L4 Students to present work as part of Soundcamp 2018 | May 5-6

The 5th edition of soundcamp will be taking place on the 5-6 May at Stave Hill Ecological Park in London. DMSA Course Leader Maria Papadomanolaki (co-curator of soundcamp and member of the SoundCamp collective) will be bringing a group of L4 students to the event. The students will have the opportunity to develop and present a project as part of the event in collaboration with Tom Fox of Vulpestruments/Hackoustic.

More info about the event

The fifth edition of Soundcamp will take place on the 5-6 May to coincide with the International Dawn Chorus Day.

During the event, Stave Hill Ecological Park becomes an audio observatory where visitors can
camp out overnight in the Stave Hill meadow and take part in a varied program of arts and ecology activities including:

Ecological survival games with Animal Diplomacy Bureau
Live 24 hour broadcast of daybreak around the earth
New sounds from Amazonia by Izabela Dluzyk
Site Specific interventions and installations by Alexandra Spence and Brigitte Hart, Tom Fox with students from University of Brighton’s Digital Music and Sound Arts course.
After dark performance by Noah Angell
Analogue photography: pinholes and cyanotypes with Ky Lewis.
Dawn chorus walk with David Darrell-Lambert, John Cadera, Richard Page-Jones
Workshops on DIY broadcasting, mixing, pit fired pottery, foraging, site tours, bat walk

Storytelling for Earthly Survival with Donna Haraway by Fabrizio Terranova

Food from Leon Lewis. Beer from Clarkshaws. Cake from The Dancing Baker. Coffee from the Lazy Coffee Van.

FULL PROGRAM TBA SHORTLY: http://soundtent.org/soundcamp_camp.html

Visiting is free, but please consider making a donation.
Camping is free for children. Adults need to book a camping ticket each.
Sign up for workshops on site.

Pt 4: Other Voices // Guoda Dirzyte & Maja Mihalik

Graduate Monthly
14 St George’s Place, BN1 4GB
Friday 27th April, 7 – 8pm
Sound Performance // Guoda Dirzyte & Maja Mihalik
FREE

Alumni Guoda Dirzyte (LT) and Maja Mihalik (H) will be performing as part of Graduate Monthly series of events titled ‘Other Voices’.

More info:https://www.facebook.com/events/188840335250500/

Más Hangok is a collaborative experimental music project between Guoda Dirzyte (LT) and Maja Mihalik (H). Guoda plays a Japanese heritage inspired handmade instrument that is a crossover between the traditional Japanese lute also known as the shamisen and the western cello. Her instrumental experimentations are accompanied by Maja’s eerie vocals that are inspired by Hungarian folk traditions. This improvised collaboration creates a cultural dialogue between the elements of Japanese heritage, traditional Hungarian folk music, and experimental percussive and plucked music techniques that provides unique sonic experience, subverting the hierarchy of traditional western 12-tonal musical system.

Guoda Dirzyte is a Lithuanian-born experimental musical instruments designer, composer and sound artist. Guoda’s work is mainly orientated towards exploring world music and sound culture. It focuses on the approach to life and communication rather than cultural industry, and critically examines the Eurocentric approach towards musical culture traditions.

https://www.guodadirzyte.com/

Maja Mihalik’s work is lead by curiosity and playfulness with an awareness towards the ethical implications of creation as a process as well as an outcome. She deconstructs issues of cultural heritage, history, time, biodiversity, technology versus nature and synesthesia as well as waste, recycling and object permanence. Scarcely using traditional instruments, Maja opts for the more experimental, fabricated sounds of field recordings and non-synchronous Foley.

http://www.graesound.com/

Borderline Festival 2018

Maria Papadomanolaki will be performing with Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner) as part of Borderline Festival in Athens on the 21st of April 2018.

Does it make sense to talk about borders in music? How can you fence in sound, a physical phenomenon that travels through solids, liquids and gases alike? Can we get to grips with something that’s in a state of constant flux, with what dominates the here and now?

Starting out with these questions, Borderline invites us to surrender to the infinitude of sound and experience live music free of barriers and compartmentalization. Song and noise, composition and improvisation, live dj sets and sound installations, talks and other activities at the 8th iteration of the Athenian festival that continues to support experimentation, new collaborations and sonic quests of every sort. At the OCC and beyond.

More info: http://www.sgt.gr/eng/SPG2023/

DMSA Feature: Jade Gunner (Y1 Student)

Jade Gunner is the first of our first year students to contribute her thoughts to our features series. Jade’s entusiasm for experimentation has allowed her to create some fascinating work as part of the course but also outside it as it is clearly documented on her soundcloud page.

