Sonic Acts 2001 - The Art of Programming

[marjolein at v2.nl]

Paradiso, Amsterdam; Royal Academy of the Visual Arts, The Hague
Thursday 6th, Friday 7th & Monday 10th of December

The eighth edition of Sonic Acts, an international festival for electronic 
sound and visuals will take place on the 6th, 7th and 10th of December. 
This year the festival theme is The Art of Programming with conferences in 
the daytime and a range of performances in the evenings.
The Secretary of State for Culture, Rick van der Ploeg will open the 
conference in Paradiso on the 6th of December.

Conference
For the last 50 years, scientists and IT-ers have been occupied with the 
applications of New Media, whilst artists have constantly experimented with 
the aesthetic possibilities of electronica. The Sonic Acts Conference is 
aimed at artists working in the field of new media, adapting and 
customising software to avoid the constrictions of commercial programmes. 
Artists the whole world over are developing new creative software for sound 
and visuals. Several artists and experts in this area will focus on these 
new developments and their artistic resources during the conference. There 
will be lectures by Thecia Schiphorst (Canada), Robin Rimbaud a.k.a. 
Scanner (GB), and several representatives from the well-respected research 
unit CAiiA-STAR (GB) including Dr. Michael Punt & Prof. Roy Ascott.
The international speakers will appear in Paradiso on the 6th & 7th of 
December. On Monday the 10th of December the Conference in The Hague will 
feature predominantly Dutch speakers including Remco Schaa (UvA), Arthur 
Elsenaar (Frank Mohr Institute) and Paul Berg (Institute of Sonology).

Performances
The evening and night programmes on the 6th and 7th of December feature a 
wide selection of performances.

Until recently, electronic music was dominated by simple dance beats. This 
was largely due to the fact that in the more primitive programmes, rhythm 
and tempo were easy to manipulate. Thanks to the development of new 
multidimensional software, new musical genres have emerged, with the more 
subtle elements of melody, atmosphere and harmonies playing a greater role. 
The result is a much more flexible, sculptural sound. Several exponents of 
this new music will perform in the evening programming.

New technological possibilities have also speeded up the development of 
visuals. VJs and visual artists are now able to produce their own images, 
whereas in the past they were much more limited to the mixing of existing 
material. Real-time sound-image connection is now also an option. There are 
an increasing amount of collaborations between visual artists and musicians 
resulting in a more intense connection between music and visuals.

Objects
The Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague is organising a Sonic Acts 
exhibition of artworks featuring a strong connection with sound, such as 
soundscapes, sonic sculpture and 'sound-machines'. The exhibition will be 
opened on the 10th of December by Frans de Ruiter, director of the Royal 
Conservatory in The Hague, and is open until the 14th of December.

For more information on the festival: www.sonicacts.com


December 6 Location: Paradiso

Conference:
Opening by Rick van der Ploeg (NL)
Introduction by Frans Evers (NL)

Production of Time and Space by Chris Speed (UK)
Programming Musical Aesthetics by Kent Clelland (USA)
Body Interface by Thecla Schiphorst (CAN)
Computer Music by Robert Henke aka Monolake (DE)
Generative Software by Adrian Ward (UK)

Performances:
Jan Jelinek (DE)
Rechenzentrum (DE)
E.O.G. (NL)
Monolake (DE)
Wevie Stonder (UK)
T. Raumschmiere (DE)
Claustrum (LV)
Kent Clelland (USA)
Dadata (ES)
Beta Bodega Coalition featuring: Spike (USA), El Santo (USA), La Mano Fria 
(USA)
Dj Klen (NL)
Visuals:
visomat inc. (DE)
Meta (USA)
Dance acts: Polka, Cancan, Charleston, Tango, Samba, Rock 'n' Roll, Breakdance


December 7 Location: Paradiso

Conference:
Moist Ontology by Roy Ascott (UK)
Computational Kinetic Sculptures by Casey Reas (USA)
On the Avoidance of Miracles by Michael Punt (UK)
the Scanner project by Robin Rimbaud (UK)
Mobile Phone Techno by Oliver Wittchow (DE)

Performances:
SKAM featuring: Gescom, Bola, Meam, Team Doyobi (UK)
Scanner (UK)
Slub (UK)
Elektro Music Department, with Mo (DE) and Daniel Pflumm (DE)
Out of Data (NL, YU, DK)
Perspects (USA)
Pilote (UK)
Micromusic featuring: Carl, Wanga & Bacon (CH)
Oliver Wittchow (DE)
Visuals:
Framefarmers (DE)
Pfadfinderei (DE)


December 10 Location: Royal Academy of Arts

Conference:

Taco Stolk - Interfaculteit Beeld en Geluid, Hogeschool van Beeldende 
Kunsten, Muziek en Dans, Den Haag (NL)
Paul Berg - Instituut voor Sonologie, Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag (NL)
Arthur Elsenaar - Frank Mohr Instituut, Hanzehogeschool, Groningen (NL)
Bas Haring - Mediatechnology, Universiteit van Leiden (NL)
Remco Schaa - Computional Linguistics, Universiteit van Amsterdam (NL)

Opening of exhibition Sound Sculptures by Frans de Ruiter, Koninklijk 
Conservatorium, Den Haag (NL)

Locations:
December 6 & 7: December 10:
Paradiso Amsterdam Royal Academy of Arts
Weteringschans 6 - 8 Prinsessegracht 4
Amsterdam The Hague
Tel.: 0031 (0)20 6264521 Tel.: 0031 (0)70 3154777
www.paradiso.nl

Prices:
One day ticket: fl. 80,- /presale fl.65,-
Two day ticket: fl.150,- /presale fl.125,-
Evening & nightprogramme: fl. 25,- per night

For any kind of information, you can check the site: www.sonicacts.com