PROPOSAL FOR AN EVENING OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC PERFORMANCE AT THE 291 GALLERY SPRING 2002 March 7
THE NEW ITALIAN FUTURISTS featuring Z.E.L.L.E, MASSIMO, FANTASMAGRAMMA, ALESSANDRO MUGEN CANOVA
Music performances featuring the new wave of Italian sound artists who are extending the revolutionary ideas of Luigi Russolo and the futurist movement in ways relevant to the 21st century. Russolo was inspired by intent listening to all the sounds around him, particularly the sounds of the modern urban environment and its industrial machines. He could hear noise as music, and advocated the use and transformation of this ambient sound palette into a new musical experience and language: one which would transcend the understanding of what is music. Since this revolutionary manifesto was first put forward in the 1920s, many sound artists have explored these ideas: field recordings, ambient sound, and a huge diversity of electronically produced sounds, are now commonplace within both art culture and experimental and popular music. Now, with the advent of the digital age, new vistas of sonic possibilities are opening up. Like Russolo, the above artists focus on dissonance, noise, rhythm, the microtonal, and improvisation, in an attempt to push the limits of musical perception. For the futurists "musical evolution is paralleled by the multipication of machines". Now, programming skills are replacing instruments, in a shift from hardware to software: sound is atomised and encoded. Russolo's Art of Noise has become a Science of Sound: a science that is moulded by a creative impetus, with the intention of producing new and exciting sonic (musical) experiences that extend both our senses and understanding. The above artists are at the forefront of this innovation.
PROPOSAL FOR AN EVENING OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC PERFORMANCE AT THE 291 GALLERY SPRING 2002 March 7
THE NEW ITALIAN FUTURISTS featuring Z.E.L.L.E, MASSIMO, FANTASMAGRAMMA, ALESSANDRO MUGEN CANOVA
Music performances featuring the new wave of Italian sound artists who are extending the revolutionary ideas of Luigi Russolo and the futurist movement in ways relevant to the 21st century. Russolo was inspired by intent listening to all the sounds around him, particularly the sounds of the modern urban environment and its industrial machines. He could hear noise as music, and advocated the use and transformation of this ambient sound palette into a new musical experience and language: one which would transcend the understanding of what is music. Since this revolutionary manifesto was first put forward in the 1920s, many sound artists have explored these ideas: field recordings, ambient sound, and a huge diversity of electronically produced sounds, are now commonplace within both art culture and experimental and popular music. Now, with the advent of the digital age, new vistas of sonic possibilities are opening up. Like Russolo, the above artists focus on dissonance, noise, rhythm, the microtonal, and improvisation, in an attempt to push the limits of musical perception. For the futurists "musical evolution is paralleled by the multipication of machines". Now, programming skills are replacing instruments, in a shift from hardware to software: sound is atomised and encoded. Russolo's Art of Noise has become a Science of Sound: a science that is moulded by a creative impetus, with the intention of producing new and exciting sonic (musical) experiences that extend both our senses and understanding. The above artists are at the forefront of this innovation.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Z.E.L.L.E
Maurizio Martusciello is an electroacoustic composer and drummer involved in projects of both experimental and improvised musics. In 1999 he was awarded second prize in the International Electroacoustic Music Contest (CIMESP, Brazil). Nicola Catalano is a journalist for the Italian magazines Blow Up and Rumore, as well as a radio programmer for the national Italian broadcasting company RAI. He is a passionate listener of strange and unusual musics.
DISCOGRAPHY
2001 Nth CD (LINE, US) 2000 Ring Ring compilation CD as Meta-Zu (ReR Megacorp, UK) MetaXu MetaXu CD (Plate Lunch, Germany) Unsettled Line CD (Metamkine, France) 1999 Trio di Napoli CD (Discoteca di Stato, Italy) 1998 Linguafonie compilation CD (Goethe Institut, Italy) 1997 Dentro CD (ReR Megacorp, UK) 1995 Meta-Harmonies CD (Staalplaat, The Netherlands)
EXHIBITIONS & AUDIO PRESENTATIONS
Martusciello has performed at festivals worldwide including Archipel 2001 (Geneva), Dissonanze 2 (Rome), Off ICMC 2000 (Berlin), LMC Festival (London), Musique Action (Nancy), Musiques Actuelles (Victoriaville), Biennale di Roma 1999, Biennale di Venezia 1999, amongst others.
