Tactile Utterances

Composer/sonologist Roland Kuit encountered the paintings of Tomas Rajlich in 1992. ‘Fundamental Painting’, a minimalist strategy that explores the post-existential nature of the painting itself — its color, structure and surface — it is simply the painting as a painting. Tomas opened Kuit’s eyes to a kind of minimalism that Kuit recognized in his music at that time when he was working with semi-predictable chaotic systems. Kuit began creating works for Tomas Rajlich in 1993 and last year, Kuit released a new piece for Kyma-extended string quartet: Tactile Utterance – for Tomas Rajlich.

The world premiere of Tactile Utterance took place on 23 June 2017 in the Kampa Museum – The Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation in Prague (CZ) for the opening of a special Tomas Rajlich retrospective: Zcela abstraktní retrospektiva. Composed especially for the occasion, Kuit’s three part work Tactile Utterance, expresses 50 years of painting by Tomas Rajlich.

Kuit’s recent research into new compositional methods, algorithms, and spectral music came together in this work. His aim was to capture the process of painting: how can we relate acrylate polymers on canvas to sound? Using bowing without ‘tone’ as a metaphor for brushing a tangible thickness of color; pointing out the secants with very short percussive sounds on the string instruments as grid; dense multiphonics as palet knifes — broadened textures smeared out and disolving into light.

The premiere, performed by the FAMA Quartet with Roland Kuit on Kyma, was very well received.

The Prague recordings

For the recording, made during 15-20 February 2018, Roland decided to record the string quartet alone and unprocessed so he could do post-processing and balancing in the studio. Recording engineer Milan Cimfe of the SONO Recording Studios in Prague used 3 sets of microphones: one to create a very ‘close to the skin’ recording of all string instruments; the second set overhead; and the third set as ‘room’ recording. Kuit took the recordings to Sweden to finish the mix and Kyma processing.

Album art © Tomas Rajlich, Acrylic on Linen, 1990-1991 c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2018

Tactile Utterance – Roland Emile Kuit
For Tomas Rajlich

1/ BRUSH 00:14:42

From a pianissimo-bowed wood sounds to noise, to an elaborated crescendo ending in a broad fortissimo textural cluster: Kyma extends the string sounds with spectral holds.

2/ MAZE 00:12:06

When walking by a grid, we see it first condensed – then open – then condensed again in both horizontal and vertical directions. The string quartet interprets ‘intersections’ by means of percussive sounds like pizzicato, spiccato, martelé, col legno etc. These sounds are treated as particles copied 100 times with the Kyma system, resulting in a noise wall. A ritardando to the center of the piece allows these particles to be distinguished as single sounds. With these single sounds, Roland made “spectral pictures” that could be smeared to complement the grid lines, followed by an accelerando back to prestissimo particles again.

3/ SURFACE 00:14:59

Multiphonics morphing to airy flageolets and the Kyma system processing the string quartet in algorithmic multiplexed resynthesized sounds, dissolving them into a muffled softness.

Roland Emile Kuit – Kyma

FAMA Quartet:
David Danel — violin,
Roman Hranička — violin,
Ondřej Martinovský — viola
Balázs Adorján — violoncello

Recorded by Milan Cimfe at the Sono Recording Studios Prague

DONEMUS
Composers Voice: CV 229

Gualtieri & the philosopher in the castle

In the 1700s, Neapolitan philosopher, Giannbattista Vico argued that students “should be taught the totality of the sciences and arts, and their intellectual powers should be developed to the full” so that they “would become exact in science, clever in practical matters, fluent in eloquence, imaginative in understanding poetry or painting, and strong in memorizing what they have learned in their legal studies”. In his book, The New Science, Vico drew a distinction between il vero — “the true” which is the object of knowledge (scienza) since it is universal and eternal — and il certo, “the certain” which, as the result of human consciousness (coscienza), is particular and individual.

On Friday, 8 June 2018, at the medieval/Renaissance castle Maschio Angioino in Naples, composer Vincenzo Guiltieri presented a Concert-in-the-form-of-a-Reading: Voci da una vita, un’esecuzione live electronics di brani dalla Vita di Giambattista Vico scritta da se medesimo (1728) or “Voices of a life, a live electronics performance of passages from the autobiography of Giambattista Vico (1728)”

Gualtieri’s piece, Omaggio a Vico, featured Gualtieri performing live Kyma processing of texts from Vico’s autobiography chosen and recited by philosopher Rosario Diana.

Live percussion and electronics in Coimbra market square

Carlos Alberto Augusto‘s new piece — ECOS (Coimbra version) for 6 percussionists and 6 electronic tracks — will be performed for the first time on 23 June 2018 in the old market square in the city of Coimbra Portugal.

Commissioned by Sons da Cidade, a festival that annually celebrates the city of Coimbra (Portugal) as a UNESCO heritage site, Augusto’s ECO will have musicians and loudspeakers distributed in circles along the full length of the 106m square. The electronic tracks were produced entirely in Kyma and are based on processed recordings of melting ice and an old fog horn’s rotating mechanism. Percussion, performed by the Portuguese percussion group Simantra, and electronic sounds will be further processed by the large square’s own natural distinctive resonances and reflections.

