On Saturday January 4, FIBER and The Rest is Noise present two cutting-edge audio visual performances which provide unique perspectives on a fast changing world: the highly technological and makeable world of Robert Henke and the interpretation of an ancient knowledge system of a West-African tribe by Nkisi. We welcome you to start the new year at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam.
January 4, Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam)
Pre-concert Talk: 19:30
First concert: 20:30
Robert Henke presents CBM 8032 AV (in collaboration with Anna Tskhovrebov)
Dutch premiere of Robert Henke’s CBM 8032 AV. Commanding a line-up of five 1980s Commodore computers, the Berlin based electronica pioneer uses machines that were never built for the creation of electronic music nor audiovisual art to staggering results. ‘‘Everything presented within CBM 8032 AV could have been done in 1980,’’ says Henke, ‘‘but it needed the cultural backdrop of 2019 to come up with the artistic ideas driving it.’’ Henke takes the viewer to the beginning of the digital revolution, in a captivating way only he can.
The presentation of CBM 8032 AV by Robert Henke is made possible with the support of the Goethe Institute.
Nkisi and Charlie Hope present The Spiral
Melika Ngombe Kolongo (aka Nkisi) and visual artist Charlie Hope present The Spiral, an AV work rooted in the ancient knowledge system of the West African Dogon tribe and the legacy of the late pioneer of spectral music (music based on a sound spectrum), Gérard Grisey. Nkisi is co-founder of NON Worldwide, a collective of African and African diaspora musicians. Her most recent album 7 Directions was released by producer Lee Gamble in 2019 and combines African Cosmology with Congolese rhythms. The Spiral premiered at Berlin Atonal 2019.
Zohar (DJ)
Zohar (NL) will connect the sonic dots playing DJ-sets before, in between and after the concerts.
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCES
CBM 8032 AV
Audiovisual artist and electronics pioneer Robert Henke returns with his latest performance CBM 8032 AV using the now legendary Commodore computer from the 80s. He worked in collaboration with software engineer Anna Tskhovrebov for an extensive period on the restoration of five CBM 8032 models, new hard/software and an impressive audiovisual show.
While high-end CGI graphic and the fastest computers dominate today’s visual culture, returning to the limitations of an outdated 8-bit computer is a remarkable choice. It is precisely the legacy of this computer that is at the heart of modern games, movies and popular culture. The result is a unique performance that focuses on the beauty of limitations and the rediscovery of our digital history. Henke plays in new ways with the iconic green CRT graphics, its digital sounds, sine waves, clicks and glitchy bleeps. With the knowledge and cultural background of 2019 these technical possibilities from the 1980s come to life in alternative ways.
CBM 8032 AV can also be seen as a reflection on an era in which Western future thinking is determined by exponential technological growth with infinite opportunities. It takes us back to the beginning of the digital revolution, when the first PCs came on the market and powerful tech billionaires were just starting computer nerds.
The Spiral (Live A/V)
In ancient Dogon knowledge perception turns waves into particles, this motion is a spiral movement. The Spiral, as a specifically Dogon choreography of thought recognizes this sonorous motion as a force inherent in a centre that affects the surrounding space. The Spiral (the orbit of Sirius) as an ancient knowledge of symbols, performs as a conduit for and an expression of the spinning motif of how space-time comes into existence. The knowledge of the spiralling worlds recognizes Sirius as the star of initiation and as harmonic resonant with our Sun.
This way of thinking and acting is linked by the artist Nkisi to the work of late composer Gerard Grisey. He recognised time and entropy as foundations for musical dimensions and acoustic spaces and simultaneously the time needed for their emergence. He explored the forces that make up sound in the relationships between musical space (performance and listening experience) and the Cosmic space. As for him, it is the listening experience and it’s inherent perception of time that connect us the closest to cosmic temporalities.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Robert Henke is a composer, artist and software developer, born 1969 in Munich, Germany. He is mainly known for his contributions to contemporary electronic music (also working under the name of Monolake), for his laser works, and as co-creator of the music software Ableton Live. The backbone and heart of his creations are machines and algorithms, utilising mathematical rules, controlled random operations and complex feedback systems. His musical work has a particular focus on rhythm, timbre and color, and he is recognised as a pioneering explorer of surround sound and wave field synthesis.
Nkisi is the pseudonym of Melika Ngombe Kolongo, whose activities as a producer, live musician, DJ and curator are channels for an ongoing inquiry into sound as a tool of communication beyond the purely lingual. Musically, this manifests in a captivating cross-talk of African rhythms, uncompromising European hard dance tropes, foreboding synth melodies and a relentless, galvanising energy, as harnessed for her increasingly kinetic live performances.
Charlie Hope is an artist based in London. He is a co-founder of LONDON TOPOPHOBIA, an artist-led group organising interdisciplinary performances and installations often involving sound, choreography, performance, electronics and light.
Zohar: While the name Zohar is still relatively new, the person behind the mysterious name has been orbiting the club scene for a really long time. She is known for her textured and often dark sets, blending 90’s rooted industrial beats and atmospheric tracks that reminds a bit of early Reload and Afx tracks. Zohar navigates a spectrum of sound structures and complex moods that variates from club driven breaks, experimental electronics, ambient and dub. Previously she played at Garage Noord, Dekmantel, OT301 and De School. In addition to DJ-ing, she released her own music on her DIY Zohar label.
Partners: This event is made possible by the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts and the Goethe Institute.
Photo: Mihály Podobni / fenytkepezo.tumblr.com