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DARK CIRCUITS FESTIVAL 2014



From June 14 through 23, 2014, Hans Tammen’s DARK CIRCUITS FESTIVAL featured performers who work in contemporary electronic music practices such as circuit bending, no-input mixers, laptops, turntablism, analogue circuitry, network sniffers, live coding and soldering, plus other instruments we may have never heard of yet.

Watch the entire video playlist on YouTube here.



Overview – See Individual Videos Below

  1. [Jun 14/15] Workshop: Pure DatrocessorduinoMOS at Harvestworks
  2. [Jun 16] Concert: Joker Nies & Miguel Frasconi’s Omnichord Madness at Harvestworks.
  3. [Jun 17] Concert/Lecture/Screening: Michael Vorfeld’s Light Bulb Music at REVERSE
  4. [Jun 18] Concert/Party: Dark Circuits Festival Party at Silent Barn
  5. [Jun 19] Concert: Andrea Parkins / Matthew Ostrowski, Vortex, and the LittleBits Quartet at Spectrum
  6. [Jun 20] Concert: Die Schrauber, w/Paul Geluso, Michael Vorfeld and Satoshi Takeishi at Outpost Artist Resources
  7. [Jun 21] Workshop/Concert: MakeMusicNY and Dark Circuits Festival at The Firehouse
  8. [Jun 22] APHERESIS: littleBits Monster Synth & Third Eye Dark Circuits Orchestra at Eyebeam’s CT-SWaM
  9. [Jun 23] Concert: Lars Graugaard, Jean-Michel Pilc, Philip White at Shapeshifter
  10. [Jun 23] CT-SWaM at Eyebeam: The Last Picnic (Goodbye Chelsea)

DETAILED SCHEDULE

1. [Jun 14/15] Workshop: Pure DatrocessorduinoMOS at Harvestworks

Sat/Sun, Jun 14/15, 1-5pm
Harvestworks, 596 Broadway, #602, New York, NY 10012
Cost: $225 (regular), $200 (student or Harvestworks member)

A crash course in building connections between Pure Data or Processing and DIY CMOS circuits using Arduino, taught by Phillip Stearns. This is a really fun way of learning how to integrate software based interfaces, custom code, and physical hardware through music! Don’t worry if you’re not a seasoned expert in any of these areas. Examples will be provided and explained along with brief introductions to the systems/environments and how to explore them further on your own. 


2. [Jun 16] Concert: Joker Nies & Miguel Frasconi’s Omnichord Madness at Harvestworks

Monday, June 16, 7pm
Harvestworks, 596 Broadway, #602, NYC, NY 10012
Admission: FREE

Miguel Frasconi (New York) and Joker Nies (Cologne) modify or build their instruments to their needs, creating music from a uniquely imagined tradition. Apart from various analog devices, modified electronic toys and high-end synth modules, they both work with the Omnichord, an electronic autoharp that in its modified, or “bent” form, is a favorite instrument of composers looking for unique ways to create spontaneous and delicate music with subtle control. 



3. [Jun 17] Concert/Lecture/Screening: Michael Vorfeld’s Light Bulb Music at REVERSE

Tuesday, June 17, 8pm
REVERSE – 28 Frost Street Brooklyn 11211
Admission: Free

Michael Vorfeld is a composer and visual artist creating installations and performances with light and sound. He will present Light Bulb Music, using sounds that are generated by different light bulbs and actuating devices. This is accompanied by a lecture giving insight into the history of the incandescent lamp, and a screening of his film “Leuchtstoff”, a film about light, shadow and motion. 


