You are not always who other people think you are; you even hear your own voice in a different way. By recording and manipulating a recording of your voice with You Don’t Know Me, you will be able to restore your real voice and share with people how you hear yourself. This is a unique task that nobody else in the world can do. You Don’t Know Me provides a toolset and an online voice gallery. We are looking forward to hearing your true voice.

You Don’t Know Me is a 2010 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. for its Turbulence web site. It was supported by the Jerome Foundation.

BIOGRAPHY

Liangjie Xia is a media artist and programmer presently based in New York City. He experiments with alternative forms of communication through innovative applications of technology, and he looks for the humanity behind the digital interface. He loves and contributes to open source projects, and hacks whatever is handy. Liangjie earned his Master of Professional Studies degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU in 2010.

The Gurs Zyklus (Gurs Cycle) is a performance that combines instrumental and vocal music, sculpture, and spoken word. In some ways, it is a culmination of many aspects of Trimpin’s career and personal biography, drawing together elements of his childhood in Germany, his artistic practice as an instrument-maker and the history of the internment camp at Gurs, near the Spanish-French border. Born in Istein, Germany (now Efringen-Kirchen) in 1951, Trimpin was haunted by the camp at Gurs, where Jews from Istein were interned during World War II. As an adult, he worked with composer Conlon Nancarrow, who revealed that he had been held at Gurs during the Spanish Civil War. After mentioning Gurs in a 2006 profile in The New Yorker, Trimpin was contacted by Victor Rosenberg, who offered Trimpin more than 200 of his family’s letters mailed from the camp to use in his artistic practice.

These letters and other elements, united by history, profound coincidence and the power of Trimpin’s imagination, weave together The Gurs Zyklus: vocalists sing and recite texts drawn from the Rosenberg letters into “fire organs” of Trimpin’s invention. The work also features a water harp and “musical teeter-totter” by Trimpin. Projections of images from Gurs meld with film from Trimpin’s own retracing of the journey by train to the camp. Nancarrow’s compositions meet sounds Trimpin derived from bark patterns of the trees near Gurs—among the last living “witnesses” to the camp’s dark history. The Gurs Zyklus offers a new perspective on an important story now at the edges of living memory, as well as a stage experience that is immersive and deeply moving.

Trimpin is a German-born composer and sound artist who has lived and worked in Seattle since 1979. His sound sculptures, installations and set designs have been commissioned by artists as diverse as Merce Cunningham, Samuel Beckett and the Kronos Quartet. These works have been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally at spaces including the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, Circulo De Bellas Artes in Madrid and the LOGOS Foundation in Ghent. Trimpin’s awards include the MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius Award” and a Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as residencies at numerous art centers, universities and colonies.

The Gurs Zyklus was made possible with a grant from Creative Capital, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing integrated financial and advisory support to artists pursuing adventurous projects.

At the end of the 1970s Sam Wagstaff put together an extensive collection of photos taken between 1870 and the 1930s, including Mumler’s ghost portraits, Kirlian’s experiments, Darget’s “thoughts photographic pictures” and other pioneering photographer’s works attempting to demonstrate the reality of certain supernatural phenomena. These pictures, beside the historical and ethnographic interest, are strongly suggestive abstract pieces, and Wagstaff explained that the he had collected them to satisfy his own desire to contemplate and explore the “pleasure to see, as when we see people dancing from a window.”

With somehow similar hopes and fears, several people tried to start a communication within a non-human dimension, experiment known as Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP), voice-like sounds not resulting from intentional voice recordings or renderings. They have been claimed to derive either from paranormal events, or from a kind of materializing of the subconscious (apophenia, or auditory pareidolia), or to be simply hoaxes.

In his short novel “It Belongs to the Cucumbers”, William Burroughs traces a similitude between his own writing technique of cut-up and Raudive’s “ghost voices” recordings, intentionally creating a mysterious aura around the subconscious process of creativity. Acousmatic music could be seen to be treading the same path; and maybe the same could be said for most creative exploration.

Artistic and musical research often brings results that are surprising not only for the viewer/listener, but also for the artist as well. Unexpected changes, distortions and deviations are a lively part of any creative and intellectual process; but sometimes they are also intentionally part of the project from the beginning.

In his debut as a director Shadows, John Cassavetes let the actors free to improvise on a scenario, something accustomed in the Italian Comedy of Art, but quite unusual in Hollywood. Besides exploring the issue of interracial relationships in a very simple and enlightened way, he also offers one of the best family rows in the history of cinema.

Occulto Fest involves artists and musicians that often focus on unusual, creative and diverted ways to collect and use data, be they recorded sounds, scientific data, legends, computer programming languages, novels, circuits or images found on the web. But this is not the full story; they also do so with wit, utilising well developed skills and with the critical and challenging approach which has always been the best part of any DIY philosophy.

