An Audio Journey into the Rainforests of Mamori

Mamori Sound Project
6th Annual Workshop/Residency for sound artists & composers
@ Mamori Lake (Amazon, Brazil) / October 2011 / 2 weeks

This Kickstarter Project is to assist in funding eight US sound artists to participate in this year's Mamori Sound Project and, by doing so, help this whole exceptional project in the Amazon survive. This project will only be funded if at least $25,500 is pledged by Tuesday May 31, 1:00am EDT.

Mamori Sound Project is an independent residency/workshop that has been carried out in the Brazilian Amazon since 2005 by a small non-profit organization, integrated by sound artist Francisco López and the cultural association Mamori ArtLab, based in Spain and Brazil. Mamori Sound Project supports the local community at Mamori Lake (Amazonas state, Brazil) by providing jobs every year for a significant number of people in this community.

The Mamori Sound Project is a 2-week workshop/residency for professional and semi-professional sound artists and composers with previous experience in the area of sound experimentation and field recordings. It takes place at Mamori Lake, in the middle of the Brazilian Amazon, and involves theoretical/discussion presentations, field work and studio work. The workshop/residency has a special focus on creative approaches to the work with field recordings, through an extensive exploration of natural sound environments. It does not have a technical character but is instead conceived and directed towards the development and realization of a collective project of sonic creation with the interaction of all participant artists/composers. The activities of the workshop/residency include: Introductory theoretical/discussion presentation sessions on field recordings and sound creation, with a historical/philosophical perspective.

• Field trips (both diurnal and nocturnal) for extensive listening and recording of sound environments.
• Collective listening and discussion sessions of the sound materials gathered. Sessions of studio work (with laptop) using these materials.
• Development and realization of a sound piece by each participant (or in small groups), as part of the collective project.
• Public presentation of the finished pieces for both the participant artists and members of the local community at Mamori Lake.

All these activities are organized in a daily schedule according to the changing sonic environments of the rainforest. This typically involves many hours of field and studio work but there is also flexibility to allow participants to choose from several schedule options and to have the opportunity to carry out other activities related to the daily life in this environment, such as fishing for food or interacting with the local community.

[project home: kickstarter.com]
[franciscolopez.net/amazon.html]

Listen - R. Murray Schafer

"A soundscape is any collection of sounds, almost like a painting is a collection of visual attractions," says composer R. Murray Schafer. "When you listen carefully to the soundscape it becomes quite miraculous." David New's portrait of the renowned composer becomes a lesson unto itself, gracing viewers (and listeners) with a singular moment of interactive subjectivity. This film was produced for the 2009 Governor General's Performing Arts Award.

[nfb.ca/film/listen]

From Microsound to Soundscape Composition - Barry Truax

Interacting with Inner and Outer Sonic Complexity: from Microsound to Soundscape Composition (Barry Truax) from VCMM on Vimeo.

It is possible to think of the two extremes of the world of sound as the inner domain of microsound (less than 50 ms) where frequency and time are interdependent, and the external world of sonic complexity, namely the soundscape. In terms of sonic design, the computer is increasingly providing tools for dealing with each of these domains, such as granular synthesis and multi-channel soundscape composition. The models of interaction involved with the complexity of each of these domains are instructive, and will be presented with sound examples.

Barry Truax is a Professor at Simon Fraser University where he teaches courses in acoustic communication and electroacoustic music. He has worked with the World Soundscape Project, editing its Handbook for Acoustic Ecology, and has published a book Acoustic Communication dealing with all aspects of sound and technology. As a composer, Truax is best known for his work with the PODX computer music system which he has used for tape solo works and those which combine tape with live performers or computer graphics. In 1991 his work, Riverrun, was awarded the Magisterium at the International Competition of Electroacoustic Music in Bourges, France, a category open only to electroacoustic composers of 20 or more years experience.

Live!iXem 2010 - Edition VII

International festival of music, mixed media and experimental electronic art

[a project by AntiTesi (Domenico Sciajno) and U.S.O. Project in collaboration with O' and Die Schachtel]

Live!iXem is a well established event that explores the relationship among sound, music, electronic arts and new technologies. iXem is a project conceived and produced since 2003 by AntiTesi, an organization founded and directed by Domenico Sciajno based in Palermo. Center for self-documentation, research and interdisciplinary development for new forms of Arts, Antitesi focuses on contemporary arts in its diverse expressions, coordinates and organizes cultural events, festivals and exhibitions in music and art.

Festival Live!iXem in October 2010 is divided into two events, a 'preview' in Turin on October 8th, organized with Hiroshima Mon Amour, and the main festival in Milan including live performances, installations and  a workshop, organized in conjunction with O' and Die Schachtel.

