Press Release June 9, 2003
"Sounding Spaces - 9 Sound Installations" July 11 (Friday) - September 28 (Sunday), 2003
The exhibition "Sounding Spaces ‹ô 9 Sound Installations" will held from Friday, July 11, to Sunday, September 28, 2003 at the NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC].
Overview
"Sound Art" is a genre currently attracting worldwide attention, with a large number of artists engaged in ambitious experiments with this medium of expression. Since ICC presented the exhibition "Sound Art" Sound as Media" in 2000, there have been a number of other exhibitions at other venues taking up the theme of "Sound Art" or simply "Sound." Some have raised questions involving hearing and perception, others have focused on the physical properties of sound. In any case, the works presented, despite their extremely limited means, have possessed a power to deeply stir our senses and imaginations. §@The trends of the last few years serve as the backdrop for ICC's current exhibition, "Sounding Spaces - 9 Sound Installations" which features nine different sound environments created by six individual artists and three teams from Japan and abroad. §@We, the public, will not only have the opportunity to experience these environments as spectators, but in some cases will participate as one of the elements in the realization of the works themselves. These interactions will not be ones of simple, linear cause and effect. In some cases the environment of the work will be altered by our entry into it. Other works will encourage the self-replication of sound, use sound to heighten and alter spatial awareness, employ sound and narrative to evoke scenes that stir the emotions, or create sonic spectacles. The methods of the artists are diverse, and will present us with an intriguing diversity of environments to experience. Date: July 11 (Friday) - September 28 (Sunday), 2003 Venue: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] Hours: 10:00am-6:00pm(Admission until 30 minutes before closing) Closed : Mondays (If Monday is a holiday, then Tuesday),August 3 (Sun.) Admission Fee: Adults 800 Yen (600) Yen, University/ High school students 600 Yen (450) Yen, Junior high school/ Primary school students 400 Yen (300) Yen *Rates shown in parentheses are for groups of more than 14 persons Organizer: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] Address: Tokyo Opera City Tower 4F, 3-20-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo,163-1404 Japan Access: 2 minutes walk from Hatsudai Station East Exit on the Keio New Line Inquiries: Toll-free Telephone 0120-144199 (Domestic only) E-mail: query@ntticc.or.jp URL: http://www.ntticc.or.jp/ *Tickets will permit one re-entry to the exhibition during its run. When you come for your second experience of the exhibition, please bring the ticket from your initial visit. *Cooperative discount with the "Girl! Girl! Girl!" exhibit A passport ticket from the "Girl! Girl! Girl!" exhibit (August 5 - October 15, 2003) at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (Tokyo Opera City, 3rd Floor) will entitle you to a discounted rate (our regular group rate, limited to one entry per person) at "Sounding Space" when presented at the admission counter. Presenting your ticket stub from "Sounding Space" will entitle you to a similar discount at "Girl! Girl! Girl!" (Neither of these discounts can be used in conjunction with other discount offers.)
Related Events
Artists' Talk / Performance Venue : Gallery A Start : 6:30 pm- July 11(Fri.) : Alejandra & Aeron, Richard CHARTIER & Taylor DEUPREE, Edwin VAN DER HEIDE July 12 (Sat.) : Rafael TORAL, Christina KUBISCH July 13 (Sun.) : David CUNNINGHAM, Alvin LUCIER August 10 (Sun.) : INADA Kozo (Superseat), KUBOTA Akihiro Admission Free Capacity: 200 persons
Participating Artists and Exhibited Works
Alvin LUCIER Born in New Hampshire in 1931. Lives in Connecticut.Clearly distinguishing himself from performers and composers in the traditional sense, Alvin LUCIER has created a large number of conceptual and spatial works using various electronic technologies beyond the normal framework of "music" since the beginning of the 1950s. He has also produced many installations focusing on the vibratory phenomenon we call "sound." LUCIER has been invited to exhibit installations and to give performances in countries all over the world, including Japan. He is currently a professor at Wesleyan University. Empty Vessels (ICC version) (1997-2003) Eight glass containers, vases, and other vessels of different shapes and sizes are arranged in a row, each on its own pedestal. Microphones are placed in the mouths of the vessels and the sounds picked up from them are sent to speakers placed on pedestals that face the vessels. The sounds from the speakers create acoustic feedback, thus creating resonances inside each vessel. The shape of each vessel, as well as the presence of people within the space, cause corresponding alterations in the sounds. Christina KUBISCH Born in Bremen in 1948. Lives in Berlin.Having studied painting, music, and electronic engineering, Christina KUBISCH pursued her artistic activities as a solo performer in the 1970s, after which she started creating sound sculptures and installations. She has been invited to exhibit at numerous international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale (1982) and Documenta 8 (1987). Many of KUBISCH's works are set up in specific spaces (often public spaces) and, by juxtaposing artificial environments with nature, many of them raise questions about these situations and the relationship between them. She also took part in the "Sonic Boom" exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London, in 2000. East of oasis -- twelve gates to sound (2003) In this work, visitors wear receiver headphones and listen to the sounds transmitted using magnetic induction cables. The multiple cables transmit sounds from different sound sources, so that the visitors will experience the soundscape by walking about the gallery. David CUNNINGHAM Born in Ireland in 1954. Lives in London. In the late 1970s, David CUNNINGHAM formed the group "Flying Lizards" consisting of numerous, unspecified members. CUNNINGHAM has also worked in the fields of contemporary dance and film music, and is well known as the producer for composer Michael Nyman (mainly for the music in Peter Greenaway's films). From the mid-1990s, he turned his hand to installation works, which he has