Upgrade! Warsaw: Hubert Napiórski :: January 16, 2009; 8:30 pm :: Studio Gallery, Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw, Poland.

Thaw - Hubert Napiórski under this alias he focuses himself on prepared, electroacoustic, noise, drone, field recording music. Active since 1996 - his Astipalea Records project founded on 25th of August 2002. He is active in publishing likewise artists, Hubert is also the solely distributor of Creative Sources Records from Portugal. He is also active under two different aliases djfeaturing - abstract turntablism kitty_kit - improvised electroacoustic instruments solo in his work he operates mainly with acoustic and analogue techniques, plays also acoustic laptops. Takes his interests into the field of photography, writing.

Upgrade! Boston: Jeff Lieberman + Dan Paluska :: January 27, 2009; 7:00 - 9:00 pm :: North 181 - entrance on Evans Way [map], Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston. [Follow the signs posted on the outside of the Tower Building (black glass) [Green Line “E”].

Jeff Lieberman and Dan Paluska will discuss Quartet (aka Absolut Quartet which was commissioned by the Absolut Visionaries project in 2007). Awarded a Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction for Interactive Art in 2008, Quartet is installed at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria until December 2009. More >> Continue reading

Upgrade! Scotland: Rob Kennedy :: November 26, 2008; 7:00 - 9:00 pm :: CCA, 350 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow :: Free, space limited RSVP rsvp [at] mediascot.org

We are privileged to present the première of new work from Rob Kennedy followed by a discussion with the artist. The three video works were born out of a series of collaborative projects working with composers Peter Dowling, Giles Lamb, Martin Parker and Sue Tompkins. The emphasis in each of the works is the desire to integrate ideas and methods of improvisation into the video and sound production process. This evolving collaboration and dialogue continually shapes, distorts and then reshapes the direction of the work. Continue reading

Upgrade! Brussels/Ghent: Performance: October 14, 2008; 8:00 pm :: Talk: October 15, 2008; 8:00 pm :: Vooruit Arts Centre, Ghent - Belgium :: These evenings are part of Almost Cinema, a collaboration between Vooruit and Filmfestival Ghent.

PERFORMANCE NIGHT: October 14, 2008; 8:00 pm :: with BROK & HALMANS - SHIFT, MOMENI & BITHEL – THE LIMINAL SURFACE EN HOLZER – TONEWHEELS :: Record players, lights, cameras, synthesizers… These are the ingredients Rikkert Brok and Maarten Halmans use to create their own equipment. For the performance Shift they also manufactured the required material themselves. In an intimate face-to-face with his colleague Ali Momeni, David Bithell blends elements of live performance, video, music technology and improvisation into a playful game that hovers between tragedy and comedy. Derek Holzer’s performance Tonewheels is an experiment that turns graphic images into sound with the help of tonewheels. Continue reading

Upgrade! Scotland: Mark Vernon and Zoë Irvine :: November 27, 2007; 7.00 -9:00 pm :: CCA, Glasgow. Join us for a glass of wine from 6.30 pm. Admission is free, but to make sure of a seat please email: rsvp ‘at’ mediascot ‘dot’ org.

Mark Vernon and Zoë Irvine work between art, music, radio and sound. The artists have been working prolifically at the forefront of their field since shifting from predominantly visual practices. They will talk about their individual practices and touch on their numerous collaborations together. Including their recent project, Hairwaves: which produced an irreverent blend of music, interviews, haircuts, dog groomers and the paranormal. Continue reading

LISTEN! Sonic Ecology & the City :: October 26, 2007 7:00 pm :: Society for Arts and Technology [SAT], Montreal.

Upgrade! Montreal presents Listen! Sonic Ecology & the City in collaboration with Artivistic 2007 [ un.occupied spaces ], welcoming international and local sound artists and non-musicians alike to explore the relationship between ecology, sound and politics. The collective sound jam will open with two special dance performances.

Upgrade! Warsaw: Jarek Grzesica: Upgrading Myself (with the Digital Community - Warsaw Electronic Festival) :: October 28, 2007; 5:00 pm :: Dziekanka (dormitory of The Academy of Music), 58/60 Krakowskie Przedmieście, Warsaw, Poland :: informal and free.

“Why is WEF still alive? I need it, I have no time to listen to music on CD and no time to go to a concert. But music and media art is part of my life so I decided that it is much easier to put art on the schedule, to organize concerts and to administrate an online library of free music, to meet artists and to be an artist; this is my way of upgrading myself. Continue reading

Upgrade! Paris #11 (version française plus bas): Jérôme Joy and Peter Sinclair present Locus Sonus :: Moderator: Dominique Moulon :: September 22, 6 PM :: Festival Seconde Nature, Fondation Vasarely - 1, Avenue Marcel Pagnol - Aix-en-Provence.

Locus Sonus is a research group specializing in audio art (École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence, École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Nice Villa Arson, École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Marseille) in association with the research lab in sociology CNRS/MMSH/LAMES - University of Provence. Our objective is to experiment and evaluate the innovative and transdisciplinary nature of audio art forms in combining practical artistic experimentation and critical evaluation in a group context. Two main thematics define this research - audio in it’s relation to space and networked audio systems. Continue reading

espaceSONO audio :: SAT [GALERIE] :: 1201 St. Laurent, Montréal :: September 5 - October 5, 2007.

The espaceSONO audio.listening.lab is a global curatorial project that reflects the diversity of approaches and practices in sound-art today. Some forty artists from ten countries are represented, each offering a unique foray into sound. The works are designed to be heard in a focused listening environment over headphones. Two installations open new ways of containing sound-art while a series of performances demonstrate the versatility of artists engaged in sound exploration as they shift from composition to performance.
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Upgrade! Warsaw: Paweł Janicki :: August 19, 2007; 5:00 pm :: Dziekanka (dormitory of The Academy of Music), 58/60 Krakowskie Przedmieście, Warsaw, Poland.

Janicki will discuss, among other works, Ping Melody, a music-net-performance. Temporary and unique state of all actions of Internet users has an influence on form of music composition. Musician (instrumentalist or singer) is playing on acoustic instrument/singing and sounds coming from instrument/voice are shared in packets of data information (granulated), then transmitted to selected Internet locations (as “ping” unix command). Continue reading