[spectre] Sonic Light 2003

[Peter Luining]

PRESS RELEASE

December 2002

Sonic Light 2003
composing light, articulating space

Paradiso and de balie, 13th to 23rd February 2003

The ninth edition of the Sonic Acts festival will be held in Paradiso and de
balie, in Amsterdam, from Thursday 13th to Sunday 23rd February 2003 under
the name Sonic Light 2003. The festival will comprise a week of film
presentations, a three-day conference, a small exhibition and two evenings
of live music and light projections in a space specially designed for this
purpose - the 'Sonic Light Box'. The central theme of the festival is the
fascination held by artists for the creative possibilities offered by giving
musical form to light and space.

The vision of a 'music for the eye' is centuries old and forms an important
undercurrent in the recent history of art and the new media: from the
construction of the first colour organs, light sculptures and the first use
of coloured lighting in theatre, through abstract film animation and
synthetic video images, to the design of interactive software to generate
light and sound. The idea of a music and light art form to be presented in
an environment specially designed for that purpose becomes topical every
time a new visual medium appears on the horizon. Among the present
generation of computer artists a new type of visual music is being created
which can be performed live or made specially for the Internet.

These 'light environments' would be inconceivable without a spatial form of
music. For centuries composers have dreamt of being able to compose and
articulate a truly spatial form of music. With the arrival of electronic
sound reproduction this dream received a new impetus from technology in the
form of stereophonic and surround sound, which can now be found in most
living rooms. In electronic music it is possible to also compose the spatial
aspects of sound by working with quadraphonic, hexaphonic (Boulez),
octaphonic (Stockhausen) and dodecaphonic (Humon) loudspeaker arrangements.
Recent initiatives, like Naut Humon's Recombinant media labs, encourage the
new generation of sound artists and electronic music producers to
investigate further the huge potential offered by a new spatial form of
music.

Programme Sonic Light 2003:

OpFilm programme:

The festival begins with a week of film and video presentations in cinema de
balie, from 13th February through to 23rd February. This programme will have
four themes: post-WWII abstract film, early experiments with
electronically-generated video images, the relationship between film and
kinetic art and, finally, two science fiction films made for a mass audience
which included special effects created by two great names in the history of
abstract film: Oskar Fischinger and Jordan Belson.

The work of four film-makers, who devoted most of their lives to making
abstract films, is celebrated in the film programme. Their work can be seen
as the climax of a tradition which began with 'absolute film' in the 1930s.

Jim Davis was originally a painter who became more and more interested in
working with moving images. Around 1945 he was presenting light concerts for
his friends with light which was reflected through plastic forms, but he
then decided that presenting them as films would enhance the complex and
organic projections thus created. He made about twenty abstract films until
his death in 1972. Davis said of his films that they touched on
"unrecognized potentialities in the human imagination".

Jordan Belson made his most articulate work between 1964 and 1973, a period
in which made a series of nine related films. These films consist of
amorphous, cloud-like, amazingly detailed imagery which borders on the
narrative in a strictly non-verbal way. The images conjure up associations
of interstellar or microscopic processes which Belson himself considered to
be visualizations of his own inner state.

Stan Brakhage is the best-known and most prolific experimental filmmaker, a
selection from the more than 500 films he made was shown last year at the
International Film Festival in Rotterdam where he was the 'filmmaker in
focus'. The essence of his work is thinking about and working directly with
light. In this context Brakhage makes reference to medieval theories about
light as the creative force. Brakhage dedicated his film 'The Text of Light'
to Jim Davis whom he greatly admired. While making this film he was also
aware of the similarities and differences between his methods and those of
Jordan Belson.

John and James Whitney were two brothers, John was originally a composer and
James was originally a painter. In the 1940s, inspired by the work of Oskar
Fischinger, they turned to making abstract films. After making five
'Abstract Film Exercises' together, they went their separate ways; John
became a pioneer in computer animation and developed his own theories about
how sound and image could be generated in a coherent manner using the
computer. James became a Zen Buddhist and in a period of twenty years made
another five abstract films which are highly original, complex and
beautiful.

The second part of the OpFilm programme is a two-part overview of video work
made using 'direct video synthesis'. Video synthesis involves making images
by directly generating the electronic signal fed to a television tube.
Special video synthesizers were developed for this, mainly in experimental
television studios where research was done on new forms of television. An
important aspect of this work for many of those involved in it was that it
is a 'live' art form; their dream was to be able to 'play' and broadcast
live images, rather like a musician. One of the pioneers in this field was
Eric Siegel, who built his own equipment in the late 1960s about which he
wrote: "It is the instrument of the New Television; the growing tendency of
more artistic abstract television performed by beautiful enchanting people.
Where conventional television seeks to inform and entertain the New
Television will be engaged in expanding people's consciousness and providing
a way for constructive meditation."  Apart from Siegel's work the programme
will also take a special look at the work of Steven Beck and Dan Sandin. In
the mid-'70s Steven Beck built his 'Direct Video Synthesizer' for the
'National Centre for Experiments in Television' in San Francisco, with which
he made about a dozen video works. In Chicago, Dan Sandin developed his
'Sandin Image Processor'. He made the design drawings of this modular
equipment publicly available to enable as many people as possible to build
one. The programme will also include work by Steina and Woody Vasulka, Bill
Etra, Skip Sweeney and Matthew Schlanger.

