Forma Production February-March 2006. Click For Infos.
We are pleased to be sending you a programme update on forma’s Spring 06 season of productions.
forma is one of Europe’s leading agencies for contemporary, cross-artform projects. Working with artists, venues and festivals worldwide, forma produces, publishes and tours a programme of groundbreaking new hybrid forms of music, visual art, film, new media, dance, theatre and live art.
New announcements and highlights of our Spring 06 season of productions include:
forma at LifeLike – AV festival 06: rare UK audiovisual concerts from Ryoji Ikeda and alva noto, plus a major new moving image work from Gina Czarnecki comprise forma’s involvement in the UK’s largest and newest international festival of digital arts, music, games, film and new media. LifeLike – AV festival 06 takes place from 2 – 12 March 2006 in the North East of England.
Further production highlights include:
A long-awaited London appearance from Ryoji Ikeda in a double bill concert at the Barbican
The first European exhibition of work by Australian artist Lynette Wallworth and the UK premiere of Ryoji Ikeda’s Spectra II at Arnolfini, Bristol, as part of its Inbetween Time Festival
A major new exhibition, Soundtrack for an Exhibition, curated by Mathieu Copeland, opens at Musée Art Contemporain Lyon, France
Further international tour dates for Ryoji Ikeda and alva noto, including newly announced dates for Ikeda in Italy and for alva noto in Australia and New Zealand.
Ryoji Ikeda – Spectra II, photo Robin Reynders Gina Czarnecki – Spine
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forma | PRODUCTIONS: FEBRUARY – APRIL 06
FORMA AT LIFELIKE: AV FESTIVAL 06
RYOJI IKEDA & ALVA NOTO
3 Mar 06 | AV 06 Opening Gala | The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead, UK
An unmissable event, this gala features forma-produced concerts from two giants of electronica, Ryoji Ikeda and alva noto [Carsten Nicolai].
Using digital technology to its utmost limit, Ryoji Ikeda combines sound and new media practices. The stunning CI is a filmic concert that fuses sublime imagery with a breathtaking soundtrack. It is accompanied by the World premiere of a new audiovisual work.
alva noto is Berlin-based visual artist and musician Carsten Nicolai. Live, his performance builds from minimal, pared-down electronic sounds, though increasingly complex and dynamic loops and beats, to a thrilling crescendo of noise. Highly precise, his live works captivate consistently through their cool technicism and elegant real-time visualisation of the sound as graphics.
Produced by forma
Ikeda’s new audiovisual work is co-commissioned by AV festival 2006 [AV 06] and ZeroOne, San Jose & ISEA 2006 Symposium.
More about Ryoji Ikeda at AV06 >
More about alva noto at AV06 >
More about LifeLike:AV festival 06 >
Buy Tickets >
Ryoji Ikeda – C4I, photo Kazuo Fukunaga alva noto, photo Kenichi Hagihara
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GINA CZARNECKI – SPINE
3 – 12 Mar 06 | AV 06 | Civic Centre Bell Tower, Newcastle , UK
Spine is a new commission by Gina Czarnecki, produced as a large-scale moving image installation to be projected onto the Civic Centre in the centre of Newcastle [UK] as part of LifeLike: AV festival 06.
As in the artist’s award-winning audiovisual work Nascent, Spine takes raw footage of improvised and choreographed performance by Australian Dance Theatre, to which Czarnecki applies advanced compositional techniques in the editing stage. The result is a powerful and compelling hybrid of visual art, experimental media, technology and dance.
Developed in collaboration with biotechnologists, computer programmers, dancers and sound artists, Gina Czarnecki’s recent works confront issues surrounding the convergence of biology and technology and the possible corruption of the human genetic mix .
Produced by forma
Commissioned by AV festival 06
Supported by Arts Council England
More about Gina Czarnecki at AV 06 >
More about LifeLike:AV festival 06 >
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ARTISTS’ TALK: RYOJI IKEDA & CARSTEN NICOLAI
4 Mar 06 | AV 06 | Electra Lounge, Tyneside Cinema, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, UK | 11.30am – 12.30pm, free
A rare and exclusive opportunity to hear two highly influential artists Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai [alva noto] discuss their work.
