“K5 as the Fifth State of Matter (1987) Lecture/Performance/Reception (2013)” is a trans-media artwork situated on the borders of sensations that draws from and intersects with Conceptual & Performance Art, Fourier Analysis & Synthesis, Platonic Philosophy & Numerology, Discrete Mathematics & Visualization, History of Computing & Masonic theater. Structured as a 26:26 minute Lecture followed by a 33:33 minute Performance, “K5 as the Fifth State of Matter” explores notions of synesthesia using the Kawai K5 multi-dimension synthesizer, proprietary software and a hammer to engage the sight, sound & mind.
Frank Rothkamm: K5 as the Fifth State of Matter
Frank Rothkamm
Wednesday, March 27th 2013, 7pm
Admission: FREE
Location:
Harvestworks – www.harvestworks.org
596 Broadway, #602 | New York, NY 10012 | Phone: 212-431-1130
Subway: F/M/D/B Broadway/Lafayette, R Prince, 6 Bleeker
“K5 as the Fifth State of Matter (1987) Lecture/Performance/Reception (2013)” is a trans-media artwork situated on the borders of sensations that draws from and intersects with Conceptual & Performance Art, Fourier Analysis & Synthesis, Platonic Philosophy & Numerology, Discrete Mathematics & Visualization, History of Computing & Masonic theater. Structured as a 26:26 minute Lecture followed by a 33:33 minute Performance, “K5 as the Fifth State of Matter” explores notions of synesthesia using the Kawai K5 multi-dimension synthesizer, proprietary software and a hammer to engage the sight, sound & mind.
http://rothkamm.com/project.cfm?ProjectID=67
Frank Holger Rothkamm (FHR) started as an actor in the youth forum at the ”Schloss Theater” (castle theatre) in Moers, Germany and currently lives and works in Los Angeles in a 1935 Steinkamp house, that he has restored and reformed since 2010. FHR is the founder of the Lodge For Utopian Science where he conducts research in psycho-stochastics, practices arcane crafts and curates a collection of early digital synthesizers, user manuals and printed ephemera.
Originally interested in drawing in his pre-teen years, as a teenager FHR studied to become a pianist at the “Musikschule” (music school) Moers, built his own electronic music studio and – after a stay as postulant at the cloister of Lilienfeld, Austria – made his debut performance with FISCH I on the island of Crete. He rose to prominence in Germany with FISCH II, a performance involving analog tape music, lights, 4 actor-instrumentalists and a fish. Believed lost, these teenage “Moers Works (1982-1984)” were rediscovered and released 25 years later by Moscow based Monochrome Vision. FHR continued with performance art based body manipulation – the FISCH series – in galleries in West & East Germany, Switzerland & Canada and released his first cassette in 1986 via the Cologne-based Maria Bonk Gallery.
After studies in communication science, bionics and philosophy at the Technische Universitat Berlin, where he co-founded the CAMP group and performed at the International Computer Music Conference 1988, he became a landed immigrant in Canada. There FHR released, with his first wife Emily Faryna, his first commercial music on the Mo=Da=Mu label and wrote his first commercial software – PaintMusic – for Science World of British Columbia. He concluded with FM synthesis for computer games (Unlimited Software) and the last of the FISCH series performances in Vancouver, B.C.. Moving to San Francisco in 1990 FHR appeared with his second wife Monique in Playboy magazine, organized and performed at Raves where he met his third wife Nina Schneider.
His first appearance on 12inch vinyl record “Magick Sounds of the Underground’ (Hardkiss Records) and on Compact Disc “Death Rave 2000” (21st Circuitry Records), as well as the establishment of his first production company “Suite Zero” followed after writing his first commercials for “Levi’s 501 jeans” (Foote, Cone & Belding). Relocating to New York in 1994, he suffered bouts of clinical depression, panic/anxiety disorder and depersonalization which continued until he started drug treatment in 2012. Because of his mental illness, FHR became almost exclusively studio and web-based. He produced remixes for Peter Scherer, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Elliott Sharp, and others. In 1995 the first of his soundtracks for George Lucas “Star Wars 3D” (New York Film & Animation) appeared and he established Flux Records which released DJ Glove’s “Tuning”.
In 1997 FHR became the last Freemason of the German-speaking Hermann Lodge No 268 to be initiated in Manhattan. During much of the 2000s he traveled between Los Angeles and New York, doing web design and development for a number of Fortune 500 clients, including Warner Bros & Hewlett-Packard, and became the Director of Technology for Musicblitz. He was the Senior System Analyst for the New York Philharmonic from 2006-2009. From 2005-2012 he released 2 Compact Discs per year, including ALT – a re-discovery of this 1989-2002 work with analog computers – on the Paris based label Baskaru. The same year saw the release his first syntheastic film, “Birth of Primary Cinema from the Spirit of Sound” available through Printed Matter in New York.
After his entire archive of hardware and software was destroyed in the California Witch Fire of 2007, he took his first foray into the arcane crafts with the rescue and restoration of a 1924 E. Gabler & Sons grand piano, eventually becoming intimately familiar with the plumbing, heating, electrical, and structural challenges of Depression-Era real estate in Los Angeles.