ARTISTS | CLUB RADIOKOJE 2020

German

Jasmine Guffond & Ilan Katin: Unpool, part I/II. 2020

“Unpool” reflects on a field of research referred to as ‘the biotic pump’. It describes the dynamic relationship between forests and oceans, and how human disruption is degrading these ecosystems.

The graphics in the video are indirect references to cycles of water, weather and energy. Blue waves represent the ocean waves as well as ocean levels or storm cycles. The two circles in the centre of the composition represent the two topographic sides of the planet as well as the harmonic frequencies of the earth’s temperatures. Images of forest fires and polluted oceans were fed into an AI process, resulting in software-generated impressions of these environments.

About the artists:

Jasmine Guffond is an artist and composer working at the interface of social, political and technical infrastructures. Her practice spans live performance, recording, sound installation and custom-made browser add-ons. Through the sonification of data she addresses the potential for sound to engage with contemporary political questions. Her recent projects employed digital technologies and the anesthetization of data as a means of fostering discussion around contemporary topics, as well as producing experimental audio works.

Ilan Katin is a visual artist specialized in non-figurative drawings and data visualization. He has been working with Jasmine Guffond to develop live visual artworks for many years. As of 2018, Ilan Katin has been involved with the blockchain art community and is at the forefront of the newest methods for digital processing.

Arnold Haberl: Shower Song. 2020

From the series For Your Ears Only by Arnold Haberl.

Written in 2009, and performed on site in May 2020.

As the title of this series suggests, Shower Song is audible only to the interpreter, and should therefore be conceived as a solo-audio-piece. The composition explores the physical sound effects of water showering on the interpreter’s head. By impacting different areas while the interpreter modulates by covering and uncovering their ears with their hands, this piece offers a very private and relaxing sound experience.

The score is ready to download as an unlimited edition here.

About the artist:

The composer, sound-artist and cellist Noid/AKA Arnold Haberl regards his work as fundamental artistic research that finds expression in various forms. Ranging from improvised cello-solos and compositions for ensembles, to sound-installations, videos and imaginary music, his work involves both electronic and hybrid instrumentation. Noid contributed as a programmer to the freeware ‘ppooll’, an audio and visual networking system, and is a founding member of the online performance platform echoraeume.klingt.org/.

wechselstrom: LIQUID POOL. 2020

The artist duo Wechselstrom (Christoph Theiler and Renate Pittroff) develops instruments for electronic sound production and modulation. Their video art work “Liquid Pool” uses so-called “fluid controls”, which generate electronic impulses based on liquids (water). The basic principle of these instruments lies in the fact that water solutions have specific ohmic resistances. Electronic impulses are generated depending on the liquid’s density, the depth of immersion of the wires and the distance between the electrodes. They can be used to distort synthetic sounds and digitized media.

“Liquid Pool” uses this technique to alienate and deconstruct the video and audio material taken on-site in May, before the pool was opened.

About the artists:

Founded in 2004 as a project by Christoph Theiler and Renate Pittroff, wechselstrom deal with the peripheral areas of art at the interfaces of sociology, communication science and technology, and are located with their own office space in Vienna’s 16th district.

Designing works for theatre and radio play, wechselstrom are active in interdisciplinary fields such as sound installation, media art and social sculpture.

Alex Zehtbauer: aquatic yodeling, no. 1-5. 2020

This sono-choreographic work examines the complex emotional and auditory consciousness of whales and brings their ancient form of long-distance communication into the public pool.

The sound in all five videos of this mini-series was recorded live during sessions of Alex’s aquatic yodeling practice. Vocal sounds above and under water are transmitted without effects or edits directly into the camera’s microphone. Alex’s sonic explorations warp pure voice with the water’s fluid texture.

“aquatic yodeling” gives us a glimpse into what to expect from Alex’s solo performance “Wet Dreaming at 52 Hz”, which will be performed as part of czirp czirp’s program in 2021.

About the artist:

Alex Franz Zehtbauer is a singer, sonic choreographer, and performance artist. His work is centered around the voice as an agent of dance, often placing its aqueous body in uncanny or overwhelming structures. His underwater and a cappella singing practice comes from an engagement with cetacean* communication, sonar & aquatic acoustics, and the psychophysical effects of water.

*of or referring to aquatic mammals like whales and dolphins

Das Erste Ottakringer Blockflötengewitter: Wespen. 2020

The flute: an instrument that was given to the average Austrian and European schoolchild, enabling their first encounter with music. Whether this was really in their best interest is questionable. But lasting impressions have nevertheless remained in each of us.

The opening revue of Das Erste Ottakringer Blockflötengewitter is dedicated to this instrument. By picking it up in frivolous and satirical formations, their sonic thunderstorm updates the dusty nostalgia from primary school with 8-bit Gameboy aesthetics.

Tempo Tempo Tempo is imperative when the wasps begin circling in Midsummer!

About the artists:

Das Erste Ottakringer Blockflötengewitter proves that not everything you learned in school was meaningless. The art of the recorder is revived in the ensemble, which has teamed-up exclusively with a Gameboy. You can literally see the dust being blown off old music traditions!

Alois Yang: Micro Loop Macro Cycle. 2018

This contribution features sound artist Alois Yang in the virtual backdrop of Kongreßbad as a preview for 2021. “Micro Loop Macro Cycle” was initially selected for this year’s program, which could not take place due to Covid-19.

With “Micro Loop Macro Cycle” Alois Yang develops a series of installations, performances, video, and digital releases that investigate environmental cycle systems through the study of different aggregates of water. It invites us to consider our natural/artificial environments and our interdependency with the element of water and with technology.

About the artist:

Alois Yang’s work investigates the perception of time and space on the “outer” physical world, and the “inner” metaphysical levels of awareness. The overlapping realities between body and mind, objective explanation and subjective projection, analogue and digital, the certain and the unknown, manifest within his technical and experimental explorations of sound.

This contribution is a preview for CLUB RADIOKOJE 2021.