In collaboration with Inkub8, Subtropics XXI is adding a Part 2 to the Marathon Subtropicalia to open room for additional experimental music and sound artists from Miami and New York. Stay tuned for more updates:
“Nicole Martinez is a sound and video artist specializing in interactive and mixed media and, live sonic performances. Having received her Master’s degree in Electronic and Computer Music while teaching music theory, she is heavily influenced by a strict conservatory education. This background serves as a foundation, as well as a point of departure from tradition and convention. Electronics and computer programming form another component of her background and education which brings forth the technological aspect of her work. Nicole discards traditional instrumentation in exchange for invented sounds and instruments. Her methods include original instrumentation such as her own hand made oscillators as well as hacked [children’s] toys. These analog instruments are complimented by rich sounding digital samples which are the product of programs Nicole writes using the Csound programming language which is an open source coding language, based on C, created as a joint effort between and Bell Labs, Princeton and, MIT led by Max Mathews and Barry Vercoe in the 1960?s. Nicole’s technical and production experience spans the arts and industries from large scale musical production to network broadcasting to education and training all in the areas of audio engineering and video editing.
In addition to music composition and performance, Nicole is an active multimedia artist. Recent shows include: Analog/Digital Part 1 – 06.08; It Might be Light and Sound – 03.08; Sleepless Night Miami Beach – 11.07; Optic Nerve ix finalist, MOCA – 08.07; Optic Nerve x finalist, MOCA ; borscht film festival – 08.08; Timeline Miami, Art Basel – 12.08? (subtropics 20, subtropics.org)
Wolfgang Gil is a New York-based Venezuelan sound artist who creates sonic environments through the use of computer-generated sound and multichannel speaker systems. Gil’s aesthetic emphasizes the idea of a sonic environment and its physical correlation to sound, architecture, and audience. More specifically, he is interested in the transformation of sound as a direct consequence of architecture, as well as how audience members transform the sound by their physical presence inside the sonic environment.
Gil frequently uses his own custom-made software instruments to generate the sonic content of his pieces. These instruments include the RoctoR (Real-time OCTOphonic Router), a MAX/MSP based application which was used by Gil and sound artists Adam Kendall, Michael Schumacher and Richard Garet at Point Play event curated by Nisi Jacobs at Diapason Gallery (Brooklyn, New York) in December 2010. (http://diapasongallery.org/PDFs/Point_Play_Diapason_Archive_Press_Release.pdf)
The artist is also an active member of the Chuck language user community and has used the programming language to developed non-commercial instruments such as the Granul8 (an 8-voices granular synthesizer) and the Micron sampler (sampler-spatializer).
TOSCAMENTE
Nestor Prieto
Toscamente explores the use of a wireless BCI (capable of transmitting raw EEG and myoelectric data), as a viable controller and generator of sound material. The operator follows a set of instructions that combine facial expressions and states of mind in order to control different parameters within a MAX/MSP patch.
SOUNDS OF AUDITORY HALLUCINATIONS
Max Tfirn
for live-electronics
This piece was realized while the composer was trying to fall asleep over the course of one month. These sounds would occur in the composers head right before he went to sleep, however these sounds were remembered and very unique. All of of the sounds had a voice quality to it but also a kind of disrupted feedback and glitch sound. Sometimes these sounds would be counter productive and wake the composer up. This piece tries to recreate those sounds and how they either sounded into the composers sleep or were very loud and disturbed the sleep. The voice is meant to recreate a human characteristic of these sounds in the music as well as represent the restlessness of the composer when these sounds were occur.
CYMPLER
Carlos Dominguez
for live-electronics and percussion
Cympler is a piece that revolves around a live, improvised performance of electronics and cymbals. The beginning rhythm and certain pitches involved are determined by the performer. Cympler then implements pitch and amplitude tracking of the cymbals, which end up manipulating wave generators and the playback of a recorded sample. The wave generators are responding to the partials from the cymbals, while the playback speed and length are determined by the cymbals’ amplitudes and frequencies, respectively.