ARTIST STATEMENT
z.e.l.l.e's graphically constructed sound compositions aim for a precision of abstraction with the abandonment of melodic structure. Electro-acoustic composers Maurizio Martusciello and Nicola Catalano create highly intricate (and, at moments, barely audible) snippets of sound on their debut collaborative CD, Nth. The sound is deliberately sparse, making the act of listening quietly active and participatory.
MASSIMO
Massimo left university to pursue his enthusiasm for music and computers. When not working on his music, Massimo spends his time hacking satellite television systems. He began to perform live electronic computer music in early 1999.
DISCOGRAPHY
1999 Massimo CD (Microwave Recordings) 2000 Online audio (http://fals.ch) 2000 Minimo CD (Staalplaat). 2001 Generetion v.1 compilation CD (Bip-Hop) 2001 invalidObject CD (Fallt) 2001 Hey babe, let me see your USB and I'll show you my FireWire CD (Mego)
EXHIBITIONS & AUDIO PRESENTATIONS
ICMC (Berlin), Ars Electronica (Linz), Dissonanze (Rome), Schweiz (Berlin), Rhiz (Wien), Nova (Bruxelles), Academy Overtoom (Amsterdam), Earational 3 festival ('s-Hertogenbosh), Extrapool (Nijmegen), Batofar (Paris), Le lieu unique (Nantes), and many more.
FANTASMAGRAMMA
fantasmagramma are Francesco and Marco Leoci, a young and very exciting duo who have started creating audio-visual work only very recently. Their work is focused on the actual physical quality of sound. This is then composed into a futurist music that helps to extend our concept of music in the digital realm. Recognisable motifs - repetition, 'beats' - are morphed into new forms that sound essentially freeform and improvised.
DISCOGRAPHY
2001 ab CD (extrasensory)
EXHIBITIONS & AUDIO PRESENTATIONS
Netmage (Bologna), Clink & Click (Bologna), Link (Bologna), Sound.Light.Space (London).
ALESSANDRO 'MUGEN' CANOVA
Started making electronic music in the mid 1990s using digital and analogue instruments / media, focusing on unusual sound samples and their relationship to visual design. In 1999 Canova began experimenting with sine waves and white noise as his only sound sources, developing a special interest in microsounds and the glitch aesthetic. With his works the artist aims to create a meditative dimension: a contemplation of sound that lucidly expresses a refinement of frequency. Presently he is working on a project called "Mega Structures" involving manipulated field recordings and ultra minimal sound sculptures, and is currently studying Japanese art and Asian culture at Venice university.
DISCOGRAPHY
1999 Sine 000 CD (Pachinkostudio) 2001 770 CD (Pachinkostudio) 2002 Drowning Venice CD (Pachinkostudio)
EXHIBITIONS & AUDIO PRESENTATIONS
1999 Pachinkostudio presents Mugen (Padua) 2001 Musiknetzwerke (Berlin)
ABOUT THE ORGANISERS
extrasensory is a collective of artists dedicated to promoting multimedia art events and performances, with a specific interest in art works concerned with sound, light and space. We have been established for 18 months, curating art works and live performances by new, upcoming and critically-acclaimed artists, including many debut UK appearances by overseas artists. extrasensory presents genuinely cutting edge work. We present previously unheard and unreleased audio material, and showcase interesting recording labels and concept series.
EXHIBITIONS
April 2000, extrasensory 1, 291 Gallery (London) June 2000, extrasensory 2, 291 Gallery (London) October 2000, extrasensory 3, 291 Gallery (London) March 2001, extrasensory 4, 291 Gallery (London) October 2001, Sound.Light.Space, 291 Gallery (London)
AUDIO PRESENTATIONS
June 2001, extrasensory micro event 1, 291 Gallery (London) July 2001, extrasensory micro event 2, 291 Gallery (London) August 2001, extrasensory micro event 3, 291 Gallery (London) September 2001, extrasensory micro event 4, 291 Gallery (London)
CD RELEASES
2001 fantasmagramma, ab, extrasensory CD1 2002 Akira Yamamichi, tba, extrasensory CD2 2002 Alan Peacock, Just About Ambient, extrasensory CD3
+ others tbc
WEBSITE
See documentation of past events at http://www.extrasensory.org