Matt Pyke , Advanced Beauty Interview

Advanced Beauty is an ongoing exploration of digital artworks born and influenced by sound, an ever-growing collaboration between programmers, artists, musicians, animators and architects.

The first collection is a series of audio-reactive 'video sound sculptures'. Inspired by synasthesia, the rare, sensory experience of seeing sound or tasting colours, these videos are physical manifestations of sound, sculpted by volume, pitch or structure of the soundtrack.

The films embrace unusual video making processes, the visual programming language Processing, high-end audio analysis and fluid dynamic simulations alongside intuitive responses in traditional cell animation. Each artist was given the same set of parameters to work within; to start, finish and exist within a white space, creating a seamless coherence, all sculptures sharing the same white environment.

Using the 1080p HD format, with 5:1 surround sound, the films transform the screen into a digital canvas, how the minimalism of a single, floating pixel can be as engaging as the maximalism of an intense multicoloured explosion.

Curated by Universal Everything and musician Simon Pyke, Advanced Beauty is an international collaboration, taking in a family of artists from London, Russia, New York, Japan, Buenos Aires, Glasgow to San Francisco.



“Advanced Beauty” is “exploration of digital artworks born and influenced by sound”. What’s the whole objective of this international project?

- The project is a vehicle for exploring deeper into audio-visual animation pushing possibilities of 5:1 surround and 1080 HD. We have collaborated with some amazing people worldwide, who use unorthodox methods to create animation including generative code, programming, architecture software and physics simulations. Our objective is for the work to spread worldwide via DVD, video podcasts, exhibitions, TV screenings and touring with OneDotZero.
What’s the main concept in your videos?

- We wanted a thread to run through every video, each exists in a white virtual gallery space. They are conceived as 'sound sculptures' as opposed to traditional narrative music videos - the visuals are grown from the music, sometimes the music generates the video, sometimes the video grows the music. We are focussed on the idea of minimalist video, how only a tiny pixel can be as engaging, and as screen filled with a billion colours

Do you consider being video art?

- We consider the TV can be seen as a digital canvas, to form video paintings, virtual sculptures or living, breathing expression.

Where do you get the inspiration? What kind of music, video or other arts forms do you seek to inspire your projects?

- We are inspired from everything outside of design; science, cuisine, mathematical patterns, comedians, kids drawings, naive folk art or future technologies.

What kind of programs do you use to create the video sculptures?

- Processing, VVVM, NextLimit fluid simulations, Apple Motion, C++, 3D Studio Max, Houdini....

How is all the creative and editing process ?

- We had a guiding hand in many of the works, but primarily set up the creative parameters which defined the coherence of the project. We invited artists whose work we loved consistently, there was no need for editing.

You link all the nowadays technology: from the ancient art of sculpture until video art on Itunes. Is this the future of art? All together, making a concept like “The Definitely Art”?

- We are interested in working on many surfaces - from pencil on paper to generative screen design. The convergence of media is growing closer each day, and we hope our ideas help bring them together.

Do all the artists involved have met before, live?

- Mostly not, as they come from every corner of the world - russia, argentina, japan, usa, uk, europe....but everyone has a shared visionand enthusiasm for exploring the unknown in video art

Why the decision to release it on DVD? Does video art have market for that?

- DVD is a medium which officialises the product, and consumers understand this as an artefact, Ideally we would release this projectusing digital distribution in full 1080HD - but we are still waiting for the industry to catch up. We also show the work in selected galleries worldwide.

Why the decision to put the videos on vimeo? Do you defend the democratization of art?

- Our motivation was to spread the ideas worldwide, the artists benefit from exposure of their work, it introduces the public to a relatively young strand of art - online shared is vastly more powerful than DVD distribution.

Which is your foresight for the development of Video Art worldwide?

- We are planning more video series, potentially using analog video methods such as stop-motion and cell-animation, and are currently developing new commissions for a digital art gallery in Paris

- thanks! Matt Universal Everything

Miguel Peres

Watch | Advanced Beauty Trailer
Watch | Directed by Universal Everything
Watch | Directed by Karsten Schmidt
Watch | Directed by Robert Seidel

Thank you to Philip Ward @ Universal Everything for all the help getting this interview , and for making the screening in Amsterdam possible.
The 18 sound sculptures presented on the advanced beauty project will be screen full in the Audiopleasures 2nd anniversay in Amsterdam , full and detailed program to present soon.