DMSA: Three important words that represent you as a creative person?

JG: Unique, Unafraid and Experimental!

DMSA: When did you start working with sound and music?

JG: I have always been interested in Sound and music throughout my life, I’ve always been fascinated by how it’s made. When i was 14 I started to learn guitar, then later on moved onto the ukulele. In college I studied creative Media Production, and started working with digital music/sound design through that. The project I did that made me realise I wanted to do this course was removing all the Sound from a game clip and re creating all the atmospheric music, Sound design, ADR and Foley. I feel in love with it from there.

DMSA: What made you choose the course and in what ways has the course supported or helped you so far to develop creatively?

JG: I chose this course as I was looking around for courses that focused on experimental music and working with sound. This course looked perfect for me, and when I went to an open day I realised it had everything i was looking for. I have been given so many opportunities to be creative, which is what i wanted. I have been able to do so much more than I imagined studying here so far, from learning how to use different studio set ups, Surround Sound, how to make atmospheric sound and Sound in Space. I am very excited with more boundaries I can push with my creativity!

DMSA: What are your plans for the near future? projects, events, visions

JG:I want to expand my portfolio more and create different styles of digital music. I am also looking for different artists from other courses that I could collaborate with, for either music purposes or sound design/art. I have also been very interested to visit the event: Splitting The Atom, as I know they do experimental music nights there which would been brilliant to experience.

Listen to more sounds from Jade via her soundCloud.

Maria Papadomanolaki to participate in Tuned City Messene 2018

DMSA course leader and senior lecturer will be participating in this year’s Tuned City Messene 2018.

The event asks questions about listening and politics and has invited 50 international artists to work with the site and produce original works in response to it.

Tuned City’s previous milestones Berlin 2008, Tallinn 2011, and Brussels 2013 used to take place in central European metropolises. This year, Tuned City visits Ancient Messene May 31st – June 3rd and seeks out the exemplary ‘ideal city’, the ancient Greek polis.

‘The urban landscape of Messene was constructed in the Early Hellenistic era, according to certain architectural and town-planning principles of spatial organization, which reflected the political and social values of the period applied to the demands of this programmatic city founded by the Thebans in 369 B.C. on the south slopes of mount Ithome. The city was famous for its mighty fortification walls, the monumentality of its public buildings and the Hippodamian town-plan. The cityscape preserves evidence related to its successive constructional phases in the course of time from the 4th century BC to the 14th AD. The character of the landscape is defined and transformed by human activities and ideologies; it is a cultural product subject to constant re-interpretation.’ – Petros Themelis, director of the excavations

The archaeological site and active excavation with all it’s layers of history is the ideal place to reflect about ‘city as a construct‘ and explore the sensual aspects of space as well as social and political dimensions of the city.

What do we project on a site like this? How do we trace and preserve history and how does this shape contemporary and future culture identities? What lays underneath and in between the monumentalized obvious findings? How can we decode sedimented memories? What is the difference between local and distant, past and present modes of memory? How can we access or activate different modes of perception?

Listening seems passive, but it is an activity, a ‘silent production’, involving translation, decoding, abstraction, improvisation, the use of memory to recognize and connect elements from other things heard, subconscious filtering… The acoustic world surrounds us like the fabric of architecture in an urban city environment. Listening is a constant interaction.
Under this particular contingency, sound suggests a form of negotiation, listening partakes action, and hearing is always more than a simple perceiving of sound by the ear. With a focus on hearing’s emplacement and the pronounced situatedness of listening, Tuned City explores the ways in which oscillations enact a sense of place that also senses us back.
Each day of the proceedings will be focused around a central theme with the following provisional titles: Listening Politics, Media Matter, Spectral Ambience

Sound artists, performers and researchers meet for two weeks in the ancient place to establish a dialogue between the ruins that once hosted a vibrant city to be inspired by it’s conception and history, traces and findings and the special atmosphere. Questioning it’s proper function, and the different definitions of what an ideal city was and should be, the works range from sound installations, walks, lectures, concerts and participatory events.
Tuned City is going to listen underneath the surface and in between the obvious findings. In a weekend long event, the ancient Greek city of Messene will be transformed in to a vast platform for artistic production and presentation, discussion and intermediation of sound art and music in public spaces through a variety of site specific formats in a direct interrelation with the local context and a vital exchange with a local and international audience.