We will look at the relationship between abstract film and kinetic art
through an overview of the work of two very different artists who both
worked at the interface between film and the kinetic environment.   From
1965 Jud Yalkut was for a few years part of the American collective USCO, a
group of artists and technicians who gave performances and built
environments using kinetic light sculptures and projections. Some of the
films Yalkut made as a result were abstract films in which kinetic machines
and projections appear as visual material. Other films were more
documentarily in nature and gave an impression of the underground movement
in which USCO was active.  Nicolas Schöffer was a pioneer in the field of
kinetic and 'cybernetic' art. He was one of the first artists to make
interactive works and he drew up many plans for kinetic sculptures and light
environments in public spaces, a few of which have actually been realized.
Together with various filmmakers, he made several films using shadows and
projections made by his machines. He also did some early experimental video
work for French TV.

During the conference and the 'Sonic Light Box' two science fiction films
will be shown in cinema de balie which include contributions by two key
figures in the history of abstract film. 'The Right Stuff' (1983) by Philip
Kaufman includes special effects made for the film by Jordan Belson. In 'The
Time Travellers' (1964) by Ib Melchior a special place is given to Oskar
Fischinger's 'Lumigraph', a most elegant low-tech instrument which can be
played 'live'.


Sonic Light conference:

The conference part of Sonic Light will take place on 21st, 22nd and 23rd
February in de balie. The subject of the Sonic Acts conference last year was
'The Art of Programming', this year it is to be 'Composing Light,
Articulating Space'. The conference gives a broad overview of the art of
'composed light': the shaping in time of light and colour in a way which is
comparable to the way sound is shaped into music. A large part of the
conference will consist of presentations by artists who will explain
something of the background to their work, the techniques they use or may
have devised and will include presentations of fragments of their work.
Another part of the conference will comprise more theoretical and historical
presentations which place present-day developments in a broader context.

The work of the earliest pioneers of light art will be discussed in lectures
by Fred Collopy and Pascal Rousseau. These will cover the work of Bainbridge
Bishop, Alexander Wallace Rimington, Mary Hallock-Greenewalt, Thomas Wilfred
and others; inspired inventors and artists active in the period between 1860
and 1940. In his presentation Fred Collopy will emphasize the contribution
made by visual artists to the notion of light art. As part of this he will
discuss the ideas of Leopold Survage, Morgan Russell, Stanton Macdonald
Wright, Paul Klee, Gyorgy Kepes, Piet Mondriaan and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and
others. Pascal Rousseau will approach this early history of light art by
drawing parallels between the mystical and religious motives of the earliest
light artists, the political aspects of the avant-garde in the 1920s and the
'happenings' and environments of the 1960s right up to the new emphasis on
collectivity in today's lounge phenomenon.

Frans Evers will approach the idea of composed light from the perspective of
the history of psychological research into synaesthesia. Distinctions
between the various art forms are often initially made on the basis of the
specific sense which they appeal to: sight, hearing, taste or smell.
Research into synaesthesia investigates the ways the various senses
influence each other; it investigates the place where the senses meet and
become a unified human system of perception.A number of presentations will
also be given at the conference which will examine the work of several
historical light artists in more depth.

Peter Stasny will give a lecture on the work of Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, who
taught at the Bauhaus and who developed the 'Reflektorische FarblichtSpiele'
in the 1920s. This is a type of light show which uses several light sources
and stencils which can be open and shut. Hirschfeld-Mack developed a
detailed form of notation and composed several 'Colour Sonatinas'. These
will be performed in the large auditorium of de balie on Sunday evening.

Robert Haller will consider the background and links between the work of Jim
Davis, Stan Brakhage and Jordan Belson. He will devote particular attention
to the fascination these three filmmakers had for light and modern particle
physics.

Michael Whitney will present the composition theories of his father, John
Whitney, an exceptionally influential pioneer in the field of computer
animation who had very articulate ideas about the future possibilities for
coherently generating both image and sound using a computer.Several artists
will talk about the techniques they have developed for 'playing' live
abstract images and projections.

