Cultural Conversations

Diapason: DRAW Installation Closes This WeekCultural Conversations with hanrahanMeyers architects

See SPECTRUM, multi-channel and video sound and video installations by DRAW ends this Saturday, June 27.  See it from 2 to 8 pm for free at Diapason Gallery.

"A sound spectrum is a representation of a sound...in terms of the amount of vibration at each individual frequency. It is usually presented as a graph of either power or pressure as a function of frequency."

DRAW's architectonic sound-image-scapes utilize found and new footage, field recordings, analog synthesizers, DSP, and A/V processing tools. DRAW's compositions form the basis for improvisations involving processed video, algorithmically generated sound and live musicians. Through experimentation and dialogue, they explore in depth the relation between sound and image. Their practice involves a number of strategies, such as coupling specific sound and image sequences, using multi-channel setups for video + sound, role-switching, and exploring notational techniques.

More information on DRAW artists Michael J. Schumacher and Nisi Jacobs can be found here.

Arvo Part in Wall Street Journal : Sound of SilenceCultural Conversations with hanrahanMeyers architects

The following is an excerpt from an article originally published in the Wall Street Journal on June 12, 2009:

"In the world of contemporary art music, Arvo Pärt cuts a perplexing figure. Devout, media shy and reclusive, he is also one of the most commercially successful composers alive. The 74-year-old Estonian’s unique style of minimalism, influenced by Russian Orthodox mysticism and early Western polyphony, has been featured in more than 50 films. To browse through the reviews of Mr. Pärt’s works found on You Tube and Amazon.com is to dip into ecstatic confessions of transcendental experiences. His latest album, “In Principio,” debuted at No. 2 in the classical charts; according to Amazon, customers who bought this collection of choral works in Latin “also bought” works by U2, Diana Krall and Van Morrison. As the American minimalist composer Steve Reich put it, Mr. Pärt is “completely out of step with the zeitgeist, and yet he’s enormously popular. His music fulfils a deep human need that has nothing to do with fashion...” - CORINNA DA FONSECA-WOLLHEIM

Read more on the Wall Street Journal website

Arvo Pärt

Michael Schumacher : DRAW and Novi_sad Performing at Diapason Gallery Cultural Conversations with hanrahanMeyers architects

Michael Schumacher and Nisi Jacobs are DRAW

Saturdays in June, DRAW (sound artist Michael Schumacher and video artist Nisi Jacobs) performs SPECTRUM at Diapason Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

June 6, 13, 20 & 27, 2 - 8 pm, DRAW - SPECTRUM free

SPECTRUM is a sound and image sculpture utilizing multiple (number to be determined) audio and video channels across both of Diapason's exhibition spaces. The process at the core of SPECTRUM is the visualization of sound through spectrographic analysis, which breaks up a complex wave into its constituent parts and displays them on a 2 or 3 dimensional grid. These analyses and their corresponding sounds form the basis for several complex, layered compositions.

Also in June at Diapason gallery:

Tuesday, June 16, 8 pm, Novi_sad $ 10

Novi_sad's piece will be based on field recordings from Gotland, Sweden, the Amazon tropical rainforest, Brazil and vibrations from the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges in NY.

Novi_sad

New Art by Jane Philbrick : Rammed Earth Sculpture GardenCultural Conversations with hanrahanMeyers architects

Jane Philbrick's work in progress, "Rammed Earth Sculpture Garden", at the Skissernas Museum, Lund, Sweden.



Jane Philbrick, Rammed Earth Sculpture Garden, Skissernas Museum, pic: October 2009