regularly exhibited in Britain. He has also taken part in festivals in Copenhagen and Sydney and in the triennial "Days Like These" held at Tate Britain in 2003. The Listening Room, Untitled (2003) This work automatically generates sounds by controlling the feedback produced by microphones and speakers placed opposite each other within a space. When viewers enter it, acoustic and other conditions of the space change and bring about subtle alterations in the sounds produced. The sounds in the space are also affected by other factors such as its shape and situation, and through these slight differences we can "hear the space." KUBOTA Akihiro Born in Osaka in 1960. Lives in Tokyo. By creating digital sound works and giving performances, KUBOTA Akihiro examines the effects produced by various materials, algorithms, improvisations, and interfaces. Recently he has been exploring the possibilities of algorithmic improvisation - the generation of dynamic and interactive forms of expression - while realizing numerous micro-algorithms corresponding to various human skills in parallel with digital materialism, which defines the countless, high-speed strings of digits in computers as the common materials of various modes of expression, such as music and images. KUBOTA is currently a professor in the Department of Information Design at Tama Art University. material AV-resonant interface (2003) Through interaction between the feedback loop in the space and visualized digital material, this work creates an algorithmic AV structure that resonates with the various interfaces formed between time and frequency domains, between digital and analog domains, and between phenomena and perception domains. Rafael TORAL Born in Lisbon in 1967. Lives in Lisbon. Rafael TORAL has composed electro-acoustic music for guitar. These distinctive sounds, which can only be heard in electronic music and have a creamy and sometimes sweet-sounding tone, represent a new methodology in electro-music. TORAL has also produced video art works based on the concept of "ambient video" and installation works using electronic toys, and has exhibited these works throughout Europe. Echo Room (2001) In this work, the sound from the microphone is processed and modulated in real time, and fed into a digital delay device. A few seconds later, the processed sound is emitted from the speakers. The sound is then fed back into the processing circuit. This creates a (de)generative cycle in which the first sound is re-processed again and again through the circuit and tends to naturally fade away into silence. Edwin VAN DER HEIDE Born in Hilversum in 1970. Lives in Rotterdam. Edwin VAN DER HEIDE studied sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He has given performances all over the world as a composer and performer of electronic music and has created and exhibited various sound installations. The underlying theme of these works is to develop new musical instruments, new techniques for performance, and new methods of sound generation/production to develop his own new musical language. VAN DER HEIDE is also a member of "Sensorband", a group that gave performances using sensor-based instruments at the ICC in 1997. He won honorary mention in the interactive art category of the Ars Electronica in 2001. A World Beyond the Loudspeaker (1998) This installation consists of a surface of 40 loudspeakers in a grid pattern of five rows and eight columns. The sound sources are actual sounds recorded outdoors in various places in Rotterdam using microphones arranged in the same pattern as the 40 speakers. The installation is an investigation of spatial movement represented as sonic phenomena. The result is a cinema for the ear. Richard CHARTIER & Taylor DEUPREE Richard CHARTIER Born in 1971. Lives in Baltimore. Richard CHARTIER has produced numerous installation works and CDs using minimal sound to explore the relationship between sound, silence, and the act of listening. He was awarded honorary mention in the category of Digital Music by Prix Ars Electronica in 2001. CHARTIER took part in the Whitney Biennial 2002. Taylor DEUPREE Born in 1971. Lives in New York. Founder of the music label "12K /LINE". DEUPREE and CHARTIER are the leading artists focusing on "lowercase sound," which explores the possibilities of digital sound using extremely quiet sounds. Specification.twelve (2003) In this work, four types of sound are emitted from eight speakers arranged in a certain space. Consisting of simple loops, these sounds do not form a complete tune. Through the differences among the cycles of each loop, the listener experiences these sound sources in various combinations. Alejandra & Aeron Alejandra SALINAS Born in Logrono, Spain, in 1977. Lives in Barcelona. Aeron BERGMAN Born in Detroit in 1971. Lives in Barcelona. Alejandra & Aeron have exhibited installations and presented sound performances mainly in Europe. In their installations, they create a small garden-like landscape/sound field inside the gallery. They also release their idyllic soundscapes on their own CD label, Lucky Kitchen. Belen (2003) A story unfolds in a "georama" similar to a miniature garden. This story, told in the form of a dialogue between a man and a woman, depicts a certain scene. Superseat Formed in 2003 Superseat is a unit consisting of six members, including the artist INADA Kozo (born in 1977, lives in Osaka.) In recent years, INADA Kozo has been invited to participate in art festivals throughout the world and released many albums from sound art CD labels both in Japan and overseas, maintaining vigorous artist activities. For this exhibition, INADA Kozo has teamed up with two other members, MARUTANI Koji and KAI Kenji. Superseat-executive (2003) Creating a comprehensive media environment consisting mainly of sound media but also including images and lighting, an anechoic room is used to provide a new media experience unlike anything experienced before by means of amazing sound effects, volume, and multi-channels that may even be considered "excessive" and would be quite unimaginable in a normal listening room. Taking advantage of the distinctive features of the anechoic roomr, the sound contents incorporate special effects that could only be produced in this environment, enabling visitors to fully experience the wondrous phenomena of sound.
Inquiries for press
Planning Officer : Minoru Hatanaka Publicity : Izumi Shimada Tel: +81-3-5353-0800 Fax: +81-3-5353-0900