Michael Scroggins will give an overview of his career, spanning almost
thirty years of work with real-time improvised images. He will show
fragments of his work with live light shows and fluid projections from the
1960s, his work with video synthesizers in the 1970s and video mixers in the
1980s right up to his most recent work in interactive abstract virtual
reality.

Benton Bainbridge will give a demonstration of his low-tech version of video
synthesis. He will talk about his fascination with the pioneers of video
synthesis and show fragments of his installation work and his work as a VJ.

Fred Collopy will discuss the design of his 'Imager' software, a computer
program which he developed and which he uses to give live performances of
abstract animations. This is a modular program based on the manipulation of
form, colour and movement.

Golan Levin will consider the backgrounds to his design of the interface for
his 'Audiovisual Environment Suite', a wonderful collection of image
software which can be operated live. He will discuss his own metaphor of an
'inexhaustible, infinitely variable, time-based, audiovisual "substance"
which can be gesturally created, deposited, manipulated and deleted'.

Chris Casady and Peter Luining will show excerpts of their web-based work.
Chris Casady is a traditionally trained animator who makes abstract
animations for the web. By way of an experiment, homage and statement, he
made a controversial Flash version of one of Oskar Fischinger's films.

Peter Luining will show his abstract audio-visual 'weblets', small and
ingenious programs in which the mouse can be used to change the movements of
abstract graphical shapes that produce sound. He will also demonstrate his
work with multi-user interfaces and give a preview of his 'Sonic Browser', a
web browser which can convert any Internet page into colour and sound.Three
artists will talk about their work which is mainly spatial in nature.

Earl Reiback will discuss his 'Lumia' work which now spans forty years.
Reiback was originally a nuclear physicist but switched to light art
following the warm response he received to his first light sculptures. His
work can be seen in many museums, mainly in America, and was also part of
the projections in The Electric Circus, the first discotheque in history.

Paul Friedlander will explain the principles behind his light sculptures,
which are monumental and at the same time weightless three-dimensional light
forms.

Seth Riskin will talk about his ideas on the 'anthropology' of light and how
he applies them in his 'Light Dance' performances. He attaches specially
developed light sources and projectors to his limbs and in this way
surrounds the audience with 'fluid architectures of light'.


Provisional programme for the Sonic Light conference
(subject to change):

21 February

13:00 hours:

Fred Collopy - The Contributions of Painters to the Development of Visual
Music

Earl Reiback - My Work in Lumia

Seth Riskin - Light Dance

16:00 hours:

Michael Scroggins - Absolute Animation Through Improvisation

Golan Levin - Interface Metaphors for Audiovisual Performance Systems

20:00 hours:

Robert Haller - Cosmic Concepts in the Films of Jordan Belson (with films)


22 February

13:00 hours:

Frans Evers - Synaesthesia and the Unity of the Arts

Michael Whitney - Compositional Concepts in the Films of John Whitney

Paul Friedlander - 3-D Light Forms 16:00 hours:

Chris Casady - Abstract Animation for the Web

Benton Bainbridge - Try This at Home: Analog Video Synthesis


23 February

13:00 hours:

Pascal Rousseau - Light Experiments in the Beginnings of Abstraction.
An archaeology of participative Art

Peter Stasny - The Farblichtspiele of Hirschfeld-Mack

Jim Wiseman - My Work with Video synthesizers (subject to confirmation)

16:00 hours:

Fred Collopy - An Instrument for Performing Real-time Abstract Animations

Peter Luining - Sonic Browsing



Sonic Light Box:

The Sonic Light evening and night programmes will take place in the Paradiso
on 21st, 22nd and 23rd February. For the occasion the main auditorium in the
Paradiso will be transformed into a 'Sonic Light Box', a spaced designed by
Robin Deirkauf in the form of an exploded cube. Projections and light will
be seen on the six surrounding surfaces, above and below. The music
programme will not be performed on the stage but will be broadcast through a
spatial arrangement of loudspeakers. The audience will be surrounded by six
independent loudspeakers on the ground and six independent loudspeakers
mounted on the ceiling, thereby making it possible to shape the spatial
experience of both image and sound in the 'Sonic Light Box'. The evening
programming will not be simply a succession of performances according to a
festival programme, but has a modular design. We have asked the invited
artists to give a number of short performances instead of playing one long
set. We have also asked them to collaborate on work. As usual during Sonic
Acts, the programme at the start of the evening will be aimed more at an
audience interested in the arts and at around midnight the programme will
become more dance-oriented. This is reflected in the programme itself by a
wide range of invited artists, from well-known composers such as Amacher to
young talent like 'Venetian Snares', from projections by Oskar Fischinger
and Earl Reiback to improvisations by Golan Levin and Benton Bainbridge.

