THE RISE AND FALL OF AIR

Katarzyna Krakowiak
The Rise and Fall of Air

02/07 - 18/08
Zachęta - National Gallery of Art

Katarzyna Krakowiak - sculptor
Ralf Meinz - sound designer
Michał Libera - curator
Andrzej Kłosak - room acoustician

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Katarzyna Krakowiak is the first artist ever whose work is presented in all of the Zachęta – National Gallery of Art’s thirteen rooms at once. None of those, however, will be accessible for visitors, and most are ‘no entry’ spaces for the gallery’s staff as well. Though not located far from the familiar rooms and staircases, they are too narrow and too cramped, often missing doors and sometimes floors, to be entered. Some of those spaces have been classified in the building’s architectural plans as ‘voids and technical rooms’; these include elevator shafts, ventilation shafts, skylights, unused corridors and rooms. Spaces between seemingly monolithic walls or skylight grilles do not even appear in those plans; all together, they add up to a staggering space of nearly 15,000 cubic metres.

In the hidden system formed by these spaces, and especially in the building’s three, nearly parallel, huge wall voids, Krakowiak finds the shape of her new architectural sculpture. The voids cut vertically across the entire building, supporting the massive skylight floor, often associated with the institution’s logotype. Together, they constitute what is in fact a new Zachęta, empty and inaccessible, based on a new construction, but also possessing new ornamentation and a new form. Unlike in previous expansion plans, whether realised or not, this new Zachęta is not created by adding new elements; rather, it is crammed into the inter-wall voids. Rather than creating new architectural plans or models, Krakowiak builds the monumental and overwhelming space with sound. In the case of working with inaccessible space, this is a natural choice: nothing but sound reaches the spaces where her sculpture has been crammed in.

Acousticians call such voids ‘rooms within rooms’. As from their point of view nothing isolates better than a few centimetres of empty, tight and inaccessible space, the function of such voids is clear: it is to muffle sound; to not let it through; to withhold it; to weaken and mute it. This means that the ‘building within building’, the Zachęta within Zachęta, is an architectural equivalent of the air pump, a machine for pushing air. It absorbs sounds and makes sure that nothing of what transpires inside the gallery is let outside; it retains all sounds until they fade away or transmits them upwards, to the huge collecting and storing container: the skylights. This process, the isolating-muting work of void in architecture, is of crucial significance here: the fact that architecture can be the ‘last to hear’, can get rid of our audible traces, can muffle us. And finally the fact that the process can be amplified so that the inaccessible voids fill the entire building.

AVANT AVANT GARDE # 3

A series dedicated to experimental music before 20th century
curated by Frau W., Maciej Śledziecki (ZAM e.V.) and Michał Libera (Foundation 4.99)

Avant Avant Garde # 2
21/06/2013,
Corpus Christi Basilica, Kraków, Poland

19.00 Introduction and listening session - Leif Elggren's „Sudarium of Santa Veronica”

20.00 Sound walk in Basilica with Andrzej Kłosak

20.30 Concerts

- Tomek Chołoniewski with percussion ensemble, "Change Ringing" performance for handbells
- Burkhard Beins & Michael Vorfeld, "Ernst Chladni Experiments"
- Gamut Ensemble: Frau W & Maciej Śledziecki
- Thomas Tilly & Jean-Luc Guionnet, "Stone Air Axioms" for Corpus Christi Basilica

all pieces are commissions for Avant Avant Garde by ZAM e.V. & Foundation 4.99

Lecture by Michał Libera including listening session – Leif Elggren's „Sudarium of Santa Veronica”, a phantasy on the first turntable inscription of sound in Christ's portrait by Claude Mellan from 1649. Acoustic walk with Andrzej Kłosak in Basilica

Tomek Chołoniewski with percussion ensemble, performance for handbells. The concert will follow 17th Century Change Ringing technique. It was a series of algorithms for collective live composing – each performer hands one bell of particular pitch and takes a defined position in a sequence – all to avoid melody.

Burkhard Beins & Michael Vorfeld, recreation of 18th Century experiments by Ernst Chladni, referred to as “Father of Acoustics”. German physicist visualized sound with the use of metal plates. By bowing them, he was changing their vibrations and by the same token making the flour form astonishing shapes known as Chladni Figures.

Gamut Ensemble, composition for self-constructed instrument by Gerhard Kern informed by 17th Century Joseph Sauveur's theory of overtones. French mathematician and physicist came up with an idea which is at the heart of today's spectralism. His concern was to prove that a single sound is an endlessly complex phenomena. Sauveur argued that he himself could hear 128 overtones in one pluck of a string.

Jean-Luc Guionnet & Thomas Tilly, site-specific performance for standing waves of the sacral architecture of Basilica. In the project titled „Stones, Air, Axioms” the departure point is acoustic measurements. On their basis they deliver organ playing and sinewaves to map the space of the church.


