Loren Connors, Julien Langendorff, Jim Jarmusch, Hiraku Suzuki (photo: Louie Metzner. courtesy of Opalnest)
Hiraku Suzuki (photo: Louie Metzner)
Photo: Amy Mitten
Performance
The Future is Now
by Kristin Trethewey on December 9th, 2011
Rachel De Joode, Seeing the Future, a skype-performance, 2011
A young, naked man stares at us, reacting in real-time via webcam; his image is projected onto a typical artist’s canvas and easel a few meters away. Every few minutes he speaks to us. Sometimes I hear what he says, “a woman walks across the room” or “the man with a blue jacket just moved towards the back”. Other times the Internet connection is too weak and his words become fragmented. But the audience understands he is watching us. We continue standing in front of him immobilized, it is awkward and the tension is real.
Artcards Artist Conversations #tmirror
by Helen Homan Wu on July 23rd, 2011
Screen shots from last week’s tweets for Doug Barrett’s “INSTITUTION/AUDIENCE/4′33″/TWITTER MIRROR”
Entire feed HERE
Unsound Festival NY 2011 Recap
by Helen Homan Wu on April 12th, 2011
Ben Frost, Daniel Bjarnason, Sinfonietta Cracovia with film manipulations by Brian Eno & Nick Robertson (Photos: Stephen Cardinale for Unsound Festival)
It has been a highly provocative and musically charged past week and a half. For those who have been following Artcards Review, I’ve been covering Unsound Festival 2011 here in NYC since its opening on April 1st. And yesterday was the final wrap up of an entire week and a half of experimental music and sonic arts events. The shows were aesthetically diverse and seemed to have opened up new pathways for a lot of local sound art enthusiasts. Besides igniting interest through cross-cultural collaborations, audiences also got a chance to get a closer look at the artists’ practices through “conversations” during Unsound Labs. In retrospect, Unsound 2011 seemed to have a much less focus on electronic music per se, with a more diverse palette on genres ranging from Iceland’s Ben Frost and Sinfonietta Cracovia, to Lustmord and Deaf Center, both deep, dark, and ambient in its own ways, to the Bunker nights of techno music to the finale disco party by local hosts Kiss & Tell. Even though I wanted to attend it all (trust me, I penciled it all in my calendar), I would not have been able to write this recap if I did. But apparently Stephen Cardinale, Unsound’s official photographer shot through the entire week of events, and here it is below.
Unsound Festival New York 2011
by Helen Homan Wu on March 29th, 2011
As we approach the horizon of the 2011 Unsound Music Festival NY, I can feel the anticipation building up. If you are a fan of electronic music and sonic arts, like I am, you probably know that Europe (particularly Germany) is the place to be. Beginning April 1st, New York folks will be in for a treat. It was only until a few weeks ago that the 2011 program has been announced, but it was well worth the wait. Last year’s line-up was amazing, but this year’s will not disappoint. The Festival officially opens on April 6th, with a preliminary week of screenings and lectures opening on April 1st under Unsound Festival NY Labs.
View full program and artists here.
Featured Artist: Nico Muhly
by Helen Homan Wu on February 28th, 2011
Photo: HW
When I saw “The Reader” for the first time, I gave in to it completely, and undeniably, I was in tears. Little did I know that the subtle orchestra, which provoked my emotions, was music composed by one of America’s youngest classical composers, Nico Muhly. He also lives right here in New York City. Although his work is based on classical traditions, his renditions and variations in rhythms are highly contemporary, which makes it compatible with a broad genre of music. Nico has worked for Phillip Glass from 1999 to 2008. His collaborators include Bjork, Jónsi of Sigur Rós, Grizzly Bear, and Anthony and the Johnsons. Besides “The Reader” (2008), he also scored for the film “Joshua” (2007). I recently saw his latest piece “Tell the Way” at St. Ann’s Warehouse, which is “loosely based on medieval and colonial English travel narratives, the work draws from American folk sources, prayers for the Royal Navy, early colonial diaries, Mandeville, Herodotus and Marco Polo”. Commissioned by Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the ensemble included an eclectic mix of talents: a 45-member choir, guitarist Bryce Dessner, British singer Bishi, the unexpected appearance of a sitar, Nico’s sense of humor, and of course, him playing the piano throughout. His full length albums include Speaks Volumes (2007) and Mothertongue (2008), both released under the artist-run label Bedroom Community. In the midst of writing two operas, I was fortunate to get a brief interview with the artist.
John Luther Adams’ “Inuksuit” Invites Noise to the Armory
by Gabriella Radujko on February 26th, 2011
Photos: Gabriella Radujko
In an extraordinary performance of “Inuksuit” at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, composer John Luther Adams turned noise into “site-determined” music. Describing the Armory as an environment like no other, Adams accepted the challenge of scaling a performance, which originally premiered outdoors at the Banff Centre in the Canadian Rockies, for the “pristine emptiness” of the 55,000 square foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall.
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