4. [Jun 18] Concert/Party: Dark Circuits Festival Party at Silent Barn

Wednesday, June 18, 9pm (Doors at 8pm)
Silent Barn – 603 Bushwick Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Admission: $7

The trio of Andrea Parkins, Phillip Stearns and Electro-Sapiens Joker Nies will create sonic fields of lush harmonics and sculpted electronic feedback, re-resisting the circuits into new sound territory. Dafna Naphtali and Jane Rigler, known for their innovative approach to live sound processing, set their duo on a crazed collision course of the acoustic and the electronic. Turntablist Maria Chavez and feedback based instrumentalist Phillip White exploit the tension between rigorous, closed electronic systems and the urgency of human compulsion. Joshua Fried aka RADIO WONDERLAND turns mass culture into recombinant funk. Plus Lars Graugaard aka Lars From Mars will DJ between sets! 



Joshua Fried, Phillip Stearns, Joker Nies, Andrea Parkins

5. [Jun 19] Concert: Andrea Parkins / Matthew Ostrowski, Vortex, and the LittleBits Quartet at Spectrum

Thursday, June 19, 8pm
Spectrum – 121 Ludlow Street, #2, New York, NY 10012
Admission: $10

The duo of Andrea Parkins and Matthew Ostrowski engages with amplified manipulated quotidian objects, exploring the liminal space between the virtual and phenomenological worlds. VORTEX (Satoshi Takeishi & Shoko Nagai) extract, magnify and modify the past, they make “passing of time” a visual experience. With the littleBits Quartet, four members of the littleBits engineering team – Paul Rothman, Geof Lipman, Ed Bear and Sean Schumer – will take to the stage for an improvised performance. Using only Synth Kits as their sound sources, they will create, dismantle, and recreate new instruments during the live performance. 


6. [Jun 20] Concert: Die Schrauber, w/Paul Geluso, Michael Vorfeld and Satoshi Takeishi at Outpost Artist Resources

Friday, June 20, 8pm
Outpost Artist Resources – 1665 Norman St, Ridgewood NY 11385
Admission: FREE

Under the name DIE SCHRAUBER, veteran circuit bender Joker Nies (Cologne), Mario deVega (Mexico City) on amplified objects and turntables, and Hans Tammen (New York) on Eurorack, the trio produces a wide variety of dense musical textures and high-energy interaction, with Paul Gelusochanneling the trio’s sounds through his newly designed “3D Sound Object”. The duo of Michael Vorfeld and Satoshi Takeishi creates sounds out of incandescent lights and various amplified objects to create an analog and multi-layered sound and light performance. 





7. [Jun 21] Workshop/Concert: MakeMusicNY and Dark Circuits Festival at The Firehouse

Saturday, June 21, 4pm to 10pm
The Firehouse – 246 Frost Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Admission: FREE

– 4pm and 6pm: MakeMusicNY littleBits MassAppeal

MakeMusicNewYork is a live, free musical celebration on June 21, the longest day of the year, with over 1,000 concerts on streets, sidewalks, and parks across the five boroughs. This year at The Firehouse, Hans Tammen’s littleBits MassAppeal merges with his “Dark Circuits” Festival, that features performers who work in contemporary electronic music practices such as circuit bending, no-input mixers, laptops, turntablism, analogue circuitry, network sniffers, live coding and soldering, plus other instruments we may have never heard of yet. 


– 7pm: Harvestworks International Arts Collective

The Harvestworks International Arts Collective works with various traditional and experimental methods to create artistic experiences with a technological approach. Sensors, cameras, game devices, light, video, analog and digital music instruments are used for their performances and installations.

– 8pm: Phillip White & Mario deVega

The music of Phillip White and Mario deVega is known for its ecstatic intensity and expressive sonic palette. Working with unstable media involving a wide range of electronic devices and acoustic resonators, and drawn to the chaotic, autonomous behavior of feedback based instruments, White & deVega explore the value of instability and the potential of its failure.



– 9pm: Miguel Frasconi & Shoko Nagai

Miguel Frasconi and Shoko Nagai are using a wide array of analog electronics & synthesizers to create noise, analog, fat, chaotic, disturbed, sublime, angular, jagged, atonal, eclectic, marvelous sound from a uniquely imagined tradition.