Verlingieri in real time

Composer/sound artist Gianluca Verlingieri utilized Kyma in two new pieces featured in two different events in Italy and UK: a world premiere fixed-plus-live electronics performance in Florence at the Tempo Reale Festival 2018 in May and a fixed-media acousmatic performance in Manchester at the EASTN-DC Week in late June 2018.

Verlingieri presented the world premiere of his 30-minute Requiem da Ballo for live electronics, poet, fixed-media sound projection and custom-made “loudspeaker pipes” in Florence on 26 May at Tempo Reale, the institute founded by Luciano Berio, on a concert named Klang Musica Sperimentale #10 Parola.

The second performance, Suite from Requiem da Ballo, will be 25-30 June 2018 at the EASTN-DC MANCHESTER Festival in Manchester UK. Verlingieri will perform live sound projection in 32-channel surround sound using the MANTIS diffusion system in the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall.

Verlingieri teaches electroacoustic composition at the “G. F. Ghedini” State Conservatory of Cuneo, Italy, where he also coordinates the Department of New Technologies and Musical Language.

Displacement

Photo by Dr. Javier Alejandro González Ortega

After the 2010 El Mayor Cucapah 7.2 magnitude earthquake in northern Mexico, seismologist Alejandro González Ortega interviewed Don Chayo, a Cucapah native who witnessed the surface rupture. When Don Chayo drew parallels to the origin stories of the Cucapah people, González began to wonder if these stories may have recounted earlier seismic events that had been passed down over the generations.

Over the next several years, González and his colleague, choreographer/physicist Minerva Muñoz, created a performance piece based on 3D seismological data collected by 12 measurement stations during the event. Muñoz enlisted the help of composer Carla Scaletti to map the data to sound using Kyma and artist David Olivares to map the data to video using Unity.

As Muñez and González conducted further research and interviews with the Cucapah elders, a much more disturbing story began to emerge — that of a displaced people whose livelihood was being cut off and whose very language was being forgotten. What had originally been intended as a science/art collaboration about seismic activity began to morph into a deeper metaphor for displacement, disruption and loss.

The result — Wí Shpá, A journey in bare feet — is a poem in movement, images, sounds and words that explores pilgrimage, displacement, change, the relationship of humans with the environment, transformation and resilience.

The sound and visuals were created from seismological data and satellite geodesics of the El Cucapah Mw 7.2 earthquake that occurred on April 4, 2010. Consistent in many details with the cosmogony myths narrated by Don Chayo that had been passed down over generations, El Mayor-Cucapah Mw 7.2 was the most intense earthquake recorded in this region over the last century.

Wí Shpá, A journey in bare feet is an elegy to the ancestors and to the women and men of today; to the people of the river, of the earth, fire and wind. It is a glimpse into a universe in which animals are gods, and meaning is associated with each of the four cardinal directions, colors, the power of nature and of the land.

“Cosmogony of an Event, El Mayor Cucapah Mw 7.2” is an inter and trans disciplinary dialog of artistic creation and research combining the myths of Cucapah cosmogenesis and the scientific studies of El Mayor-Cucapah Mw 7.2, weaving a network of collaboration, tradition, scientific research, knowledge and experiences, but above all, creating a dialog between scientists, artists, native community, collaborators and the general public who participate in this live performance/ritual.

Credits:

Direction, stage creation and interpretation: Minerva Muñoz *
Production: Alejandro González, Minerva Muñoz / La Machina Productions
Scenic Advisor: Jorge Folgueira
Lighting: Minerva Muñoz
Composition and sound design: Carla Scaletti
Visual Art: David Olivares
Video: Marco Meza, Rommel Vázquez
Aerial Video (drone): Alejandro González
Photography: Alfredo Ruiz and Rommel Vázquez
Science: Javier González-García and Alejandro González
Audio Engineer: Rommel Vázquez
Scenography: Leoncio García
Makeup: Rosario Martínez
Lighting technician: Miguel Tamayo
Communication and networks: Stephanie Lozano
Support: Juan Sánchez

Wittgraf rocks MOXsonic

Mike Wittgraf performed his “Date Night” for various acoustic sound generators and Kyma in the final slot of the last concert of the MOXsonic Festival on Saturday, March 11 2018.

Wittgraf’s lively performance was well received, eliciting whoops and cheers during the performance which finally moved him to stand up, walk away from the computer and finish the performance standing in front of the laptop with the Wiimote. Afterward, some of the other performers commented on the large amounts of realtime processing made possible by Kyma.

Call for Proposals: KISS 2018 — Altered States

The Arts Division at the University of California Santa Cruz and Symbolic Sound invite proposals for talks, live performances and workshops for the 6-9 September 2018 Kyma International Sound Symposium — KISS2018: Altered States (and Ecosystems).