*

There is no such thing as new music. And there has never been one. Otherwise, when did it start? Was it in 1766 when the futurist intonarumori were first designed by Donato Stopani for Drottningholm Theatre in Stockholm? Few decades earlier, when minimalist idea of combination tones were first theorized by Giuseppe Tartini? Or was it in 13th Century when Cage's chance operations were presupposed by Raymond Llull in his figures? Earlier?

Avant Avant Garde is an anachronistic chase for experimental practices in scores, prints and treatises way before terms such as "new", "contemporary", "experimental" or "avant garde" music were conceived. We dig in the history not in search of schools and trends of music making. We dig to find maverick who could not wait until 20th century to see themselves becoming silent patrons of most thrilling adventures in sound making. What we find is people working with what they had at hands - objects, burning flames, spilling waters and blowing wind studying the mechanics at the heart of music and heralding sound art.

The material researched for Avant Avant Garde forms a body of commissions for four nights of music in Cologne, Krakow, Warsaw, Berlin. Each will contain exclusively world premiers. Dženana Aganspahić, Burkhard Beins, Arturas Bumšteinas, Max Eastley, Lucio Capece, Francesco Cavaliere, Tomek Chołoniewski, Gamut Ensemble, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Frau W, CM von Hausswolff, Gerhard Kern, Aleks Kolkowski, Michał Libera, Magda Mayas, Ralf Meinz, Tisha Mukarji, Mikołaj Pałosz, Karolina Ossowska, Razen, Paweł Romańczuk, Spat'sonore, Maciej Sledziecki, Thomas Tilly, Jan Topolski, Michael Vorfeld and many more will be there to deliver concerts, lectures and presentations on Avant Avant Garde. Over the course of the project Gamut Ensemble will be developing a growing automated orchestra of specifically designed music-machines referring to its Renaissance predecessors but expanded with computer controls.

SOUNDING THE BODY ELECTRIC

Sounding the Body Electric
Experiments in Art and Music in Eastern Europe 1964-1984
Bôłt (BR ES10)

One more adventure with PRES in its surroundings and an honorable collaboration with Daniel Muzuczyk and David Crowley - curators of the exhibition at Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź

coming up very, very soon; official release date: TBA

CD 1
1. Vladan Radovanović, Voice from the Loudspeaker (1975)
2. Szabolcs Esztényi and Krzysztof Wodiczko, Just Transistor Radios (1970/2012)
3. Wojciech Bruszewski, Junction (1973/2013)
4. Collective Actions, Music Within and Outside (1984)
5.-8. Eugeniusz Rudnik, Scalars – technological study (1966)
9. Hugh Davies, Shozyg (1964)

CD 2
1. Rudolf Komorous, Tomb of Malevitch (1965)
2. Arne Nordheim, Ode to Light (Sculpture) (1968) – studio mix 1
3.-6. Milan Grygar, Acoustic Drawings (1974)
7. Arne Nordheim, Ode to Light (Sculpture) (1968) – studio mix 2

The album is a natural alliance of the producers working with the Polish Radio Experimental Studio’s archives and the curators of the exhibition dedicated to intersections of technology and body in art of the 1960s and 1970s. The thematic “common” field was operationally called “early Eastern European sound art”, although none of us really meant it literally. Undoubtedly, we were all interested in such works of art where the sound was approached from the perspective of other art disciplines. Leaving film, theatre, dance and radio art to other occasions, we mainly focused on visual arts, performance and architecture – mostly due to their conceptual connotations. We followed the two fundamental issues discussed in the 1960s: object and space.

In this context, the exhibition Sounding the Body Electric was a breakthrough. For the first time, the history of sound of the above mentioned period was told from a different point of view than the musicological one. On the following pages David Crowley and Daniel Muzyczuk write about the Experimental Studio’s place in the wide spectrum of Eastern European art. To us, it is more important to see what the latter one tells us about PRES.

Experiments undertaken in Warsaw’s Studio found their reflection on the magnetic tape – a fixed object presenting the final vision of the composer. In consequence, space was usually understood as a parameter of musical form defined by stereophonic system. The most vivid examples of this compositional legacy is an unfortunate and never fully exploited Oskar Hansen’s project of adjustable acoustics of the Studio as well as Tomasz Sikorski’s attempts at composing reverberations of instrumental sounds – brilliantly faked on console by Bohdan Mazurek.

For this album we were trying to find the pieces in PRES’ archives that would deviate from this dominant tendency.

