In his first solo exhibition in New England, sound artist and electronic musician Stephen Vitiello creates Something Like Fireworks, a new installation at the Davis Museum in Wellesley. The installation, done in collaboration with lighting designer Jeremy Choate, features Vitiello’s field recordings from the Australian outback, the Canadian wilderness, a Virginia marsh, and New York City’s streets. Vitiello’s soundtrack moves between the abstract and the recognizable, attuning us to the subtleties of ambient sound. In this piece, sound is connected with light and color, creating an immersive synaesthetic experience. The lighting has been designed in sympathy with the audio, and the resulting combination surrounds the visitor, altering our spatial perception. The installation is on view through June 6 at the Davis Museum on the campus of Wellesley College. Continue reading

The Amazing Acoustaphotophonogrammitron :: Through March 21, 2010 :: @ Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ Gallery 51 : 51 Main St. North Adams MA

A synesthetic exhibition lavishly brimming with resonant frequencies of sound and light! The Amazing Acoustaphotophonogrammitron is a group show featuring work by makers who find themselves somewhere between visual artist and musician.

Curated by MCLA Gallery 51 Gallery Manager, Ven Voisey, The Amazing Acoustaphotophonagrammitron features the work of local and national artists: Joshua Churchill (CA), Paul de Jong (NY), Lesley Flanigan (NY), Christy Georg (MA), Mark Mulherrin (MA), Ed Osborn (RI), Tristan Perich (NY), Ven Voisey (MA) and Nick Zammuto (VT).

“This show is about overlap and influence of the different senses.” says Voisey, “ Included are artists whose processes seamlessly move through mediums and whose works are simultaneously audio and visual instruments.” Continue reading

Share Festival - Market Forces 2009 :: Performances :: Various Venues, Torino, Italy.

Share Prize: Orchestra Meccanica Marinette plays Nag Hammadi :: November 3 and 5, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. :: Regional Museum of Natural Science at via Giolitti 36, Torino.

The orchestra consists of robot drummers that play steel drums “live”, under the direction of a performer. The interactive rhythms of the OMM sound out the movement, work and machinery of Turin industry. The subtext moves along the lines of the “Nag Hammadi”, the third-century A.D. Gnostic text, before plunging into contemporary mythologies through pieces inspired by the works of Ballard and Burroughs, exploring the relationship between, and the fusion of, human and machine. Continue reading

The Synesthetic Plan of Chicago :: June 1 - October 9, 2009 :: Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph Street, Chicago.

2009 is the centenary of the publication of The Plan of Chicago. The Synesthetic Plan of Chicago: A Multi-Sensory Journey Through Chicago and Its Neighborhoods corresponds with the celebration of this historic event. An interactive installation at the Chicago Cultural Center Visitor Information Center (77 E. Randolph Street), The Synesthetic Plan of Chicago is part of the citywide summer tourism initiative, Explore Chicago: Take A Neighborhood Vacation (June 1–September 30). More than 40 artists and organizations have joined in creating this exploration of Chicago through the five senses.

Visitors and locals can experience Chicago imagery, sounds, fragrances, flavors and textures captured in miniature neighborhood scenes such as a mapping of the tastes and recipes of Chinatown, and an exploration of East Garfield Park candy. SPC’s participating artists and organizations have designed installation pieces which invite people to interact with the sensory “artifacts” of Chicago in creative and imaginative ways, and to think about synesthetic connections with things that relate to Chicago. The Synesthetic Plan of Chicago is commissioned by the City of Chicago, and it is co-curated by Annie Heckman and Dan Godston. Continue reading

International Interaktionslabor 2009: Peninsulae of Perception :: July 20 - August 2, 2009 :: Site of the former coal mine Göttelborn in southwest Germany.

This year the main focus of the workshop is on perceptual processes. The project title — Halbinseln der Wahrnehmung/ Peninsulae of Perception — is a reference to a diary written by a person afflicted with Asperger’s Syndrome. The diary has been proposed as research libretto for investigations into differing perceptual channels and psycho-social research on autism, synaesthesia, music composition and real-time performance. The acoustic-musical dimension of the 2009 laboratory is complemented by research into design or wearable audiophonics and acousmatic architectures and sound perceptions. Continue reading

Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center presents Gestures and Responsive Media — with Pamela Z, Elliott Sharp, Zach Layton, Sha Xin Wei, Sawako, Bill Hsu & James Fei :: May 14 - 16, 2009; 8.30 pm :: Roulette, 20 Greene Street, (between Canal & Grand)

Produced in partnership with Roulette’s Mixology Festival, Gestures and Responsive Media consists of three concert programs focusing on modern experiments in performance technology. Central to this series is the exciting way that live performers are exploring the use of gesture to control computers and building technological environments for free, improvisatory play. From Pamela Z’s gesture-based vocal experiments to Sha Xin Wei’s phenomenological experiments with movement and media, the presenting artists not only expand the boundaries of traditional performance and instrumentation, but also humanize electronics through creative means. Continue reading

onedotzero_adventures in motion digital film festival :: April 17 - 19, 2009 :: EMPAC, The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.

A captivating weekend packed with visionary new motion graphic video and live cinematic work that spans the range of moving image creative practice, from industry to art gallery. The weekend kicks off with a moving audiovisual performance by Scanner (aka Robin Rimbaud) and Olga Mink and a reception with lush live video and music by EMPAC luminaries skfl and jenkins. Over three days from the mezzanine to the studios, from the Theater to the Café, EMPAC spaces will flicker and pulse with sound and vision courtesy of the internationally revered onedotzero digital film festival. Continue reading

From Information Aesthetics, January 28, 2009: Rubens’ Tube: Real Life Sound Visualization with Fire and Propane: A classic physics experiment called Rubens’ Tube involves sound, a tube of propane, and fire. A length of pipe is perforated along the top and sealed at both ends. One seal is attached to a small speaker or frequency generator, the other to a supply of a flammable gas. The pipe is filled with the gas, and the gas leaking from the perforations is lit. If a constant frequency is used, a standing wave can form within the tube. When the speaker is turned on, the standing wave will create higher and lower pressure points along the tube. Continue reading

Digicult presents OTOLAB — Audiovisual performance & presentation :: January 16, 2009; 8:30 pm :: O’ | via pastrengo 12, Milan | Isola, Italy.

The OTOLAB collective will introduce its work to the public along with Marco Mancuso (critic, curator and director of Digicult) who has long followed and promoted their multimedia production. Two audiovisual performances will follow, Circo Ipnotico and Giardini Neri (european debut).

OTOLAB was born in 2001 in Milan as an affinity group made up of musicians, djs, vjs, video artists, video makers, web designers, graphic designers and architects who embarked on a common path within electronic music and audiovisual research. Continue reading

Diapason gallery for sound and intermedia presents Music, under your Feet by Rolf Julius — installation with objects, sound, and video :: November 22 - December 20, 2008; 2:00 - 8:00 pm :: Opening: November 22, 6:00 – 8:00 pm :: 882 Third Avenue (between 32nd and 33rd Street), 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY.

“Rolf Julius integrates acoustic and visual coordinates in his installative, synaesthetic concepts. Far removed from elaborate electronics, he works with simple things and sounds of everyday life, an aesthetic and acoustic minimalism with the simplest use of cassettes and loudspeakers, effecting a concentrated perception…” - Rudolf Frieling Continue reading