Olga Mink Interview

Olga Mink works in the fields of new media, live performance, video- and interactive art, exploring new possibilities in digital representation. With a strong emphasis to conceptual approaches, her work crosses boundaries between music, photography, architecture, poetry, nature, dance, public spaces and engaged themes. Her installation Ballet Mechanique explored the idea of physicality in the virtual (projected) environment, whilst Video_matic employed touch screens and online interactive works as part of a permanent installation for a new building. Work has been released on labels internationally, whilst her expansive live performances been seen in Europe, United States and Japan. Her works have been displayed at Tate Britain, Empac New York, Sonar in Spain, and the Grand Canaria Biennial amongst others. She also works as a curator in audiovisual arts and digital media. Mink lives and works in The Netherlands.



1 - Nam June Paik, one of the most important video-artists said “As the glue took over the paint, also the cathode ray tube will replace the canvas”. Do you think that’s what happening in art, nowadays?

I think the screen did replace the canvas, but all is in flux and I see a need for non-screen based arts nowadays. People want to explore works beyond the screen, and make something that is more tangible and human again. There’s a need for more human elements in digital art to identify ourselves with. I think screen-based art will continue to exist merely on the net. However, the need for film and {live} cinematic experiences, will remain to be an important artform.

2. What’s the main concept in your videos? Do you consider being video art?

My video’s contain a wide range of themes and conceptual approaches. I like to explore different kinds of narratives, forms, and context issues. An important aspect in my work is to create a tension between the actual space, the projection and the spectators’ perception. I like to capture one’s focus and create an immersiveness to fully absorb one’s attention and drift into another possible world, to evoke a sensory experience.

3. Where do you get the inspiration? What kind of music, video or other arts forms do you seek to inspire your projects?

I enjoy working with people that explore new boundaries in art, life, music, technology. I am mostly interested in ambient orientated arts, and like to work
with people that are also interested in these fields, wether this is music, art, architecture, ballet, electronics. My work with Scanner has resulted in projects
that explored ideas in nature and digital media. We tried to create a dialogue and response to many digital arts nowadays, that is merely driven by technological and minimal esthetics.

4. How is all the creative and editing process?

I don’t make a distinction between the creative and production process. The creative is embedded in the whole production process, and I prefer to be able to make choices at any time, and to value them as equally important. I prefer having a non-fixed idea to a certain extend. The idea of creating something that already exists and just has be produced doesn’t sound appealing to me. This would bypass the creative exploration which is the core of my practice as an artist..

5. You link all the nowadays technology: video, photography, live performances, installations…Is this the future of Art? All together, making a concept like “The Definitely Art”?

The future of art is now, and as an artist you are shaping the world you live in tomorrow. Mixing hybrid media and working within interdisciplinary art has
been within my interest for years. A creative method involves implementing new ways, ideas and technologies. New Media guru Lev Manovich, explained hybrid media as a fundamental transformation, in his discourse about a “silent revolution”. Media hybridity especially in moving image, occurred from the use of various software applications, in the past decade. Software such as after affects enabled artists to mix all forms of screen based content, to create a new kind of [abstract or visual] narrative. The internet has been a main influence for this too. This idea of ‘remixology’ is a base for new developments and further explorations. Nowadays, there’s a general shift from the virtual to the real world and an unlimited number of challenges are yet to be explored. What major transformation may occur out of this, is an interesting topic to think about, but impossible to predict in advance.

6. You recent release your project “Atlantida”at 2nd Biennial of the Canaries 2009. How was the experience?

Very good, we got to see some exotic and remote places. The Canarian islands are very beautiful and the change of scenery in such a short time was a unique experience. I mean, how often do you get to explore seven islands in seven days? Nevertheless, it has been a week of hard working too. Every day existed of getting up early, driving through mountainy terrains, catching a plane or boat (imagine the last minute stress), hiring a car, checking-in hotels, and finding the best location for filming. Although the trip was well arranged, we still had to sort these things out ourselves, ofcourse. But it has been an amazing opportunity and the results came out very well. At the time we didn’t know wether we would be able to figure out the balloon shots, and our main idea was to use smoke. We wanted to use flairs, but didn’t get permission from the organization as this could cause issues with the local authorities. Luckily the balloons worked out well and the installation has been received as one of the best during the expo!