Michał Libera and Michał Mendyk

AVANT AVANT GARDE # 1

A series dedicated to experimental music before 20th century
curated by Frau W., Maciej Śledziecki (ZAM e.V.) and Michał Libera (Foundation 4.99)

Avant Avant Garde # 1
30/05/2013, 20.00
Stadtgarten, Cologne, Germany

- Introduction and panel discussion
- Arturas Bumšteinas, "Night on the Sail Ship"
- Lucio Capece & Dženana Aganspahić, "Rotating Pan" performance
- Max Eastley & Aleks Kolkowski, "Waves and Ripples"
- Gamut Ensemble: Frau W & Maciej Śledziecki with Philip Zoubek & Radek Stawarz plays carillons constructed by Gerhard Kern

all pieces are commissions for Avant Avant Garde by ZAM e.V. & Foundation 4.99

Lucio Capece & Dženana Aganspahić, performance rooted in a traditional Bosniak technique of „rotating pan”. It is a way to distribute sound of a singing woman in a room by a series of reflections from a manually rotated pan. In Cologne the voice will be replaced by Lucio Capece's saxophone.

Arturas Bumšteinas, quadrophonic composition conceived of recordings of baroque theatres' noise machines. The recording were made in Ekhof-Theater in Gotha, Drottningholm Theatre in Stockholm as well as private collections of Per Simon Edstrom and John Kapenekas.

Max Eastley & Aleks Kolkowski, „Waves and Ripples” - a musical exploration of sound and water using self-devised instruments and improvisation. Their modus operandi is derived from classic scientific hydroacoustical experiments by Athanasius Kircher and Ernst Chladni, as well as the illusions of Robert Houdin.

Gamut Ensemble with with Philip Zoubek & Radek Stawarz, composition for a self-contructed carillon by Gerhard Kern based on old sketches and extended with computer controllers. The piece is inspired by 17th Century logics drawings by Athanasius Kircher.


*

There is no such thing as new music. And there has never been one. Otherwise, when did it start? Was it in 1766 when the futurist intonarumori were first designed by Donato Stopani for Drottningholm Theatre in Stockholm? Few decades earlier, when minimalist idea of combination tones were first theorized by Giuseppe Tartini? Or was it in 13th Century when Cage's chance operations were presupposed by Raymond Llull in his figures? Earlier?

Avant Avant Garde is an anachronistic chase for experimental practices in scores, prints and treatises way before terms such as "new", "contemporary", "experimental" or "avant garde" music were conceived. We dig in the history not in search of schools and trends of music making. We dig to find maverick who could not wait until 20th century to see themselves becoming silent patrons of most thrilling adventures in sound making. What we find is people working with what they had at hands - objects, burning flames, spilling waters and blowing wind studying the mechanics at the heart of music and heralding sound art.

The material researched for Avant Avant Garde forms a body of commissions for four nights of music in Cologne, Krakow, Warsaw, Berlin. Each will contain exclusively world premiers. Dženana Aganspahić, Burkhard Beins, Arturas Bumšteinas, Max Eastley, Lucio Capece, Francesco Cavaliere, Tomek Chołoniewski, Gamut Ensemble, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Frau W, CM von Hausswolff, Gerhard Kern, Aleks Kolkowski, Michał Libera, Magda Mayas, Ralf Meinz, Tisha Mukarji, Mikołaj Pałosz, Karolina Ossowska, Razen, Paweł Romańczuk, Spat'sonore, Maciej Sledziecki, Thomas Tilly, Jan Topolski, Michael Vorfeld and many more will be there to deliver concerts, lectures and presentations on Avant Avant Garde. Over the course of the project Gamut Ensemble will be developing a growing automated orchestra of specifically designed music-machines referring to its Renaissance predecessors but expanded with computer controls.


*

Support


Financed by Ministry of Culture and National Heritage


Financed by Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation

as well as
- Kulturstiftung des Bundes
- NRW Kultur International
- ON Neue Musik Koln

POPULISTA presents UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Triptych)

BR POP 07: 1939 Southern Recording Trip Fieldnotes

Voice by Pete Simonelli
Guitar by Miron Grzegorkiewicz
Bass Guitar by Michał Biela
Turntable by DJ Lenar

1. Houston, Texas
2. Port Aransas, Texas
3. Parchman Prison, Mississippi
4. Me for Texas An' Me for Tennessee

Text excerpted from 1939 Southern Recording Trip Fieldnotes by John Lomax and Ruby Lomax
Audio quotes excerpted from their recordings
Music by Michał Biela, Miron Grzegorkiewicz, DJ Lenar and Pete Simonelli





BR POP 08: Ten Intrusions

Voice by Pete Simonelli
Guitar by David Grubbs
Organ by David Maranha
Percussion by Andrea Belfi

1. The Rose
2. The Crane
3. First Intrusion
4. The Waterfall
5. The Wind
6. The Street
7. Lover
8. Second Intrusion
9. Soldiers-War-Another War
10. Vanity