Occulto Fest proposes an exploration of something between scientific experimentation, wonder, hoax, subconscious suggestions and physical reality, using music, videos and other media.

For more information: http://www.ausland-berlin.de

In tacit compliance with the Flickering Fingers of Fate Friends of the Creepy TriAngle proudly presents:
* Lesley Flanigan - 9:00-9:30: speaker feedback instruments + voice performance

**Naval Cassidy - “instant cinema” performance - 9:45-10:15

***”MERCE” Maria Chavez & Shelley Burgon -10:30-11:00: Turntable / Harp & electronics duet with live visuals by Thomas Dexter.

http://www.mynamelookslikeme.wordpress.com/

****Marcia Bassett /Margarida Garcia / Barry Weisblat -11:15-11:45 - Noise/Drone trio with video by Margarida Garcia: 4 compositions in chromadream: El, 2008. Sleep’s Bright Land, 2005. Sunnet, 2006. It had been a rainy day, 2006

http://www.zaimph.org/
http://margaridagarcia.blogspot.com/
http://post.thing.net/node/62

*****NOTEKILLERS - 12:00-12:45 - David First’s proto no wave power drone trio with guest visualist Ben Dierckx

http://pitchfork.com/features/the-out-door/7887-the-out-door-9/4/
http://www.sondies.com/

******”Bicameral Research Sound & Projection System” - (Throughout the evening in between sets… ) - David Linton solo audio/video feedback performance vignettes — with surprise guest David Watson @ 1 AM!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/bicameralresearch

a statement:

“OBJECT” is a curious word… when it refers to an actual “thing” it constitutes the basis of our sense of “form”… when referring to a “concept” (as with objects of thought or of language) it manifests as the essence of our sense of “content” which moves through the world at large to be “put forth” or “brought home” - etc

When both senses of the word “Object” collude a simple mundane physical “object” can come to be seen as a “Fetish” or “Symbolic” Object - a strange hybrid of thing and concept “embodied” all in one & defined as: any “thing” that conjures or represents another supposedly unrelated “thing” or “quality” that is thought to exist distinctly apart from “the first thing in itself”… etc Oh boy!

There was a time not that long ago when all aesthetic activity was invested in exploring the navigational contours of one categorical class of “object” or another… (painting, sculpture, dance, music, drama, literature - etc…)

For decades now a tendency has prevailed where many cultural producers have rather preferred to navigate the creative contours of a more ephemeral class of “objects” (borrowing from Language or Mathematics) that consist entirely of Information… sometimes eschewing “the physical” altogether or until the final “output” phase of the creative process… etc
Indeed this has become the way of the world… and while there is evidently no turning back… we may still take heart in the knowledge that there will always be a physical place in the human universe for willful acts of Perversion….

Today we beg to ponder the practical and thematic implications brought about by the continued navigational use of literal objects - by which we mean those possessing physical mass - as energetic “templates” in/for acts of temporal performance…

Vital Vox: A Vocal Festival explores the myriad power of the human voice in its solo and ensemble forms across a multitude of genres. This three day festival November 11, 12, and 13, 2010 at the ISSUE Project Room, will celebrate composer-performers in the vocal arts who stretch and expand the voice in new and original ways, continuing a strong contemporary tradition developed in the US.

On November 11: Jen Shyu, Nat Baldwin, Sabrina Lastman and Chris Mann
On November 12: Corey Dargel, Samita Sinha, C. Spencer Yeh and Joan La Barbara
On November 13: Lori Cotler with Glen Velez, Audrey Chen, Sasha Bogdanowitsch and Magic Names

VITAL VOX was premiered in May 2009 at Teatro IATI (International Theatre Arts Institute) in the East Village. The Festival brought together some of the most talented & creative young vocalists in NYC, and featured a total of 7 projects and 13 vocalists.

San Francisco-based artist Pamela Z presents her latest solo performance for voice, electronics, and interactive video that considers “baggage” in all its literal and metaphorical permutations. She is best-known for her signature style of experimental performance works that meld sampling technologies and live electronic processing with operatic bel canto and extended vocal techniques.

Drawing from her own extensive traveling as well as other travelers’ experiences, this new work contends with the ball-and-chain-ness of dragging one’s belongings all over the world. Through manipulation of layers of visual and sonic material through various custom controls and devices live on stage, Baggage Allowance scans and inventories the objects (and memories) we all cart around with us.

Scientists and composers have produced a new choral work in which performers sing parts of their own genetic code.

Human DNA is made up of just four different chemical compounds, which gave musician Andrew Morley the idea of assigning a note to each of them.