Altered States

State spaces, state of mind, state of the art, deep state, state machines, state of the nation, state variable filters, topological state, head of state, solid state physics, state of grace, state transitions, spin states, state of the union — whatever your definition of state, one thing is for certain: Sound and music can alter states.

Join us in the state of California as we explore the multifaceted concept of Altered States through talks, workshops, and live musical performances at KISS2018, 6-9 September 2018 on the campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Ecosystems

Atop a forested hill overlooking the Pacific ocean and Monterey Bay, on the tectonic boundary between the Pacific and North American plates (aka the San Andreas Fault), accessible from the San Jose or San Francisco Airports, Santa Cruz is shaped by the economic/technology ecosystems of Silicon Valley, the biological ecosystems of the Pacific ocean and the Santa Cruz mountains, and a continuation of the counterculture lifestyle and political protest movements of the 1960s — hence the sub-theme of the conference: Ecosystems. Whether “Ecosystems” inspires ideas for environmental music & field recording, ecosystemic feedback control systems, the human microbiota, or more abstract political/economic/social ecosystems, we welcome proposals involving “complex networks or interconnected systems” of sound and music.

Important Dates

26 March: Deadline for submissions
15 April: Notification of acceptance & start of early registration

For more information and to make a proposal, visit: https://kiss2018.symbolicsound.com/call-for-proposals/

Underground of Invention

Kyma composer/performers Robert Jarvis and Eckard Vossas are performing at ‘The Loft’ as part of Vossas’ Underground of Invention project. The concert continues from their first visit two years ago and features Scott Fields on guitar, Robert Jarvis on trombone, Matthias Schubert on saxophone, and Eckard Vossas on Kyma, Continuum, and Kelstone). More information.

The highlight of the evening will be a reworking of Vossas’ immersive Kyma-powered Changing Constellations composition, where the four musicians are conducted and their sounds processed by a Kyma timeline that explores the twilight world between natural sound potential and electronic manipulations — in solo instrument language as well as through the relations between the different instruments, pushing the boundaries of the ensemble’s tonal flexibility.

Experience the intensive interaction, organic musical structures, expressive (and sometimes wild) ensemble playing, and four-dimensional sonic textures, with the overall aim of exploring the resonating beauty of sound!

Friday 24th November 2017, 20:30h
‘The Loft’ – Wissmannstrasse 30, 50823 Köln.
Entrance fee: €10/6/5
Music begins at 20:30.

Course on Design Patterns for Sound and Music

Music 507 Design Patterns for Sound and Music. The art of sound design is vast, but there are certain patterns that seem to come up over and over again. Once you start to recognize those patterns, you can immediately apply them in new situations and start combining them to create your own sound design and live performance environments. We will look at design patterns that show up in audio synthesis and processing, parameter control logic, and live performance environments, all in the context of the Kyma sound design environment.

Registration open starting November 2017 (course starts in January 2018)
Music 507 Spring 2018
Mondays, 7:00 – 8:50 pm
Music Building 4th floor, Experimental Music Studios
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

VR_I: social, free roaming virtual reality


Gilles Jobin’s VR_I — an immersive virtual reality contemporary dance experience with a 3D sound track created entirely in Kyma.7 — has its world premiere from 6 to 10 October 2017 at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Montreal. Unfolding on multiple, parallel space and time scales, VR_I immerses you in a wordless experience of the continuum from infinite to infinitesimal, leaving you with a new sense of perspective on your place in the universe.

In partnership with Artanim Foundation and utilizing their motion-capture and VR technology, VR_I is a pioneering work in social, free-roaming virtual reality. As many as five people can enter the experience together and see their own and each other’s bodies as avatars sharing the same virtual world as the characters (the dancers).

In VR_I, music emerges from the environment: wind in the desert transitions to a humming chorus sung by giants; wind chimes in the art-filled loft organize themselves into 5/8 rhythms as columns rise up from the floor, only to dissolve back into wind chimes again as the columns recede; in the city park, bird songs are echoed in flute melodies, and cicadas transform themselves into rhythmic patterns over tambura-like drones.

Each spectator hears an individualized soundscape, and there is no way to really know what everyone else is experiencing (just like in real life). Sounds and musical elements are positioned in space and attached to objects, giving each spectator a unique mix as they move through the space, culminating in upwardly spiraling Shepard-tones that swirl around and lift up the listeners as they contemplate their own place in the continuum from infinite to infinitesimal.

In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk

— from the Native American Diné Blessing Way

Choreography: Gilles Jobin
Dancers: Susana Panadés Díaz, Victoria Chiu, Tidiani N’Diaye, Diya Naidu, Gilles Jobin
3D Music & Sound Design: Carla Scaletti
Costumes: Jean-Paul Lespagnard
3d modeling: Tristan Siodlak
Animation: Camilo de Martino
3D Scans & Motion Capture: Artanim
VR Platform: Artanim

For tour dates and booking information, visit: vr-i.space