From: On the Wings of an Unusual Exhibition by Alice Pfeiffer, Part of Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s exhibition at Barbican’s Curve, (Barbican Gallery, Silk Street, London): …. For his first solo show in Britain, the French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot has built an aviary orchestra at the Curve — and the exhibition is designed specially for the unusual space, which wraps around the concert hall at the Barbican Center.

At the show, which runs through May 23 at the Curve …, a basic rock set-up — guitars, bass, cymbals — are set up alongside amplifiers, and seeds and water are sprinkled all over the instruments; instead of musicians, there are 40 zebra finches. As they fly around and pick grain off the instruments, they generate a chance composition. Continue reading

BoulderPavement is an online multimedia journal. Volume 1, Issue 1 features work from and beyond The Banff Centre, centered around music and nature. It includes: an interview with composer John Luther Adams & percussionist Steven Schick; artwork by Peter von Tiesenhausen, poetry by Jennifer Still; memoir excerpt by climber and author James Perrin; an audio interview with artist Kate Hartman; and more.

Explore the issue here. Follow BoulderPavement: http://www.twitter.com/boulderpavement ; Follow The Banff Centre: http://www.twitter.com/TheBanffCentre.

Videotage is proud to present Hong Kong-based Portuguese artist Joao Vasco Paiva as the first selected artist-in-residence of fuse:: residency program 2010. The objective of fuse:: residency program has always been encouraging individuals interested in the field of new media art, be it art & technology, art & science or art & anything, to create new works. With the support from Videotage, Joao Vasco Paiva will bring the audience a new sculptural sound installation Chirps, through which he creates a score by determining rules.

The prototype of the work (v1) was presented in the Microwave International New Media Art Festival 2009 in which a set of toy birds performed a sequence of calls and movement interfered by the passers-by at the lobby of Langham Hotel, while this time, Vasco has made the toy birds migrate to the raw space of Videotage where they would react to the motion and sound of a new player - a real mynah bird. Continue reading

If the earth could make music, what kind of songs would it sing? This crazy contraption, called the Terrafon, actually lets us find out the answer to that question! Designed as a huge turntable tone arm and transducer, this musical instrument plays the earth like a big gravelly vinyl record. — Moe Beitiks

Harvest (2009) is a new art piece for the terrafon, traditional ensemble and cropland, by Alunda Kyrkokör (Olle Cornéer and Martin Lübcke). In the performance the Alunda Church Choir, conducted by Cantor Jan Hällgren, played the soil of northern Uppland (in Sweden). Harvest was exhibited at the Volt Festival in Uppsala in June. There is more to come. There are still many croplands still untouched by terrafon. The only thing needed is a powerful local musical ensemble that can sweat it out. This is a demanding piece and sound — well, take a listen: Continue reading

Collision Zone Live by Gast Bouschet and Nadine Hilbert w/Otobong Nkanga and Y.E.R.M.O. — Premiere at Philharmonie Luxembourg :: November 29, 2009; 8:00 pm :: Installation at Luxembourg Pavilion Ca’ del Duca, 3052 Corte del Duca Sforza, 30124 San Marco Venice, until November 22, 2009.

Every thing must have a beginning, and that beginning must be linked to something that went before…

Collision Zone Live will mix field recordings of natural and urban sounds with improvised music by Y.E.R.M.O. and intuitive vocals by Otobong Nkanga. The show will include large screen projections of videos recorded at the edge of Europe: satellites, radars and surveillance patrols, brutalist architecture, informal human settlements, geological imagery of mountains and caves, steaming volcanic craters, insect hunters and their prey… Continue reading

Nick Didkovsky Krys Bobrowski, Cheryl E. Leonard will perform: new music for homebrew software, electric guitar, everyday objects and invented instruments, and amplified natural objects :: Saturday, October 10, 8:00 p.m. :: at Littlefield Concert Hall, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, CA, 94613
.
– Breathtaking work located at the intersection of the natural world and new technologies –

Nick Didkovsky will perform solos for prepared electric guitar, electronics, and his own software. Krys Bobrowsky’s will present works featuring everyday objects and invented instruments made from natural materials. Cheryl E. Leonard will premiere new compositions for amplified natural objects and field recordings from Antarctica.

What is Ocean Voices? Sound artist Halsey Burgund and marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols joined forces to collect the voices of people around the world recounting their personal experiences with the ocean. Combined with music written by Halsey, these voices will soon become audio collages which listeners can create to suit their own preferences. Help them by sharing your voice and spreading the words of all participants around the globe.

The ocean surrounds us and sustains us. We can only preserve life in the ocean by working together as a global community. Ocean Voices brings together voices from around the world for everyone to hear. Open your mouth; open your ears; join the Ocean Revolution here. Record your voice. Become a part of Ocean Voices.

Diego Stocco - Music From A Tree from Diego Stocco on Vimeo.

Thanks to Flavorpill and balance.net.

Binauralmedia and Nodar Artist Residency Center announce: Paivascapes #1 Structure, Process and Perception of a River :: February - October 2010 :: International Open Call for Art Projects — Deadline: September 30, 2009.

The Nodar Artist Residency Program for 2010 will have a single aggregating subject: the Paiva River. Throughout the year, from winter to autumn, several multidisciplinary art projects (having sound as a central element) will be developed in a context-specific perspective, interacting with the river’s different geographical areas, from its spring to its mouth. A tribute to a small river that is a symbol of a region that (still) can live in a well-balanced interaction with nature. Continue reading

MzTEK Unplugged: Julie Freeman & Open Source :: April 29, 2009; 7;00 - 9:00 pm :: Leon Bankside (directly behind & facing the Tate Modern) - closest tubes: Southwark, London Bridge.

If you were ever curious about Open Source — what it is, who uses it, why, and how you can too — artist Julie Freeman will chat about the politics of Open Source software and code, and will introduce some of the useful programs, packages and tools available for artists, and tools she uses in her work.

Julie Freeman’s work explores transforming complex processes into sound compositions, objects and visualizations. Her work spans visual, audio and digital art forms and explores the relationship between science, nature and how humans interact with it. Continue reading