Watch | Atlantida, Installation at 2nd Biennial of the Canaries 2009

7. Do you prefer to work alone or do you consider more productive working with other artists?

Sometimes working on your own can be very relaxing and totally great. Other times I need to interact with other people, and miss the vibrant interaction you can get from collaborating. If there’s a good flow, something unique can be created out of collaborative projects. It can be easier to push new boundaries and expand on ideas that are beyond the usual. On the downside of things, collaboration can also be limiting, which is something you would want to avoid at any time..

8. Why the decision to put the videos on vimeo and youtube?
Do you defend thedemocratization of art?

I just enjoy sharing what I make, and to use the social network aspect of web2.0. It’s a sign of the time and an opportunity to expand on new ideas and interact with others. It’s a way to communicate, connect, react and interfere with other peers. I hardly submit work to video-screenings, as instead my videos are available on the net. Though, this doesn’t count for live performance or installation based work, which I absolutely love to present in the flesh and could never be fully experienced elsewise.

9. Which is your foresight for the development of Video Art in Europe?

I don’t think any developments are limited to Europe, but my thoughts about this in media- and video art, would be dealing with emergent technology in holography, stereoscopic projection, augmented reality, infrared motion tracking, ambient technology, and ubiquitous computing..

Olga Mink Links

Videology
Vimeo
Myspace
Facebook

Thank you,
Miguel Peres

Sylvain Chauveau Interview

Sylvain Chauveau is a critically acclaimed instrumental music and electronic music artist and composer from Bayonne, France.

Sylvain has done several albums on labels like Type records, Les Disques du Soleil et de l'Acier, Creative Sources and FatCat and his music is minimal, melodic compositions for piano, strings, winds and discreet electronic sounds, with silence as a musical element in itself.

He has played live worldwide and opened for Sigur Ros and played with Christian Fennesz , composes soundtracks for Sébastien Betbeder's movies, especially for the full-length film "Nuage" and also did scores for choreographers (Pierre Rigal / Aurélien Bory, Serge Ricci) and for performances with writers (Mark Z. Danielewski, Félicia Atkinson, Joris Lacoste) in France and abroad.

Sylvain Chauveau plays with the band Arca (with Joan Cambon), 0 (say "zero", with Stéphane Garin, Joël Merah and Maitane Sebastian) and On (with Steven Hess).



"Touching Down Lightly" is your new album with only one track of 47 minutes. I consider that musicians that create long music's are the ones who really know how to make music. Do you share my thought?

That's an interesting point of view, I clearly get what you mean. I used to consider that when a musician composed a very long work, he couldn't do it without a lot of heart and conviction. I thought, for example, Morton Feldman couldn't create a 3 or 4 hour piece without having a lot to put in it. Same for LaMonte Young's incredibly long drones, or an opera by Olivier Messiaen lasting 4 hours and a half. And I had this fantasy of composing a long piece myself. I never really did it, but this time I felt I needed something long, in just one part. "Touching Down Lightly" is improvised music. Anyway, the difference with composition is very slight. This kind of improv, very quiet and extremely slow, is like a composition in real time.

It's not a matter of knowing how to make music. It's more about the need: the need to make a piece that can last and to feel powerful enough to do that while you're performing. And this recording was made with heart and conviction.

How is all the creative process of making a original soundtrack for a movie?

I did that several times, mainly for the movies by french director Sébastien Betbeder. It's a difficult process. But when you like the film, like it happened every time with Sébastien's movies, it's also very inspiring. Usually I read the scenario before it's shot, and we talk about what the music could be. Then they shoot the film, and then they give me the first version, a work version. During this time, they start the editing. That's when I start properly composing, while watching the pictures. I record demos and Sébastien listens to them and tells me what he likes or dislikes, where he could use which music. And when he has all the themes he needs, I go to a recording studio and we play all this with the musicians, with the exact durations needed in the movie scenes.

