Presentation and Work Residency: Else Olsen S.
Published
In the former textile mill Salhus Tricotagefabrik there are heavy and large machines, but also tiny and fragile ones. Retro high-tech in cassette format with programming for automated knitting machines. Old technology meets new technology through a sonographic compositional work by Else Olsen S., as the sounds from the machines will be the orchestra and material in the work, which will be the music of the performance.
Welcome to presentation of work-in-progress at BEK Friday January 31 at 16.30
BEK has been professional consultant in the project, amongst others in relation with recording technique and technical presentation. The presentation is the result of three weeks’ Work Residency at BEK. Else has done composition work, where all the audio material from the recording has been studied, cut up, glued back together and formed in the studio, in dialogue with the dancers and their choreography.
Masker
Masker (Masks) is a site specific cross-disciplinary art project, with The Norwegian Knitting Industry Museum as its core. This will be a new work with dance/performing arts, text and new composed music, by the dance trio from Western Norway No®way Home, in collaboration with scenographer/costume designer Silje Sandodden Kise.
The main preformance will be made especially for the museum, but versions that can be performed elsewhere will be made.
Sonography: A sonograph can be compared to a photograph. The difference is that while a photograph is an imprint of something that the eye can see, the sonograph is an imprint of something the ear can hear. It may be sounds from e.g. a place in nature or from a particular situation, or the sound of rooms and machines, as in this project. Just as photography can sit together, side by side, be manipulated or made into a collage, sonography can also be processed in similar compositional processes. In the same way, sonography is also an important way to preserve the memory of a room, a culture or a history.
About Else Olsen S.
Else Olsen S. is a composer, musician and teaching artist, educated from The Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH), and through studies with the American composers Pauline Oliveros (1932-1916) and Christian Wolff, and Kjell Samkopf (N). She works within the experimental genre, and mixes with other genres, such as e.g. Norwegian chapel house music and folk music. Extended instrumental techniques, toy instruments and prepared piano are an important part of her practice. Her doctoral work, from the NMH and The Grieg Academy, carries the title Open form – An Expanded Performer´s Role (2015). The project is about the interpretation and performance of works with unconventional notation, such as text or graphic scores.
Portrait photo: Tonje Li