Paula Matthusen: Filling Vessels and circadia :: March 8, 2008; 8 pm :: Diapason, 882 Third Avenue (between 32nd and 33rd Street), 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY 11232

Filling Vessels is a multi-channel sound and light installation / performance inspired by Alvin Lucier’s Empty Vessels. The installation is dependent on interaction with feedback generated within the installation space. It functions as an audience-navigable space in which people can explore the effects they have on the sonic and visual events that take place within it. It is also a performance environment within which musicians use their instruments to interact with and influence the resultant combinations of sound and light: Tom O’Doherty (visuals), Argeo Ascani (saxophone), Eric km Clark (violin), Aaron Meicht (trumpet), James Moore (guitar).

circadia is a multi-channel installation that explores how synchronization may emerge amidst various independent bodies. Glass jars with embedded speakers are distributed throughout the room and are treated as separate bodies. The sounds they produce are generated via quiet feedback produced by each vessel. In this way, the space, and the subtle acoustical effects the audience has on that space, create shifting, delicate balances between sustained sounds and small
discrete pulses.

About Diapason: Diapason gallery for sound and intermedia was founded by composer Michael J. Schumacher and choreographer Liz Gerring in 2001 and its program builds on the efforts of Schumacher’s previous sound space, Studio Five Beekman, founded in 1996. Diapason is the sole venue in New York City and one of few internationally dedicated to the presentation of multichannel sound installation where composers and sound artists can realize their work for an interested public. By providing an optimum listening environment, two high quality multi-channel sound systems, a regular audience, and a place for experimentation, Diapason seeks to engage composers and the public in dialogue about the place of contemporary music and sound practice in a broader cultural context. Diapason is supported by NYSCA, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Phaedrus Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, Kirk Radke, and by generous individuals. Diapason is a 501(c)3 organization.