Your music reminds me Yann Tiersen. What’s your biggest influence, such as musical and cultural level?

I can see the link with Yann Tiersen. Especially for one or two short pieces I've done on my early albums. I have liked very much his music, the first 3 or 4 albums he did. My music is different, more experimental, much slower and quieter. My biggest musical heroes in the past years were probably Morton Feldman and Bernhard Günter. But I don't think you can really hear it in my compositions, can you? I believe that lately I was more influenced by painters I like.

How can art, like abstract and minimalist painting influence your music?

Well, I don't really know. But for example, if I am a musician influenced by another musician, let's say Fennesz, then I will tend to make music that sounds like Fennesz. On the other hand, if I am a musician influenced by Mark Rothko and Philip Guston, my music won't sound like them because they didn't do music. The influence will create something else, a way to think about my work, to deal with forms.

You play several instruments. Do you define yourself as a one-man band?

I would not define myself as an instrument player. I am a kind of "music maker". I use instruments when I need them, usually the piano, the guitar (in the past), and now more and more the voice. But I'm not a performer. I don't really practice and try to learn any instrument. I just play with them, make very simple things. And when the composition is too complex to play, I make someone else perform it. And I never play strings or wind instruments: that's why I tend to have my own team of musicians (Ensemble Nocturne).



Do you believe in luck for success or hard work to achieve want you really want?

It depends on what you call success. Usually, we speak about the public recognition, how many records you sell, how many people come to your shows, how many articles you have in the musical newspapers. I don't know how this stuff comes. Maybe luck can be part of it: the luck to make the good thing at the good place, at the right moment.

As for achieving what you really want, that's what I'm interested in. But I'm not sure hard work is the really the key. It's certainly necessary at some point, but I still have the feeling that the key is the will, the violent envy to create your stuff. When the envy is too strong, it makes you do things, it guides you, it makes you work very hard sometimes, and it can open any door.

Is it Sylvain Chauveau a citizen of the world? Do you feel that way when you are on tour?

I like the idea of world citizenship. I'm not sure the borders on this planet are a good thing. But I can't forget my cultural background. Every time I'm travelling I realize how french I am. It's not that I'm proud or ashamed of it. It's just that I've spend 36 years of my life in France and that is my background, my language - though I can speak fluently English and I can understand a bit Spanish. Now I am happy to live outside of France, in Belgium. It's good to try to see things from outside after a while. It makes one understand the world from a slightly different angle. In the past two years I've been touring in different countries, different continents, and I could realize how the french point of view is reducing. And there is maybe one thing I'm ashamed of: our president is really awful. I really hope the left wing will find a decent leader in the future to beat him. France will lose a lot with Sarkozy as president.

You play with Arca, 0 and On. How do you get time to dedicate to all of these projects?

Most of my time is used for my personal, solo work. I play with Arca, On and 0 when we have the occasion to meet and play altogether. We usually plan working sessions. And I always love playing in those bands, with my good friends. It's all different styles. Arca is closer to rock, or post-rock, but now it's song-based. 0 is a quartet, very free, from experimental ideas to melodic pieces. And On is a duo of abstract improv (prepared guitar and percussion).

What are your future projects? Do you intend to go on a World Tour?

I have been working for two years on a new solo album. The title will be "Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)". It will be out in February 2010 on Type, on vinyl, Cd and download. My vocal will play an important part on it. It's gonna be a turning point in my music, a very important step for me. Very quiet and quite abstract, textures and atmospheres without proper melodies, but in a song format.

No world tour planned. I don't have any agent. I just wait and when promoters contact me to perform somewhere, I go. It all goes through my website: sylvain chauveau

Which is your foresight for the development of Ambient / Electronic / Experimental music in Europe?

