[Nettime-nl] [ STEIM ] STEIM announcement: Lecture/Concert by Judy Dunaway and Tom Chiu

[STEIM <knock@steim.nl>]

STEIM presents a Lecture/Concert by:

Judy Dunaway (US) & Tom Chiu (US)

Date: Thursday, November 8
Venue: STEIM, Utrechtsedwarsstraat 134, Amsterdam
Time: 20.30 hrs.
Entrance: 5 euros
Reservations and more information: knock@steim.nl or 020-6228690

One of the significances of experimental artistic practice is its  
motivation to challenge conventions and social norms. New movements  
and shifts in standards are often conceived in these practices. For  
example, the recent release of Radiohead and Saul Williams' album  
available for free download comes with no surprise if one has been  
sensitive to the climate that has built up over the years by artists  
like Negativland and Bob Ostertag. The reason to why an artist  
decides to deal with a specific theme or choose a certain tool often  
represents a shared consciousness (or unconsciousness) that is  
brewing within a specific time period. I believe that experimental  
art give us the earliest glimpse of what our contemporary life is  
dealing with.
Judy Dunaway is a composer and improvisor who works mainly with  
balloons. She is also the founder of S.W.I.R.L. - Sex Worker Internet  
Radio Lounge which is an organization and platform for sex workers  
around the world to express themselves. Although her duo with Tom  
Chiu (founder of the critically acclaimed FLUX Quartet) is not  
electronic, we felt that their music was compelling and that it would  
be a great opportunity to listen to the artists talk about the  
context of their work.

ï

LINKS:
Judy Dunaway http://jdunaway.web.wesleyan.edu/
SWIRL http://emedia.art.sunysb.edu/swirl/
FLUX Quartet http://www.fluxquartet.com/

BIO:
Judy Dunaway
Since 1990, Judy Dunaway has created over forty pieces for balloons  
as sound producers, and has also made this her main instrument for  
improvisation.  She has presented her work throughout North America  
and Europe at many venues and festivals including Lincoln Center Out- 
of-Doors, The Roy and Edna Disney Center, the SoHo Arts Festival, the  
Alternative Museum, the Knitting Factory, Performance Space 122,  
Roulette, Experimental Intermedia, Soundlab, the New Museum of  
Contemporary Art, the Bang on a Can Festival, the Guelph Jazz  
Festival, Podewil and ZKM. She has performed as a balloon player in  
compositions by John Zorn and Roscoe Mitchell, and in improvisations  
and/or collaborations with the FLUX Quartet, performance artist Annie  
Sprinkle, video artist Zev Robinson, visual artists Nancy Davidson  
and Ken Butler, percussionists John Hollenbeck and Matt Moran, the  
Illuminati big band, DJ Singe, and numerous others. Her compositions  
for balloons include electronic and multi-media works, sound  
installations, and works that incorporate more traditional  
instrumentation such as string quartet, chorus and Japanese koto.   
Her discography includes âMother of Balloon Musicâ (Innova,  
2006), âShar: Pop Musicâ (Outer Realm, 2002) and âBalloon  
Musicâ (CRI, 1998), as well as appearances on numerous other CDs.

Dunaway has a Ph.D. (doctorate) in Music Composition from State  
University of New York at Stony Brook, where she studied with analog  
electronic music composer Daria Semegen and multi-media artist  
Christa Erickson, and a M.A. in Experimental Music from Wesleyan  
University (Connecticut) where she studied with composer Alvin  
Lucier.  She is currently a Visiting Lecturer in the Critical Studies  
Department at Massachusetts College of Art.

Tom Chiu
Violinist Tom Chiu is the founder of the FLUX Quartet, which has been  
called âone of the most fearless and important new-music ensembles  
around,â (Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle) âwho has a  
brought a new renaissance to quartet music,â (Kyle Gann, The Village  
Voice).  The FLUX Quartet has performed to rave reviews at many music  
centers around the world, including Da Camera of Houston, Miller  
Theater, the Walker Art Center, the Library of Congress, and Carnegie  
Hallâs When Morty Met John Festival.   FLUX captivates its audiences  
worldwide with a vivid repertoire balanced between notable pioneers  
as well as visionaries of tomorrow.  From "classics" by Conlon  
Nancarrow, Giacinto Scelsi, and Iannis Xenakis, to new works by Leroy  
Jenkins, Elliott Sharp, and John Zorn, FLUX brings to all of its  
performances a âboundless, uninhibited energy.â (New York Times)   
The quartet avidly seeks out collaborative relationships with genre- 
transcending artists such as Ornette Coleman, Joan LaBarbara, Oliver  
Lake, balloon artist Judy Dunaway (new CD on Innova Recordings), and  
musical-visual artist collective, the Slave Pianos.   The FLUX  
Quartetâs discography includes Morton Feldman's six-hour marathon  
"String Quartet No. 2," on Mode Records, which they presented live at  
Carnegie Hall on September 27, 2007.  FLUX is the only group to have  
ever played the complete âString Quartet No. 2â score in one  
performance.

As a solo artist, Chiu has performed over 100 premieres worldwide and  
has worked closely with many distinguished composers including Virko  
Baley, Dean Drummond, Oliver Lake and Chen Yi, among others.  He has  
worked closely with Ornette Coleman, with whom he appeared at the  
2000 Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival. Tom's discography includes  
recordings for the Asphodel, Cambria, Koch, Mode, Sombient, and  
Tzadik labels. His original works as composer/improvisor have been  
performed in numerous countries, including Mongolia and Uzbekistan.  
Having also composed for motion pictures, his first soundtrack for  
the short film Boris (written and directed by Francesca Galesi) won  
the top prize at the NY Expo Festival of Shorts. Chiu holds degrees  
in music and chemistry from Juilliard and Yale.

Dunaway/Chiu Duo:
Judy Dunaway (balloons) has been working with Tom Chiu (violin) since  
the mid-1990âs.  Both in improvisational duo and in collaboration  
with Chiuâs FLUX Quartet, Dunaway and Chiu have performed frequently  
in New York City at many venues including Roulette, The Stone, The  
Living Room, Greenwich House, The Brecht Forum and Soundlab.  Dunaway  
composed her 30 minute epic âFor Balloon and String Quartetâ  
especially for the FLUX Quartet.  The work was premiered at Roulette  
in 2001 and subsequently recorded and released by Innova records in  
2006, supported by a grant from the Aaron Copland Fund.   Dunaway and  
Chiu are now touring Europe together for the first time, including  
presentations on German Radio and at STEIM in Amsterdam.

âDunaway's two duo improvisations with Tom Chiu also use the primary  
balloon music technique of rubbing (or otherwise agitating) the  
surface (a technique insightfully labelled by Dunaway as an "orb- 
shaped string"), which allows for a flexibility of sound production  
far exceeding any other known instrument, but the big surprise here  
is the flexibility of the violin because Chiu somehow manages to make  
it sound like a balloon! The high-pitched acrobatics and sound  
mergers they achieve are breathtaking and will surely change many  
people's lives.â
- from review of Judy Dunawayâs CD âMother of Balloon Musicâ by  
Michael Anton Parker, Downtown Music Gallery


The STEIM concerts are made possible by the Municipality of Amsterdam.

More information on concerts: http://www.steim.org/steim/activity.php

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STEIM
(studio for electro instrumental music)
(studio voor elektro instrumentale muziek)

Achtergracht 19
1017 WL Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Tel: 020-6228690
Fax: 020-6264262
Email: knock@steim.nl
Website: www.steim.nl


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