BEK at Ekko — Bergen Electronic Music and Art Festival
Published
*Concert:
Flø, Ratkje, Rishaug, Tafjord «Analogikk» (N)*
Clear your schedule and mark this date in your calendars. Why, you ask? Well: Four of Norway’s most important composers in the last decade will perform together on this special night. Asbjørn Flø is behind a series of sound installations, traditional compositions and explorations of the possibilities of electronic music – at home and abroad. While colleague Alexander Rishaugveien for many years has operated at the intersection of glitch, contemporary music and ambient, with album releases on Asphodel and Smalltown Supersound.
Hild Sofie Tafjord and Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje has been experimenting with noise music and improvisation in Fe-mail and spunk, but also pushed musical boundaries individually. In 2001, Kjelstrup Ratkje was awarded the Arne Nordheim Composer Award, and she has contributed in over 70 albums but is best known for his improvised voice art.
The four meet to perform Flø’s piece «Analogikk» based on an «archaeological» and self made electronic musical instrument consisting of analog circuits. The music will combine compositional ideas from contemporary music’s great pioneers, such as Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis, but will also take on the inspiration of modern particle physics and the romantic landscape paintings. Exactly how it will sound, however, no one knows until it is started.
The piece «Analogikk» is a new commission ordered by BEK and produced in collaboration with BEK.
Meidell & Nygaard ‘Dialogues’
Earlier this year guitarist and composer Stephan Meidell released the album “Cascades” (Hubro), where he improvised music by interacting with various rooms in Bergen. Architecture, reverberation and temperature affected the compositions he created on the electric guitar.
During this year’s EKKO Meidell takes his concept one step further; This time, he also brings a computer, for a work called “Dialogues”. Accompanying him is the multimedia sculptor Birk Nygaard, who will create a visuals to the music, based on signals from Meidell’s machine. This time the dialogue will therefore assume analog, digital, visual and musical forms.
The piece «Dialogues» is a new commission ordered by BEK and produced in collaboration with BEK.
Both commissioned works are supported by Art Council Norway. The premiere concerts are supported by Bergen kommune.
*Festival exhibition:
«Dialogues Prologue» Stephan Meidell & Birk Nygaard*
Nygaard and Meidell explores the intersection between fragility and precision – both aesthetically and technically – and the unpredictability that occurs when the analog is controlled digitally. In this installation the multimedia sculptor Birk Nygaard exhibits two wall clocks, programmed to interact with music from Meidell. The work is commissioned by BEK, and is performed in its entirety in concert format last Saturday during the festival.
“Mayhem Machine» Marieke Verbiesen
“Mayhem Machine” is an audiovisual instrument that allows one to compose, play and destroy by using its image plane, and then designing the new narratives by adopting sound, light, physical objects and animated video. The work is inspired by the “Instruments of the Future” by Giles Holst in “Poeme Electronique” at the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958. The sounds are composed of Bærtur by Ketil Mosnes. The project is co-produced by BEK.
Third work at the exhibition is “A Voyage to Arcturus” by Two Ruins
The exhibition is produced by Ekko in collaboration with Lydgalleriet, and supported by BEK.
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EKKO FESTIVAL NO. 11
OCTOBER 17th – 25th
ØSTRE – HOUSE FOR SOUND ART AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC IN BERGEN
The EKKO festival for electronic music and art kicks off at Østre and at Korskirken on October 17th and lasts over two weekends until the 25th. This year’s programme includes Nils Frahm’s explorations of the pianos sonic possibilities, Future Brown’s clash of genres, Shackleton’s resonant drones, Andreas Tilliander’s project TM404, and 80s synth pop from Finland by Jaakko Eino Kalevi. And Dj Harvey.
EKKO is known for it’s artistic profile who pushes the traditional boundaries, and the fine balance between music, art, and visuals. Every year the festival presents a piece of music specially commissioned for the festival. This year’s commission work is signed Biosphere and Skatebård, two pioneers who have worked in quite different corners of the Norwegian electronic music scene, and belong to their own generation, but with mutual respect and admiration for the art and for each other’s work.
The festival programme represents a mix between both local and international acts, and between more established artists as well as some up and coming artists.
LINE-UP:
DJ HARVEY (UK)
NILS FRAHM (TY)
BIOSPHERE & SKATEBÅRD (EKKO COMMISSION WORK)
FUTURE BROWN: FATIMA AL QADIRI, NGUZUNGUZU & J-CUSH (US)
SHACKLETON (UK)
FLOATING POINTS (UK)
LUKE ABBOTT (UK)
EVIAN CHRIST (UK)
JAAKKO EINO KALEVI (FIN)
SUZANNE CIANI & NEOTANTRIK (UK/US)
WALLS/ORAM «SOUND HOUSES» (UK)
TARJEI NYGÅRD & ARE FOSS
RROSE (US)
SILJE NES «MIRRORED/MIRROR»
DJ CANDLE IN THE WIND (LIVE) (FIN)
ADMIR KENAN & GRAY CHALK
CAKEWALK & BLANK BLANK
FLØ, RATKJE, RISHAUG, TAFJORD «ANALOGIKK» (BEK COMMISSION WORK)
TM404 (S)
MEIDELL & NYGAARD «DIALOGUES» (BEK COMMISSION WORK)
DRIPPIN
PANDREAS
ANDREW CHRISTOPHER
U-TEQ «ELEKTRODYSSE»
ØDE ØYVIND
LYSGAARD
EKKO DJS
FAXVAAG & VJ BN
FILMS:
«THE DELIAN MODE»
«I DREAM OF WIRES»
«FANTASTIC MAN»
FESTIVAL EXHIBITION:
TWO RUINS «A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS»
STEPHAN MEIDELL & BIRK NYGAARD «DIALOGUES PROLOGUE»
MARIEKE VERBIESEN «MAYHEM MACHINE»
THE PROGRAMME IS PRESENTED IN COLLABORATION WITH LYDGALLERIET, DOC LOUNGE AND ØSTRE.
For complete artist presentations and the playing schedule visit www.ekko.no
Gallery from Ekko no. 10 on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/107204461@N02/
Ticket information
Buy tickets here: www.ekko.ticketco.no
Day pass on days with two venues:
Østre & Korskirken, Friday, Oct 24th: 300,- + fee
Day passes at Østre:
Friday Oct 17th: 280,- + fee
Saturday Oct 18th: 280,- + fee
Wednesday Oct 22nd: 150,- + fee
Thursday Oct 23rd: 90,- + fee
Friday Oct 24th: 280,- + fee
Saturday Oct 25th: 280,- + fee
Single concerts/ concerts packages
(some early night concerts, not including club programme from 21/22.30):
Nils Frahm,
Korskirken, Friday Oct 24th: 250,- + fee.
Suzanne Ciani + Neotantrik, and Stephan Meidell, Birk Nygaard «Dialogues»,
Østre, Saturday Oct 25th: 150,- + fee.
The exhibition opening plus Flø, Ratjke, Rishaug, Tafjord «Analogikk» on opening night Friday Oct 17th (18:30 – 21:00) is for free.