On 21st February, after the conference and film presentations in de balie,
there will be a short and sharp opening programme in the Paradiso from 23:00
to 01:00 hours. This will be followed in the festive spirit by the regular
Paradiso programme, Club Paradiso. On 22nd February the Sonic Light Box
performances will take place from 20:30 to 04:00 hours and on 23rd February
20:30 to 03:00 hours.

The evening and night performances will include:

Yasunao Tone will perform 'Molecular Music' at Sonic Light. The performance
will make use of light sensors attached to the projection screen. The amount
of light falling on the sensors determines the pitch of various tone
generators. Traditional Chinese and Japanese writing will be translated into
sound.

Seth Riskin will be presenting a number of short 'Light Dance' performances.
These are soundless, "space-defining performances of light phenomena
articulated by body movements". Riskin attaches his own specially designed
light instruments and projectors to his body. The light and projections he
produces interact with the architecture of the space.

Maryanne Amacher plays with our perceptions of image and sound. Our senses
are the instrument which she plays through the use of speakers and projected
images.

Golan Levin will give a number of performances with his 'Audiovisual
Environment Suite'. This is a collection of self-written computer programs
which he can use to generate highly complex real-time sound and image
animations through gestures.

Ikue Mori is active in the areas between improvised music and pure sound.
She gained renown with the group DNA and later with TOHBAN DJAN. She also
often gives solo performances. At Sonic Light a twelve-speaker composition
of hers will be performed and she will also give a solo performance.

Benton Bainbridge draws upon a youth misspent playing with fire, food and
electronics to create low-tech visual phenomena for stage performance, tape
and digital dissemination. He was a founding member of several video
performance collectives in New York, such as 77 Hz and The Poool. He has
worked with many people including Bill Etra and David Linton's UnityGain.

Francisco Lopez bases his performances on his own sound recordings. In his
recordings he is not so much concerned with the recognizability of the sound
but rather the sonic nature of the sound in itself. His performances take
place in the dark and people are given blindfolds. Sonic no Light.

Peter Luining first received international recognition with this work
'clickclub' which he presented at the Transmediale in Berlin in 1999. His
use of sound in this work earned him the un-official title 'next generation
Superbad'. Since 1997 his work has evolved towards an increasing minimalism,
while continuing his earlier research on the dynamics of the net. Following
one of Luining's presentations, Remko Scha, Dutch professor in computer arts
remarked "If Mondrian were still alive, this is what he would do."

Scott Arford investigates what happens when image is interpreted as sound
and sound as image. At Sonic Light he will give a performance in which a
video image is composed based on the way the video signal sounds.

Subject to confirmation, Earl Reiback will show a reconstruction of one of
the Polaroid projections he made in the 1960s for 'The Electric Circus'. He
will also present one of his 'Sound Responsive Lumia' light objects.

Richard Devine was actually due to appear at Sonic Acts last year but was
unable to be present. He has been asked to compose a twelve-speaker piece
especially for Sonic Light. His music makes references to experimental
techno but is so masterly that the repetitive nature of this genre is hardly
present.

Michael Scroggins will present a selection from his 'immersive' video works
as they are applied in his abstract virtual reality environment.

Otto von Schirach creates a form of experimental techno which is almost
cartoon-like in nature. He will also be making a special twelve-speaker
composition for Sonic Light.

Films by Oskar Fischinger and other historical light artists will be shown
as interludes.

Venetian Snares: Aaron Funk of Venetian Snares makes an extremely complex
form of hardcore jungle/noise. The music does not remain the same for one
moment. You are constantly caught off-guard. It will be one long dance over
the speakers for Sonic Light.

Olivia Block makes sound compositions which make you think that you are not
listening to sound but rather that you have become part of the sounding
object. There will be various installations and luminous interventions on
display from the students of the Interfaculty of Image and Sound.

Credits:

The programme has been compiled by the Sonic Acts curatorial team with
filmmaker Joost Rekveld responsible for the conference and the visual part
of the festival, sound artists Edwin van der Heide and Remco de Jong in
charge of the music programming and additional programming by festival
producer Lucas van der Velden. The programme has been devised in association
with Erwin van 't Hart of cinema de balie, Larry Cuba of the Los
Angeles-based iotaCenter, and Naut Humon's Recombinant media labs in San
Francisco. Sonic Light 2003 is a co-production between the Paradiso and the
Interfaculty Image and Sound at the Royal Conservatoire and the Royal
Academy of Art in The Hague and de balie. The festival will be produced by
the Sonic Acts team who will also be handling the festival postproduction;
Robin Deirkauf, Jolanda van Dijk, Kasper van der Horst, Arnold Hoogerwerf,
Gideon Kiers and Jan Peter van der Wenden. The conference book with CD and
DVD will be published by Sonic Acts Press in association with uitgeverij de
balie.