It's very hard to tell. Today I can't see any movement lasting. Maybe the diffusion of music goes to fast, with the internet. The day a musician develops a new idea, it's immediately hearable all around the world and many other musicians use that new idea. Everything is immediately absorbed. There is no more identity from Europe or any country or continent. You can enjoy a new recording by a Lebanese improviser via internet, or the day after a Chinese percussion quartet. Where you are from doesn't count anymore, which is probably a good thing. What will make you different in the future is the ideas, because with computers we all have access to the same tools.

sylvain chauveau
Last Fm
MySpace

Watch | Sylvain Chauveau - Never Let Me Down Again by [ Depeche Mode cover ]
Watch | Sylvain Chauveau - Nuage
Watch | Sylvain Chauveau - An Old Friend

mY Indie Soul # 28 , Lee Rosevere Peres Interview

We are very happy and pleased to receive our first guest in 2009 , A interview and mY Indie Soul with Lee Rosevere.

I've came acquaintance with the beautiful drones of Lee i think last year with the release of " Light Years " on the Net label Text Tube.

Is still today one my favorite drone releases , Deathless is smashing , gives you the idea of time travel , like ur floating inside a bubble that is driven by a minimal and repetitive impulse .

Im always curiose to know more about musicians/artists and their worlds , what's their motivations and favorite records , so with the help of Miguel Peres , Audiopleasures first collaborator with invited Lee to spend a few hours answering Miguel Peres questions and making is Indie Soul.



Lee’s music is usually pretty weird. A lot of his work is based in sample-based and avant-garde experiments. He’s also composed instrumental themes for websites and radio programs, and had music featured in podcasts and short films.

He works professionally in radio, and has won a New York Award in sound design. Lee has released a series of Creative Commons albums (free downloads) on his own label Happy Puppy Records, and contributed tracks to Comfort Stand, WM Recordings and Oddio Overplay.

1. Where do you get the inspiration, where do you search new sounds for your music?

I’m usually inspired to create as a means of distraction. I find that the world in general today is becoming more and more crazy and hard to live with, so getting lost in a musical idea or project helps keep my mind busy and off the negative side of humanity.
I look for sounds everywhere. Almost no sound is off limits, especially when it can be electronically manipulated (as I work) to turn it into something unrecognizable from it’s original source.
Similar to John Cage’s philosophy that anything can be music, I like to use sound in a musical context. Tones and notes can be derived from traditional non-musical instruments and it creates endless possibilities.

2. You have written several albums for free download. How was the whole process and why the decision to release them freely?

I’ve been recording music for about 20 years now, always done as a form of entertainment for myself. After a while, I realized that it was beginning to pile on my shelf, and it would be shame if no-one else heard it except me. It was never important for me to make money at music, that’s not why I do it, but I also knew that I would never sell any music because nobody knew who I was or what I did. So the obvious solution was to make it available to anyone who wanted to hear it, which I’ve done for the last 3 years.

3. How do you define yourself?

Well, I suppose generous, imaginative and a bit weird.

4. Have you ever consider explore other art forms beside music?
Seriously considering, no. I enjoy painting, but I don’t have the materials or the finances to explore that (it’s more expensive than music is) and I’m not very good with a camera but at least digital photography allows all sorts of experimentation without costs like film processing (which wouldn’t be worth it).

5. How are you dealing with all of this fame, working in so many projects?

I don’t believe that fame and I have anything in common. I work on lots of projects because I have a scattered attention, but I also work quickly whenever I get really involved in something. I try to finish everything I start, unless I lose inspiration and then it probably wouldn’t have turned out good anyway.

6. What are your future projects?

None at the moment – I usually just go day to day and do things as I think of them.

7. What your principal influences are, so much at musical like cultural level?

I really respect innovators and original thinkers in music as well as everyday life. I also respect people who try to make the world a better place in whatever way they can. People like Walt Disney, and Frank Capra are two, but sadly I don’t think we’ll see anyone else like them again.
There is so much despair in every day life, people need a message that makes them feel good and happy. If I’m depressed, the last thing I want is to see and hear something that just reminds me how rotten, sick and corrupted the world is. I already know that – I’d rather be shown how good humans can be to each other. People are influenced by what they see, negative and positive.

8. Each track of your album gives an idea for a movie. In which short-films do you participated?

Thanks! I like to mix manipulated music as well as sound effects, which is probably what gives it that feel.
The short films I’ve been involved in were not with my direct participation; they were produced by people I’ve never met who liked something in my music and wanted to use part of it. One was a comedy short and the other was a documentary on a glass-blower.

