Sound in Space: AnkerBlock - Thomas Ankersmit and Phill Niblock :: February 27, 2008; 8 pm :: Sea and Space Explorations, 4755 York Blvd, LA, CA :: Bring earplugs - Ankersmit and Niblock rip a hole in the space time continuum.

Thomas Ankersmit (born 1979, Leiden, the Netherlands) is a musician and installation artist based in Berlin and Amsterdam. Initially a noise-music inspired saxophonist, his activities expanded to include live electronic music and installation pieces based on architectural acoustics and infrasound. He has been performing solo and in collaboration with other artists such as New York minimalist Phill Niblock, Kevin Drumm, Jim O’Rourke, Gert-Jan Prins, Borbetomagus and Alvin Lucier since 1998. Since 2003, Ankersmit most frequently collaborates with Phill Niblock and Milan-based electroacoustic improviser Giuseppe Ielasi.

Phill Niblock (born 2 October 1933, in Anderson, Indiana) is a minimalist composer, filmmaker, videographer, and director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation for avant-garde music based in New York. His music usually consists of simultaneous drones created from tape (later computer) manipulations of recorded pitches performed by instrumentalists such as Rafael Toral, David First, Lee Ranaldo, and Thurston Moore, on Guitar Too, for Four (G2,44+1×2); and Ulrich Krieger, on Touch Food.

Sound in Space Explorations, an indiscriminate month of sound performances until March 1, 2008. All events are Free: Sound in Space will traverse diversity by presenting cross sections of the local sound art community. From sound installation to Fluxus note card pieces and field recordings to live ambient music, the topography of the musical fringe is as varied as the community is geographically dispersed.

This is a program for the community by artists in the community. Every performance is free with an aim to urge active collaboration and exchange between artists and audiences. While the sea and space are the dark unknowns, they don’t have to be unknowable. Sound in Space are vehicles with which the community is invited to navigate and explore art that has been termed “experimental,” or “conceptual;” loose terms that create a barrier rather than extend a hand.