8. [Jun 22] APHERESIS: littleBits Monster Synth & Third Eye Dark Circuits Orchestra at Eyebeam’s CT-SWaM

Sunday, June 22nd, 8pm
Eyebeam Art+Technology Center – 540 W 21st St, New York, NY 10011
Suggested Donation: $10

APHERESIS is a large multi-movement piece by Hans Tammen for 14 performers of custom-made electronic instruments, combining contemporary electronic music practices such as circuit bending, no-input mixers, laptops, turntablism, analogue circuitry, network sniffers and synthesis to produce sounds electronically. Matthew Ostrowski, Andrea Parkins, Dafna Naphtali, Miguel Frasconi, Phillip Stearns, Philip White, Joshua Fried, Shoko Nagai, Maria Chavez, Satoshi Takeishi, Joker Nies, Mario DeVega, Lars Graugaard and Michael Vorfeld will perform the piece. However, prior to that, the ensemble will present their own version of “live coding” by creating a “littleBits Monster Synth” from over 200 modules of the popular Korg littleBits synth. 




9. [Jun 23] Concert: Lars Graugaard, Jean-Michel Pilc, Philip White at Shapeshifter

Monday, June 23rd, 7pm
Shapeshifter Lab – 18 Whitwell Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Admission: $10

A deeply involved listen with Lars’ rich take on electronic styles in combination with Jean-Michel’s acoustic piano for free improvisation and super-responsive realtime electronics. In the second set, he is drawn to the chaotic, autonomous behavior of  feedback based instruments, that Philip White seeks to discover new ways to engage with, steer, or even struggle to control them. 






10. [Jun 23] CT-SWaM at Eyebeam: The Last Picnic (Goodbye Chelsea)

Monday, June 23rd, 6pm and all night
Eyebeam Art+Technology Center – 540 W 21st St, New York, NY 10011
Suggested Donation: $10

The evening will feature a unique ensemble piece by Andrew Lafkas with Marcia Basset, Barry Weisblat, Leif Sundstrom, Rick Brown, Patrick Holmes, Tucker Dulin, Che Chen, Karen Waltuch, Kenny Wang, Andrew Lafkas, Gill Arno, Wolfgang Gil, Daniel Neumann and Ben Owen. Other solo performers include: Mario de Vega, Hans Tammen, Maria Chavez, Matthew Ostrowski, Dafna Naptali, Radio Wonderland, Carver Audain and many more. Please bring food and blankets if you can. 





CT-SWaM (Contemporary Temporary Sound Works And Music) is Eyebeam’s late night concert series curated by Eyebeam Alumni Daniel Neumann, happening intermittently in Eyebeam’s Main Space. The series focuses on contemporary sound experiments, electro-acoustic multi-channel performance, social-sonic relations, improvisation, lowercase artistic presence, and topology – study of place/space with a spatial concept that goes beyond linear, geometrical understandings of space.
http://ctswam.wordpress.com/


OUR SPONSORS


All events are part of Dark Circuits Festival June 14 – 23 (http://www.darkcircuitsfestival.com) organized by Hans Tammen, at venues such as Harvestworks, REVERSE, Silent Barn, Outpost Artists Resources, Spectrum, MakeMusicNY, The Firehouse, Eyebeam and Shapeshifter Lab. Festival highlight will be the performance of APHERESIS at Eyebeam on June 22, a large multi-movement piece by Hans Tammen for 14 laptop and electronics performers. APHERESIS was commissioned by Harvestworks with funds from The Multi-Arts Production Fund. The MAP Fund is a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This work is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and Wave Farm Fiscal Sponsorship. littleBits Electronics supports MakeMusicNY and the Dark Circuits Festival by providing their LittleBits x Korg Synth Kits. Eventide supports MakeMusicNY and the Dark Circuits Festival by providing their Eventide H9 Stompboxes.

Special thanks to Emilio Vavarella, Digital Media Strategist and Photographer:  http://emiliovavarella.com/ – and to Wayne Ashley for his invaluable contributions to the concept: http://futureperfectproductions.org

THIRD EYE DARK CIRCUITS ORCHESTRA PERFORMERS