The new piece, Allele, will be performed by the New London Chamber Choir at the Royal Society of Medicine on 13 July.

Each of the 40-strong choir has also had his or her own DNA decoded. More >>

“Utilizing some of the most groundbreaking extended vocal techniques and original hardware instrument designs in the new generation of New York City’s improvisers, Lesley Flanigan’s work pushes through sheets of gorgeous shimmering sound into a sublime resonant feedback loop. With a background in sculpture, her work creates a kind of sonic terrain which encapsulates and envelopes the human voice (as well as the listener’s inner ear).”

Preceding her talk Lesley will be available for an afternoon seminar. Beginning at 2pm the seminar will form a peer-critique with participants presenting their work to the group. Spaces are limited to five and must be booked in advance from DAS. There is a charge of £10 (£5 concession) for each participant. Contact DAS for further information and bookings. In association with Bbeyond and Delawab

Ocean Voices is a collaboration between Halsey Burgund and marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols. They have been collecting voices for the past year or so from people around the world responding to a few personal questions about the ocean in hopes of spreading ocean awareness through the collective words and thoughts of the participants. Burgund has composed a 30 minute piece of music using these voices as raw material and will be performing it in surround sound with live musicians in the Morrison Planetarium at CAS.

Two of Jacques Cousteau’s grandchildren – Fabien and Céline Cousteau – will speak before each performance about the importance of ocean conservation. Halsey Burgund will perform the musical piece with his group, aesthetic evidence.

Burgund and Nichols will continue to collect more voices via the website and the newly released Ocean Voices iPhone app/ — thank you earsmack.com — and will be performing the piece in other venues. Currently, they are slated for a show in NYC as part of Céline Cousteau’s Ocean Inspiration event in the Fall and hope to do a show at the Museum of Science in Boston as well. They’re always looking for additional venues, so let them know if you have ideas!

Halsey Burgund currently works as a musician and sound artist living on the outskirts of Boston. Both his installations and musical performances make extensive use of spoken human voice recordings as musical elements, alongside traditional and electronic instruments. He collects these voices from otherwise uninvolved individuals whom he records in various locations, from museums to street corners to rock clubs.

Wallace “J.” Nichols spends his time discovering nature. He spent his youth exploring oceans and forests, as well as his own family history. Through field research, his work with commercial fishermen, and the time he spends in coastal villages, he encounters among people a common appreciation for the ocean’s beauty, abundance and mysteries.

Currently, J. works with several universities and organizations to advance ocean protection, including as a Research Associate for the California Academy of Sciences, Research Scientist at the Ocean Conservancy, Conservation Science Advisor for ProPeninsula, on a global bycatch study with Duke University and Blue Ocean Institute, and he has served as an advisor or board member of Turtle Island Restoration Network, Biosphere Foundation, Animal Alliance, Coastwalk, Drylands Institute, Oceana, and Reef Protection International.

Pamela Z performs a concert of short solo works for voice and electronics as part of the “Word + Music” series curated by Larry Ochs. The concert will consist of a selection of works involving language, including some excerpts from her work “Parts of Speech”, some new pieces, and a few tape pieces.

Pamela Z is a San Francisco-based composer/performer and audio artist who works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, and sampling technology. She creates solo works combining experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, digital processing, and MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound with physical gestures. In addition to her solo work, she has composed and recorded scores for dance, theatre, film, and new music chamber ensembles.

Pamela Z is currently working on a project called “Baggage Allowance” involving a combination of media installation works and a live multi-media performance. Her solo exhibition is now showing at the Krannert Art Museum in Illinois. The bi-coastal premiere of the performance work will have a one-week run at Theatre Artaud in San Francisco (May 20-23, 2010) and at the Kitchen in New York (September 16-19, 2010).

Her previous large-scale multi-media works such as Voci, Gaijin, and her multi-media opera Wunderkabinet – based on the Museum of Jurassic Technology have been presented at venues including Theater Artaud (San Francisco), The Kitchen (New York), REDCAT (Disney Hall, Los Angeles), and Open Ears Festival (Toronto). Her media works have been presented in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum (New York), the Dakar Biennale (Sénégal), the Krannert Art Museum (IL), and the Diözesanmuseum (Cologne). Pamela Z has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. She has performed in numerous festivals including Bang on a Can at Lincoln Center (New York), Interlink (Japan), Other Minds (San Francisco), Pina Bausch Tanztheater Festival (Wuppertal, Germany), and La Biennale di Venezia (Italy). She is the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Creative Capital Fund, the CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts, the ASCAP Music Award, the NEA and Japan/US Friendship Commission Fellowship, and the MAP Fund. She holds a music degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

For more info about Pamela Z, visit pamelaz.com.