The invited artist will all present new commissioned works, among the confirmed artist and researchers are:

Petros G.Themelis (GR) / Savina Yannatou (GR) / Dimitris Tigkas (GR) / agf – Antye Greie Ripatti (DE/FI) / Yannis Kozantzas (GR) / Kosmas Koteas (GR) / Justin Bennett + Roelf Toxopeus – BMB con (NL) / noid (AT) / Gilles Aubry (CH/DE) / Nathalie Mba Bikoro (GA) / Hanna Hartman (SE/DE) / Dimitris Plantzos (GR) / Shannon Mattern (US) / Caitlin De Silvey (GB) / Douglas Kahn (AUS) / Eric Lewis (CA) / John Grzinich (US/EST) / Jens Brand (DE) / Raviv Ganchrow (US/IL/NL) / Els Viaene (BE) / Mario de Vega (MX) / Yann Leguay (BE) / Maria Papadomanolaki (GR/GB) / Michael Gallagher (GB) / Will Schrimshaw (GB) / Sylvain Perrot (FR) / Aggeliki Poulou (GR) / Marinos Koutsomichalis (GR) / Cevdet Erek (TR) / Steve Bates (CA) / ILIOS (GR) / Nikos Veliotis (GR) / Coti K (GR) / Martin Howse + (UK/D) + shiftregister / Marc-Alexandre Reinhardt & Eric Mattson (CA) / Vicky Bisbiki (GR) / Alexandros Drymonitis (GR) / Panos Amelides (GR) / Eleni Kavouki (GR) / Yiorgis Sakellariou (GR) / Stelios Giannoulakis (GR) / Rene Rissland (D) / Florian Tuercke (D) / Franziska Windisch (D) / Fernando Godoy (CL) / Nicolas Spencer (CL) / Christian Espinoza (CL) / Barbara Gonzales (CL) / Pablo Saavedra Arevalo (CL) and many more …

DMSA Alumni Ben Hall to present work in Festival ZERO1, La Rochelle, France

DMSA graduate Ben Hall was invited in Festival ZERO1 in La Rochelle, France to present ‘Threshold’, an audiovisual installation he created as part of his final degree project.

‘Threshold’ challenges the audience’s perception with a series of cross-sensory interactions between unusual sounds of frequencies on the threshold of human perception and computer generated visuals.

ZERO1 is an annual international festival in La Rochelle, France focusing on audiovisual digital arts. This year it takes place on 28/03-01/04. More info.

No Hollows and No Projections: Part 2

No Hollows and No Projections: Part 2
Monday 19th March 2018 | 6-8pm | Performance Studio

No Hollows and No Projections: Part 2 is a workshop led by Ingrid Plum exploring composition for ensemble performance, deep listening exercises, sonic meditations, improvisation and extended vocal technique following the teachings of Pauline Oliveros and Meredith Monk as well as a wealth of techniques gathered from other teachers and traditions around the world. In Part 2 we will review some techniques and also look at compositional methods for working with listening and performance using the voice as our instrument, with a focus on ensemble performance.

This workshop is suitable for all levels of experience and is best suited to those with an interest in contemporary composition, sounding the voice, sound art, experimental music and sonic meditation, but previous practice in those fields is not necessary. Learn a range of listening exercises to benefit production and performance skills along with breathing and vocal exercises with a focus on deep listening and harmony, involving discussion and working with the natural voice to develop confidence, plus compositional exercises for ensemble performance.

About Ingrid Plum

‘Gorgeously atmospheric vocal techniques woven around field recordings & electronics’ – The Guardian

Plum uses her voice with extended technique, improvisation, field recordings and electronics, to create layered soundscapes, spoken word and songs. Having performed and exhibited installation sound art and visual art since 2002, and studied with Meredith Monk, she creates work that sits between sound art, improvisation, multi-media installation, neo-classical and contemporary Nordic folk music.

www.ingridplum.com

International Women’s Day Special

Digital Music and Sound Arts doesn’t mean a men-only club: we support equal participation to the course by male and female artists and producers; an aim that is still difficult to achieve as female students often either choose more safe pathways or are not confident enough to choose a creative sound course.

It needs to be said that some of our most exceptional work in this course has been created by female students and some of our notable alumni are female who hold competitive posts in the field. We want to make our students feel empowered through the course to explore their unique creative perspectives, to take risks, to feel inspired and to be self-driven.

In celebration of International Womens Day, we would like to use this space to precent some of the work produced by our students and alumni which we feel give a well informed perspective of the breadth of creative outputs that the students have developed over the years. There are of course many notable student works missing from this feature and we hope to be able to bring it to the foreground in another occassion in the near future!

We begin with Jade Gunner who is a student currently in her first year in the course. Jade’s ‘Watercolour Spaceship’ is a fascinating exploration of colour, texture and timbre reminiscent of expressionist painting.

