung and Yelim Ki, carried the viewer through an AI generated audiovisual journey exploring a post-apocalyptic data landscape. Inwoo Jung is a music producer and interdisciplinary artist from South Korea and based in Cologne who is also working under the alias of Wellsgoodness. The program of Proximity Music: Sensing After Thought features a premiere of their audiovisual collaboration “Fantasia Realism”, connecting the methods adopted by the surrealist during the early 20th century to current research in machine learning. In Fantasia Realism a machine learning system trained on fictional stories such as fairy tales, horrors and thrillers is used to generate a composition of visual and sonic material which the two artists then manipulate live in a theatrical performance. “Fantasia Realism” is supported by Arts Council Korea. Commissioned by Rewire
Tactology Lab
Sounds Like Touch stimulates interdisciplinary co-creations and functions as a platform and springboard for artists and creators to experiment with physical forms and ways of interaction with technology. Together with them, we aim to develop and encourage a tangible and accessible practice of the electronic performing arts. The creative processes and the results of Lab 2 will be presented at the festival. Sounds Like Touch is carried out by creatives and is generously funded by the Municipality of Utrecht and Cultuur Innovatiefonds Utrecht. Participating artists are Elsa van der Linden, Jaromir Mulders, Saskia de Vries, Daniel Cross, Owen Storni, Noor Sanders, MyraIda van der Veen, Niels Dielen, Kaylie Kist, Pierre Estourgie, Ineke Vermeulen and Michelle Vossen.
Rewire X Carhartt WIP Instore
On Saturday 9 April, Rewire and Carhartt WIP team up for an in-store event in The Hague-based record store 3345. The event is freely accessible and bills aya, Torus, and Yeong Die & LazerGazer. The sets will be livestreamed on the socials of 3345. Come over to listen to some tunes or to shop the limited edition Carhartt WIP X Rewire 2022 shirts. 3345 is also selling vinyl and merch throughout Rewire at various festival locations.
Roos Pollmann: Plastic Healing Altar
As part of Rewire’s year-round Education programme, Rewire presents the interactive installation Plastic Healing Altar for children 5 years and up, by artist and musician Roos Pollmann. This installation will also feature a walk-in workshop that focuses on the theme of sound and ritual. This educational afternoon programme is open to the public for free in the central library of The Hague.
Mathijs Leeuwis: Reduced Sensory Stimulus
Concert
Pedal steel guitarist, composer and “explorer of sound” Mathijs Leeuwis transforms his analogue instruments in complex and evocative tape-loop based compositions. Constantly looking for new sounds, methods of composition and ways of creating music, Leeuwis often deconstructs his work to rebuild it under new configurations. The results are often lush musical pieces that bring a tinge of Americana into thick layers of ambient. Alongside his performance on Saturday 9 April, Mathijs will be performing a special reduced sensory concert as part of our Outreach programme, allowing people with sensitivities to light and sound to attend. This concert is presented in collaboration with Onbeperkt Genieten.
Sounding the Spui
On Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 April, the iconic Spuiplein in the city centre of The Hague will be transformed into the site of an immersive, sonic experience. The installation channels different environmental sounds, sourced from The Hague by a variety of composers, sound artists, students and pupils, free for everyone to visit. The project is realised by students of Sonology, Composition and ArtScience at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, in collaboration with alumni.
Saturday 9 April
14:00 BMB Con. — Hei 1988
15:30 performance by school children under supervision of Hilde Wollenstein
17:00 Hilde Wollenstein: Please stop yelling at me, I don’t know what I want. 19:30 Jan Boerman: Maasproject 1 20:00 Margherita Brillada: Il Tempo Sospeso 20:30 Constant: excerpt from New Babylon 21:00 Kees Tazelaar: Luchtveld 22:00 end
Sunday 10 April
13:00 BMB Con. — Hei 1988
14:00 Kim Ho: Máni 15:00 Julio Molina Moya: Haagse Markt 2016
16:00 Jan Boerman: Maasproject 2 17:00 end
19 mrt — 14 aug 2022 Robert Knoth & Antoinette de Jong
Tree & Soil
Conflux Festival With the support ofInitiated by 02 — 05 JUNE 2022 VARIOUS LOCATIONS ROTTERDAM (NL) More to be announced... Pessimist, Umwelt, Mad Miran, Unit Moebius Zohar, Marsman, Acidic Male, Das Ding Slick Chick, Genyten, Ra , Rita Maomenos Blondewednesday Blondewednesday Joanie Lemercier, Carla Chan, Marnix de Nijs, Cocky Eek, Macular, Mariska de Groot, Marco Broeders Marnix de Nijs, Cocky Eek, Macular, Mariska de Groot, Marco Broeders Multi-sensory encounters with urgent ideas, experimental music & contemporary art
Klara Lewis & Nik Colk Void + Pedro Maia(AV Live) Helm (live) (visuals by TatsuyaFujimoto) Mark Fell & Will Guthrie Dadub&Fax— Hypersynchronous (AV Live) AnimisticBeliefs&JeissonDrenth presentCACHE/SPIRIT (AV Live) MarcoDonnarumma presents CorpusNil Dylan Cote&Pierre Lafanechère present Earthsatz (AV Live) LichunTseng & Robert Kroos (AV Live) Nikki Hock‚ BJ Nilsen Club Nights Zohar, Marsman, Acidic Male, Das Ding Slick Chick, Genyten, Ra , Rita Maomenos Exhibitions Conference Stefan Sorgner, Lisanne Buik, Matthew Fuller, Geocinema Network, Visual Methodologies Collective, Lawrence Lek’s The Sinofuturist Trilogy, Roel Dobbe, Eric Parren, Holly Dicker ConfluxFestival.nl
