Harvestworks Art and Technology Program presents O Cablebaum, A Double-Bill Concert Featuring EIVIBLEIVI and Schell–Simmons in the exhibition Time-Based Art: Space and Time in Tune. Both performances are centered around Cablebaum, a transducer system developed by Milan Schell, which connects acoustic instruments through digitally controlled feedback processes. Treating resonant bodies such as drums and strings as playable loudspeakers, the project explores special forms of electro-mechanic sound synthesis. As a result, multiple acoustic instruments with their human and electromechanical actuators interact like a modular synthesizer, merging the digital, the physical, and the organic.
DATES AND TIMES: Saturday July 12, 2025 @ 3 – 4 pm
LOCATION: Harvestworks Art and Technology Program Building 10a, Nolan Park, Governors Island
Negating the concept of instrument amplification despite exploiting the same basic technology, Cablebaum integrates electroacoustic systems at the pre-amplification stage. This not only alters the properties of the instruments themselves, but also enables elaborate networks of feedback and resonance between them. Through electronic live-feeds and sampling methods, sympathetic vibration is intensified into inter-instrumental penetration, blurring the lines between electronic and acoustic instrument, as well as instrument and sound processing device. On the one hand, this brings traditional instruments into the realm of synthesizers. On the other hand, through physical activation, parameters like pitch, amplitude, harmonics, coloring, distortion, and duration, are modulated in visible and tangible ways of natural phenomena and instruments which pre-date electronic music. This concert presents two distinct approaches of re-defining the unplugged experience.
The first set features Milan Schell’s solo project EIVIBLEIVI in a performance for augmented drums and percussion. The focus is on one-person interaction with the system, combining manual playing with automated and processed sound. The second set features the duo Schell–Simmons in collaboration with composer, improviser, and bassist Conner Simmons. It takes a slower, freer, and more textural approach, functioning as much as a band as it does a sound installation.
- BIO Milan Schell
Milan Schell works in various sonic, visual, and technical fields with the primary goal of making music. Since 2006 he has produced and performed for his eclectic and psychedelic solo-project EIVIBLEIVI, which emphasizes spontaneous symbolism as opposed to intended psychological effect. Milan’s interest in diverse production environments, such as digital and physical media, electronic and acoustic instruments, automation and human interaction, virtual and real-world spaces, sparks approaches to either selective concentration or interdisciplinary synthesis. In addition to his own projects, he collaborates as a composer and sound designer for film, dance and theater productions. Milan has been featured in international festivals, exhibitions and concerts, and has won several prizes and grants. He lives in New York.
Links:
Website: eivibleivi.com
Instagram: @EIVIBLEIVI
- BIO Conner Simmons
Conner Simmons is a double bassist, computer musician, and composer from Denton, Texas, living in NYC. Described by composer and vocalist Annika Socolofsky as “the perfect blend of soup and stew,” their music sifts through fragile textures to conjure sparse, atmospheric, improvisational chamber music. Performances include seasons with the Shreveport Symphony as well as the NY premiere of Christopher Cerrone’s In A Grove, where they performed electronics with Metropolis ensemble. Their own compositions have existed on the fringes, finding homes in basements, living rooms, planetariums, and embedded in the sides of towering snow banks.
Links:
Website: connersimmons.com
Instagram: @conners_