Renowned internationally for both their musical and visual arts practices, Ikeda and Nicolai have pioneered ultra-minimalist approaches to electronic composition and share a fascination with the minutiae of sonic design, the essential characteristics of sound itself and its relationships with architectural space, physics and human perception.
The artists work together on the collaborative project cyclo., which seeks to create a new hybrid of visual art and music through real-time analysis of sound signals. In this informal talk, they will discuss this collaborative project as well as their respective artistic practices, presenting examples of their work.
LifeLike: the AV Festival 06
www.avfest.co.uk
AV Festival 06 is the UK’s newest, and largest, international festival of digital arts, music, games, film and new media taking place in NewcastleGateshead, Sunderland, Middlesbrough 2-12 March 2006. AV Festival 06 forms part of NewcastleGateshead Initiative’s world-class festivals and events programme.
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EXHIBITIONS
RYOJI IKEDA & LYNETTE WALLWORTH
1 – 12 Feb 06 | This Secret Location exhibition , 3rd Inbetween Time Festival of Live Art and Intrigue | Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Two large-scale installations produced by forma, spectra II by Ryoji Ikeda and Lynette Wallworth’s Still:Waiting2, are presented in an exhibition that takes over Arnolfini’s galleries and behind the scenes spaces, showcasing extraordinary works in which the real and the virtual meet.
In spectra II, Ryoji Ikeda explores how sound shapes our understanding of architectural space and so reveals something of our processes of perception. spectra II invites visitors to navigate their way through a narrow, covered corridor – almost invisible due to its intense darkness/brightness and inaudible due to its ultra-frequencies. The work, designed for one viewer at a time, offers a startling experience of isolation and one’s own senses. forma continues to work with Ikeda to produce new work and tour in the UK and internationally.
forma is producing the first exhibition projects in Europe by leading Australian installation and video artist Lynette Wallworth. For Still:Waiting2, Wallworth creates a gently immersive environment that relies on activation by the audience via sensors located within the installation . Thousands of native Australian Corella birds, their dramatic movement amplified by a surround sound-scape, appear to those who negotiate a way of drawing closer to the work by sitting in silent stillness.
Spectra II is produced by forma
Still:Waiting2 is an An Arnolfini / inbetween time commission, produced by forma. Supported by Arts Council of England, the City of Melbourne Arts House program, and Undergrowth – Australia Arts UK 2006.
More about Ryoji Ikeda – Spectra II >
More about Lynette Wallworth – Still:Waiting2 >
Lynette Wallworth – Still:Waiting2 Ryoji Ikeda – Spectra II
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SOUNDTRACK FOR AN EXHIBITION
8 Mar -11 Jun 06 | Musée Art Contemporain Lyon, FR
Soundtrack composed by Susan Stenger [Band of Susans] with contributions by
Robert Poss [Band of Susans], Alan Vega [Suicide], Alexander Hacke [Einstürzende Neubaten], F.M. Einheit [ex Einstürzende Neubaten], Will Oldham [Palace Music, Bonny Prince Billy], Kim Gordon [Sonic Youth], Mika Vainio [Pan Sonic], Bruce Gilbert [ex-Wire], Ulrich Krieger, Warren Ellis [Dirty Three, The Bad Seeds], Jim White [The Dirty Three], Jennifer Hoyston [Erase Errata], Andria Degens [Pantaleimon], Spider Stacy [Pogues]
Paintings by John Armleder, Steven Parrino [until 14 May 06]
Feature film by Kristian Levring [until 14 May 06]
An exhibition curated by Mathieu Copeland.
Soundtrack for an Exhibition is a project that confounds our expectations of an exhibition. It comprises a specially commissioned sound score whose nature is revealed through its encounters with different environments over time.
The sound piece, composed by Susan Stenger and featuring contributions from a stellar list of international musicians, employs an archetypal pop song structure ‘exploded’ in form to last 96 days. The soundtrack is audible throughout the gallery both inside and outside. During this period, both a feature film and an exhibition of paintings will be shown in the gallery.
It is in the juxtaposition of these elements with the soundtrack and with each other that the exhibition in defined, not as a singular experience but as a score evolving over time.