Selection of texts follows that of Harry Partch's „Eleven Intrusions”
Texts by Ella Young, Ella Young and Lao Tzu, Tsurayuki, Willard Motley, George Leite, Giuseppe Ungaretti
Music by Andrea Belfi, David Grubbs, David Maranha and Pete Simonelli





BR POP 09: Vanishing Point: How to Disappear in America Without a Trace

Voices by David Grubbs, Małgorzata Penkalla and Pete Simonelli
Guitars by David Grubbs and Miron Grzegorkiewicz
Organ and violin by David Maranha

1. Destroy All Photographs
2. Kill the Dog
3. Die with Dignity

Text excerpted from Vanishing Point: How to Disappear in America without a Trace
Music by David Grubbs, Miron Grzegorkiewicz, David Maranha, Gosia Penkalla, Pete Simonelli

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All music premiered and recorded at Playback Play 2012 in Powiększenie
POP 08, 09: mixed and mastered by The Norman Conquest,
POP 07: edited and mixed by DJ Lenar and Michał Libera, mastered by The Norman Conquest
Produced by Michał Libera
Artwork by Aleksandra Waliszewska
Layout by Piotrek Bukowski
Published by Bôłt Records
Distributed worldwide by Monotype Records
Distributed in Poland by Bęc Zmiana

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Three takes on America – three journeys and three documents. Written and recorded.

Year 1939, John A. Lomax and Ruby T. Lomax in their Plymouth – going South. 6502 miles, tons of audio recordings and a diary where the voices of South and the report on the voices of South become barely distinguishable.

Year 1949, Harry Partch – leaving for Gualala. Old smithy on a cliff, an isolated recording studio, breeding of a troop of small creatures called „Eleven Intrusions” - perhaps one of the first cosmopolitan reinventions of American native music.

Finally, just recently, an anonymous quest for vanishing – say north of Highway 15 and West of Baker. Online manual.

All three documents were approached by musicians who met in Warsaw for Playback Play 2012 – a week long series of rehearsals and performances. And then put together to form – what exactly? A historiosophical narrative in music arrangements? A distant mirage of something we have already heard somewhere? Three images of America facing each other?

*

I love them more than all the others, the arrangers. The ones who sign their names inside the work […] what arrangers are signing is above all a listening
- Peter Szendy

Populista is a pool of reinterpretations, overinterpretations and misinterpretations of the past. A salon where Beethoven takes a revenge on Kagel; Schumann love songs finally get hopeless and field recordings of Ferrari are field recorded again. It is a genre-less collaboration in an area called „listening”. The music we love or the music we hate – if only for a reason. Do not expect brands. Expect statements on music, listening and other sweetmeats like pop, memory, sex, cuisine, tradition, kitch, canon, individuation… and America.

INDUSTRIAL ON TOUR

or where did the industry go?

edited by Inke Arns & Thibaut de Ruyter

Revolver Publishing 2013, 18 x 12 cm, 260 pages, softcover

File under rock'n'roll drive turned into an intellectual detour

Including
- careless arguments on what constitutes a proper mad dog,
- insights into the semantics of Uganda,
- investigations into Detroit State of Mind,
- criminal reports on Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher facing Solidarity Museum
and some other reflections of curatorial research of Inke Arns and Thibaut de Ruyter into industrial / postindustrial landscapes of Poland.

with contributions from Inke Arns, Thibaut de Ruyter, Daniel Muzyczuk, Jim Campbell, Joanna Erbel, Michal Libera

3-NIGHT STAND with MATT DAVIS

Matt Davis (UK)
trumpet, electromagnetics

20/02, Eufemia
Matt Davis + Ksawery Wójciński (doublebass), Gamid Ibadullajev (percussion)

21/02, Galeria Praca
Matt Davis + Łukasz Izert (live visuals)

22/02, CSW 'Zamek Ujazdowski' Strefa Monotype
Matt Davis solo


Simple.
The great trumpet player takes this short trip to Warsaw to play couple of gigs, see the town and meet people.
Real improv.
Come by.


His blurb tells us:
Davis has worked in improvised and experimental music, using mainly the trumpet, field recordings and more recently electromagnetics, since 1994 after studying visual art and being heavily influenced by The Situationists. Has also directed ‘Field’ - a live art/performance project, operating since 2003, which started out as a platform for discussion on improvisation between different disciplines and ended up being a non-discipline-specific performance project referencing the work of geographer Doreen Massey who collaborated on the project.

He has worked throughout Europe and also Japan and collaborates regularly with dance as well as musicians such as Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, and Mark Wastell. He currently lives in Cornwall and is a member of the ‘School of Noises’ collective which includes Rob Gawthrop, Robert Curgenven and Dominick Allen.

His work investigates the question of sound (noise) as music, and music as a tool for improvisation, not improvisation as a compositional tool, and in that a negotiation of a relational space.