Jeanty, an electronic music composer from Haiti who describes her music as
Afro-Electronica®,
will perform a set of works drawn largely from her upcoming CD “On” to
be released this summer on Innova/Tellus. Mixed-media artist Fried will
perform a version of his ongoing work “Radio Wonderland,” an
interactive work that turns live commercial FM radio into recombinant
funk. Using a vintage Buick steering wheel, old shoes mounted on
stands, and other devices, Fried builds groove-based compositions from
live radio samples. A new collaboration between
LEMUR (League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots) and the composer
Zemi17 (Taylor Kuffner), the
GamelaTron
consists of a traditional set of Indonesian gamelan instruments
augmented with robotic mechanisms, creating a robotic gamelan enabling
an entire gamelan orchestra to be played and improvised on live by a
composer with computer and midi interfaces
Bios:
Val-Inc
(Val Jeanty) is a Haitian-born composer, percussionist and turntablist,
who uses technology to lead listeners into her dreamlike expressionism
of Afro-Creole and "Afro-Electronica®" compositions. Her works invite
the World of the unseen as she incorporates her African Haitian Musical
traditions into the present and beyond, combining acoustics with
electronics, and the archaic with the post-modern. Val has received
grants from Meet The Composer and has participated in the Harvestworks
Van Lier Residency Program funded by New York Community Trust. Her work
has been presented at Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the
Village Vanguard, Brooklyn Academy of Music, as well as internationally
at Jazz La Vellette ‘07 (France), Ljublijana Jazz Festival ’06
(Slovenia), Stanser Musiktage in Switzerland and La Biennale Di Venezia
in Italy.
Known to some for his They Might Be Giants remixes, to others as the foremost drummer on the backs of old shoes,
Joshua Fried
has been subverting expectations with electronics since the 80s. Fried
is the youngest composer to appear in Schirmer Books' “American Music
in the 20th Century.” He has performed solo at Lincoln Center, The
Kitchen, CBGB, a Stuttgart disco, a former East Village bathhouse, a
Tokyo museum, and the Royal Palace of Holland. Fried has produced or
co-produced records by Chaka Khan, Ofra Haza, and avant-drone master
David First. He is a recipient of numerous awards including two New
York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowships, a National Endowment
for The Arts (NEA) Composer's Fellowship and artist residencies at
MacDowell, Yaddo, VCCA, Djerassi and the Rockefeller Foundation's
Bellagio Center.
Zemi17
(Aaron Taylor Kuffner), is a composer, musician and media artist who
creates experiences that are to plant seeds for the evolution of
consciousness. He studied new physics, technology, mixed media
installation and experimental performance and worked on technology art,
internet art, electronic-tribal music, guerrilla performance and circus
artistry throughout the underground art scene of San Francisco and New
Orleans before moving to New York in 1997. Zemi17 has received awards
and sponsorships from the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots
(LEMUR), The Indonesian Department of Foreign Affair, the Republic of
Indonesia’s Dharmasiswa Scholarship, the Berlin Arts Council, DTW fresh
tracks, The Soros Foundation, Swiss Air and others.
LEMUR:
League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots is a Brooklyn-based group of
artists and technologists who create robotic musical instruments.
Founded in 2000, LEMUR creates exotic, sculptural musical instruments
which integrate robotic technology. LEMUR's philosophy is to build
robots that are new types of musical instruments, as opposed to
animatronic robots that play existing instruments. LEMUR's growing
ensemble consists of over 50 robotic instruments including GuitarBot,
ModBots, XyloBots, HydroBots and others. LEMUR is funded in part by
generous grants from the Rockefeller Foundation,Greenwall Foundation,
Jerome Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State
Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Arts
International and the Trust for Mutual Understanding. LEMUR is also
sponsored by Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center.
About Harvestworks
Harvestworks
is a nonprofit Digital Media Arts Center that provides resources for
artists to learn digital tools and exhibit experimental work created
with digital technologies. Our programs are made possible with funds
from New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the
Arts, the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, Materials for the Arts, the
Mary Flagler Cary Trust, the Jerome Foundation, mediaThe foundation,
the Foundation for Contemporary Art, The New York State Music Fund, the
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, The Argosy Foundation, The
Carnegie Corporation, The NY Community Trust, The Andy Warhol
Foundation and the Friends of Harvestworks.