The field is transverse. The common denominator is not the genre but the experimentation and research to innovation, helping to explore the variety of approaches to aesthetic guidelines, tools and technological solutions adopted by selected international artists and involved in the contemporary music scene.

After the introductory event in Turin, October 8th - with Live! IXem Preview - the festival appointment in Milan will take place in the Isola area, between the spaces of O', Medionauta and VisualContainer on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th October, from morning until late at night, offering a busy schedule of events.

Among these, the workshop 'Movement of acoustic images' - whose theme is the field recording, its transformations and its reproduction in acousmatic space - will consist of three different phases: the first by a technical approach, the second one by listening to environmental sound sources chosen as points of a hypothetical ideal sound map and the third one with 'on-site' recording of sound events.

This year Live!iXem, is also characterized by a partnership with 'Ear to the Earth 2010 - Water and the World', Festival produced by Electronic Music Foundation/Joel Chadabe, which will take place simultaneously in NYC.

PARTNERS: Roland Italy, SMAP (San Marino Audio Project), MIC (Music Information Centre Norway), Sound Corporation

WHERE: O 'via Pastrengo 12; Medionauta via Confalonieri 2; VisualContainer via Confalonieri 11, Milano | Isola Passante Ferroviario/M2 Garibaldi, M3 Zara, tram 2, 4, 7, 31, bus 82, 70, 43

HOW: All events are free except for the workshop (for which there is a fee of 60 euros) - and for the evenings at Medionauta (5 euro membership card).

INFO:

Antitesi www.antitesi.org 

iXem www.ixem.it

Full program here: iXem Press ENG (pdf)

Chris Watson: Whispering in the leaves

Acclaimed British sound artist Chris Watson creates a sensory journey fusing wildlife and location recordings from the Americas. You can experience the soundtrack of the South American rainforest diffused through the tropical foliage of a botanical environment at Perth Planetarium Pyramid (13 February–8 March).

[www.perthfestival.com.au]

Ear to the Earth

U.S.O. - Unidentified Sound Object (aka Matteo Milani and Federico Placidi) joined Ear to the Earth Network, an extension of EMF's festival of environmental sound that took place in New York City. Composers, sound artists, and scientists came from England, New Zealand, France, Italy, Canada, Austria, Germany, and throughout the United States to present their music and sound art in concerts and installations and to participate in panels at various venues in downtown Manhattan.

What we learned from the festival is that listening to environmental sounds brings the world closer to us. Listening is close and personal. Listening creates feelings of connection and involvement. The more focused our listening, and the greater our feelings of connection and involvement with the environment, the deeper and more immediate will be our understandings of the world.

We can listen to what the world is telling us. Through listening, we can become involved. We can exchange thoughts, ideas, and sounds. Once involved, we can learn. And in learning, we can better understand what is happening to us.

[Read more - About Ear to the Earth]
[Electronic Music Foundation]

U.S.O. Project @ Giardino Sonoro, Florence

U.S.O. Project (Unidentified Sound Object)
Matteo Milani / Federico Placidi

Giardino Sonoro La Limonaia dell'Imperialino, Sonic Garden Lab -
set up 2007

Research at GSLI:
archetypical abstractions and noise transfiguration.

[related topic]
[video source file available here]
[download the original sound composition]

Ryōan-ji: The Temple of the Peaceful Dragon

"After a visit to Japan with David Tudor in 1962, John Cage became fascinated by Soami's 15th century Zen dry garden at Ryoanji, in Kyoto. The emptiness of the sand, the placement of the stones, and the illusion created by the five islands of 15 stones, rising out of moss within an ocean of white sand, seemed to confirm certain of his ideas about music. In 1983 he began to produce exquisite graphic works entitled Where R = Ryoanji, using stones, pencils and the chance methods of the I Ching. At the same time, he composed pieces for a variety of solo instruments, also entitled Ryoanji." [David Toop]



[Ryoanji official website]

U.S.O. Project: Eco-Topic

How do you synthesize the sound of hundreds of tiny insect feet rapidly descending a blade of grass? Hamilton Sterling used Kyma to accomplish the feat for 11th Hour, Leonardo Di Caprio's feature-length documentary on the global environment described by Variety's Justin Chang as "a ruminative essay on what it means to be human in a scarce world." According to Sterling, "I quite liked using various granularized samples in a sequencer with a quick tempo to mimic the tiny feet of insect colonies rapidly moving up and down a blade of grass.

[11thhourfilm.com]

[2 films by Leonardo Di Caprio: Global Warming, Water Planet]