9. Which part of Lee Rosevere’s soul is in his music?

All of it, I guess. I think that a persons’ soul is evident in everything they do, consciously or not.

10. Which is your foresight for the development of Ambient / Electronic / Experimental music worldwide?

I think it’s developed lot already – since computer software has become more available and cheaper, there’s been a whole new generation of “laptop composers” who re-define the genre into their own style which is great, but whenever something becomes more available, it has the danger of over-saturating itself and becoming pointless.
I don’t really listen to a lot of what other ambient/electronic artists are doing, except the masters that invented the genre like Cage, Reich, Eno, Riley, etc. I also listen to more conventional music, which isn’t very evident in my own music


Lee Rosevere
mY Indie Soul # 28
Download | Listen

1. Joe Jackson - No Pasaran

Being a Joe fan for a long time, I've loved his classical works as much as his pop music, mostly because I discovered all of his catalog at a time where I didn't have any pre-conceived notions about what he *should* be doing.

2. Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Starbird

This was one of the first instances of weird time-signatures I heard when I was 5 years old and I thought the record was skipping. When I realized it was supposed to be like that, it blew me away that music could sound like that, and then tried to play like it.

3. Brian Eno & Harold Budd - Late October

Not only is Brian Eno a wonderful musician, his ideas about culture are smart and insightful. This gorgeous pairing of Brian with minimalist Harold Budd is beyond description, but it's no surprise that it spawned its own genre of music.

4. Bruce Haack - OK Robot

Canadian Bruce Haack was a childrens entertainer foremost (even appearing on Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood), but also an inventor of his own musical instruments and recording techniques. Unfortunately, he never really caught on and died in the 80s, bitter and broke without the respect he deserved.

5. Michael Snow - Forces Of Change (excerpt)

Another Canadian, Michael Snow has been playing jazz since the 40s. But he's also infamous for his avant-garde films, sculptures and paintings, and never doing any of it conventionally. Music that challenges any form of conventionality has always been a real interest of mine.

6. FM - Sofa Back Rush

was a big influence and love of mine when I was growing up, but so was FM, a band that were good friends with the guys in Rush and just as talented. FM were a premiere prog-rock band in the late 70s, but went for a more commercial sound in the 80s. Also plagued constantly by record company troubles, their catalog is sadly out of print, but the band are working on getting it out again.

7. David Bowie - Art Decade

It's no mistake that my favorite Bowie album is Low, produced by Brian Eno. This was my first introduction to the Eno sound.

8. Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians (excerpt)

I really got into making more serious music when I first heard Steve Reich. The rhythms in his music are so complex and are easily dismissed as boring or simple. Plus, his phase experiments were also very influential on me.

9. Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question

I'm still learning about Ives, but I find his music fascinating and the rules he constantly breaks, while inventing new ones. Some of the most interesting classical music ever made.

10. John Cage - Williams Mix

Any one that can make a career like Cage has my respect and constant curiosity for sheer originality and audacity. I always enjoy his art, even if I don't understand it. But I did learn that not only can you use radios, bricks and cartridges to make serious music, but it's fun too.

11. Frank Zappa - The Black Page

The musicians that played Zappa's music were awesome, in ever sense of the word. Writing music that treats the traditional rock band lineup the same as a classical orchestra without the pomposity that usually goes with that, "The Black Page" is just one of the many examples of how you can write pretty, but complicated compositions.

12. Pat Metheny - Tell Her You Saw Me

I've known of Metheny's music for years, but only now am I sitting down and really immersing myself in his catalog. There's so much to listen to; a truly gifted guitarist and songwriter with a talent for melodies that send shivers down my spine. I first loved this song when I heard it with vocals on his album with Anna Marie-Jopek, but hearing the original orchestrated version is another revelation.

13. Aaron Copland - Story Of Grovers

Corner Copland is one of the most American sounding composers (in a good way) - and this composition from Our Town, evokes such feelings of melancholy and sadness, but is heart-breakingly beautiful at the same time. ***

Lee Rosevere Last Fm
Happy Puppy Records
Light Years - Tube 112