[spectre] IMPROVisual-Prague Biennale 1

[geert lovink]

From: "IMPROVisual" <tannae at TIN.IT>

Prague Biennale 1
IMPROVisual

June 26 2003
at Club Roxy Prague
Praha 1, Dlouhá 33
starting from 11 p.m.

June 28 2003
at NoD Gallery
Roxy experimental venue, 1st floor
Praha 1, Dlouhá 33
starting from 11 p.m.

Organised as a special project of the first Prague Biennale, IMPROVisual is
a two-night event dedicated to the live interaction of sound and image. For
the first time, a Biennale proposes live VJing as a kind of artistic
practice. IMPROVisual will be held at the Roxy, one of the most prestigious
alternative music venues in Europe, in the center of Prague.

The artists selected are the Canadian duo [ s k o l t z _ k o l g e n ], who
will present an ultra-minimal, black-and-white performance of glitch music;
the 242.pilots, a video improvisation ensemble, award-winners at
Transmediale, who will present a special collaboration with the sound artist
Kelly; Otolab, who will perform a techno polyphony of laptops; and Phase,
resident VJ crew at the Roxy.

Excerpt from the essay in the catalogue: "IMPROVisual ventures to explore
the ways in which the liveness of digital media performances brings a new
kind of contact with reality into the audio-visual work. Electronic music is
a pure sound event in which there is no specific image of the sound source,
allowing the music to suggest new visual landscapes. Works investigating the
live interaction of sound and image are freed up to concentrate on
improvisation instead of reproduction, as reality no longer means an
external thing.

Improvisation is like a black hole, a secret taboo of rational thought...A
Jewish philosopher, Vladimir Jankélévitch, after Henri Bergson, tried to put
at the heart of his meditation this strange concept...The mystic origin of
the Roxy club, a former Yiddish theatre, seems to suggest an almost
theological meditation on the essence of moving images. The Jewish
prohibition of representation and iconoclastic condemnation of idolatry of
images could be considered a secret mystic ground for this live visual
music..."

Playlist:

[ s k o l t z _ k o l g e n ] (Canada):
Ovskii, acoustic pigment in real time (glitch music, b/w bitmap)

BLIND: hc gilje (242.pilots) featuring Kelly (Norway)
(lapjazz, electronic, nato.0+55 performance)

Otolab (Italy) : Duetto.swf (experimental techno, Flash .exe)

Phase (Czech Republic) + aXoltl Corp. (Belgium): Industrial Mix, (jungle,
drum¹n¹bass, visual: film loops mixed with midi-integrated industrial video)

More info:

http://www.roxy.cz
http://www.praguebiennale.org
http://www.dioxyde.net
http://www.nervousvision.com
http://242pilots.org
http://www.otolab.net
http://www.phase.cz

curated by lavinia garulli
Further info: lavinia at flashartonline.com
(subject:improvisual)