Merging music with dance as well as other forms of art and media is something that we encourage our students to do as part of their learning process. Aki Purser is a student currently in the third year of the course who has been developping an intersting and unique body of audiovisual work. Her piece I, Omega encapsulates the intensity of her work combining contemporary dance aesthetics, electronic collage and experimental visuals.

Olivial Louvel, currently in her second year in our course, is exceptional in creating fascinating synapses Facross voice, computer music and digital narrative. You can enjoy her work in situ at the Roayl Pavilion Gardens via the ReHear audiowalk.

'My Crown' by Olivia Louvel from Cat Werk Imprint on Vimeo.

Rebecca Davis aka Ecka Mordecai is the artist behind our beautiful banner but also an alumni of the course. Ecka, currently a freelance artist, cellist and curator, has developed a subtle yet texturally layered palette of sounds, images, objects and actions while studying in the course. Sand:blink is a wonderful audiovisual experience into her unique world of microsounds and textures.

Guoda Diržytė is an experimental music instruments designer, composer and sound artist living between the UK and Lithuania. A recent graduate from our course, Guoda received the Nagoya (Partner University, Japan) Award of Excellence for her excellent piece Kokon Dansetsu Ma [古今 伝説 間] which she developped during a residency in Nagoya.

Beth Chesser is an artist experimenting with sound, noise and music and how they work combined with moving image and new media. ‘Enso’ is her final degree piece for our course, a beautifu stop motion animation film.

Amanda Brooks is a musician, composer and sound artist currently in the second year of our course. She is the lead singer of the band Undercover Agends and her work has been featured in Lewes Light Festival, ReHear Audio Walk (Brighton Digital Festival 2017) and more recently in a fantastic ‘Christmas’ compilation entitled ‘View from a hill’ by the eclectic label Linear Obsessional.

Last week’s DMSA feature presented the work of currenty third year student Jasmyn Bloch. Jasmyn’s powerful mix of voice, femininity and electronics is beautifully demonstrated in her piece Alter, a celebration of the feminine and of women and a great way to end this feature!

DMSA Feature: Jasmyn Bloch (Y3 Student)

This month’s feature welcomes third year student Jasmyn Bloch, a classiclally trained singer with an electronic music twist who through her explorations in our course developed new and engaging pathways of addressing issues such as voice, embodiment, femininity and the emotional affect of sound and music. Her upcoming multimedia installation entitled ‘FEMPORIS’ will be exhibited at this year’s degree show.

DMSA: Three important words that represent you as a creative person
JB: Feminine, intimate, emotional 

DMSA: When did you start working with sound and music?
JB: I started working with sound at a very young age, experimenting with all sorts of different instruments, but nothing really stuck. My true musical beginnings started when I found my passion for Classical Singing; this was the portal through which I found what sound, and especially voice, meant to me and what it could communicate to others. I remember being gob smacked the first time I sang in front of an audience, because by the end of my performance a lot of the audience were crying. I always knew music effected my emotions deeply, but to see others react so vividly to something I had sung was a turning point, I knew then I had to work with my voice and my emotions.

DMSA: In what ways has the DMSA course supported or help you to develop into who you are today creatively and professionally?
JB: The DMSA course opened my eyes to a lot of experimental, more artistic ways of approaching music. Before this course I was well versed in more mainstream electronic music, but had no idea of the plethora of ways music and sound can be used, creatively and powerfully, to evoke emotions and create statements. During my time here I believe I have created projects that I will continue to work on well past my graduation, but also planted seeds of ideas for my future work and concepts.

DMSA: What are your plans for the near future? projects, events, visions
JB: I am currently working on a multimedia sound installation called Femporis, which is a conceptual womb piece that will be a part of the Brighton University Degree Show this June. This piece is an exploration into the soundscape of the womb, but also considers the concepts of safety, nurturing and rebirth. I hope to continue down this vein of feminine works and create a trilogy of pieces that are focused on the female body and voice. Post University I plan to create a platform for young female artists in Brighton, a website and bi-monthly exhibition space, where they can show their work and be a part of a supportive collective, showing female sound and artworks in a unified space. 

More info:
http://jasmynbloch.weebly.com/

Projection Mapping Masterclasses with Rafael Vartanian (DMSA Alumni)

We are happy to have DMSA Alumni back to lead two masterclasses on Projection Mapping. Rafael graduated from the course in 2016 and has received the Honourable Mention Award for his final project ANTHROPOCENE.

Rafael will be introducing our L4 students to the art of projection mapping on the 7th of February and our L5/L6 students on the 8th.

The full programme for each day can be dowloaded in the links below

DMSA_L4_7Feb2018_Schedule
DMSA_L5L6_8Feb2018_Schedule