Produced by forma
Co-produced by Musée Art Contemporain Lyon
More about Soundtrack for an Exhibition >
Susan Stenger – Soundtrack sketch
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PERFORMANCES
RYOJI IKEDA
Audiovisual concerts and sound pieces
DOUBLE BILL: formula [ver.2.3] & C4I
20 Mar 06 | Barbican, Silk Street, London, UK
In the first London appearance from Ikeda in over 6 years, forma presents a rare double bill concert at the Barbican of two audiovisual works that remain unrivalled in their power and technical sophistication. In formula, Ikeda aims for the complete integration of the various elements, composing music and images and orchestrating the relationships between them through a highly precise score.
‘Utterly mesmeric… formula is a powerfully physical event’ – The Wire.
CI is a highly atmospheric, filmic work that explores data as both material and theme. The performance presents the idea that data, drawn from the realms of nature, science, mathematics and philosophy, forms the sum of all human knowledge, and is the basis for the ways in which we understand, control, explore and exploit our world.
CI is a highly atmospheric, filmic work that explores data as both material and theme. The performance presents the idea that data, drawn from the realms of nature, science, mathematics and philosophy, forms the sum of all human knowledge, and is the basis for the ways in which we understand, control, explore and exploit our world.
Produced and presented by forma
Funded by Arts Council England
More about Ryoji Ikeda at the Barbican >
Buy tickets >
Ryoji Ikeda – CI, photo Kazuo Fukunaga Ryoji Ikeda – formula, photo Kazuo Fukunaga
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Premiere of new multi channel sound piece
9 Mar 06 | Salle Olivier Messaien, Radio France, [Présences Electronique Festival], Paris, FR
To launch the Présences Electronique Festival, Ikeda will perform the world premiere of a new multi-channel sound piece created during his recent residency at GRM.
Produced by forma
Commissioned by GRM
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Further European tour dates
C4I
19 Feb 06 | Teatro Canovas [M. A. R. T. E Festival], Malaga , ES
formula [ver.2.3] & C4I
24 Mar 06 | Haus der Berliner Festspiele [Maerz Musik], Berlin, DE
C4I
8 April 06 | Link Music, Bologna, IT
C4I & new audiovisual work
11 April 06 | Teatro Regio, Torino, IT
C4I
15 April 06 | Casa da Musica, Porto, IT
Produced by forma
Ryoji Ikeda’s touring programme for 2006 is supported by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN Programme.
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ALVA NOTO
Carsten Nicolai has performed and exhibited in many of the world’s most prestigious spaces. forma develops its long-term working relationship with Nicolai by touring his audiovisual concerts as ‘alva noto’. In his powerful live performances, Nicolai produces sublime, post-techno grooves accompanied by his now legendary live synaesthesic video.
‘The German electronic- music composer Carsten Nicolai makes you think about the future of music’ – New York Times
AUDIOVISUAL CONCERTS
18 Feb 06 | STUK Kunstencentrum, Leuven, BE
3 Mar 06 | The Sage Gateshead, [AV 06 Opening Gala] Gateshead, UK
8 Mar 06 | Elder Hall, Adelaide, [Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts 2006] Adelaide, AU
12 Mar 06 | Performance Space, Sydney, AU
14 & 15 Mar 06 | Moving Image Centre, Auckland, NZ
Produced by forma
More about alva noto concerts >
alva noto, photo Anna van Kooij alva noto, photo Kenichi Hagihara
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ARTIST RESIDENCY
In February 2006, Australian artist Lynette Wallworth will begin a three month long Arts Council England Fellowship at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, UK.
Wallworth’s practice spans installation, video and photography and she describes her work as bringing together ‘technological advances and ancient understandings’.
Currently the artist holds a New Media Arts Fellowship with the Australia Council for the Arts, enabling her to research and develop a new series of installations through residencies in Iran, Italy and the Lode Star Observatory in New Mexico.
This residency offers opportunities for Wallworth to develop further international networks and collaborative relationships, whilst providing the resources and support for her to work with the state of the art glass production and new media facilities available at the National Glass Centre to expand the boundaries of her current practice.
For full details on any of these projects, please visit www.forma.org.uk
forma is supported by Arts Council England
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