April 4: Machiko Kusahara

For the next colloquium of the semester, held on April 4 (Thursday), we are very pleased to welcome Japanese scholar Machiko Kusahara, who will give a talk on the topic “Utsushi-e: The 19th century Japanese screen practice as a precursor of ANIME”

 The talk will start at 4pm in M6058.

Date: April 04, 2019 (Thursday)

Time: 4 pm

Venue: M6058, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong

Topic: Utsushi-e: The 19th century Japanese screen practice as a precursor of ANIME

 Abstract:

Utsushi-e is a Japanese magic lantern performance that started in the beginning of the 19th century and remained extremely popular throughout the century, until the arrival of cinema. The magic lantern, the technology that was brought by the Dutch in the second half of the 18th century, was merged with the existing formats of storytelling and 2D aesthetics to form a unique screen practice. Popular stories – dramatic, romantic, horrifying or humorous – were presented with moving images on the screen, accompanied with narration, music, and sound effects. Exquisite techniques were developed in order to realize characters’ motion and emotion.

The talk will present the once lost screen practice with abundant video documentations and images from revived utsushi-e performances and related fields, examining the interaction between a new technology and the existing culture from a media archaeological approach.

The notion of “film” is no longer clear-cut in the era of digital technology. Similar is the distinction between live-action and animation. Utsushi-e is not only an interesting media by itself but also helps us to think about the “origins” of our image culture.

Biography

Machiko Kusahara is a scholar in media art and media archeology who lectures and publishes internationally on topics including media art, Device Art, magic lantern, and panorama.

She started curating and writing on computer graphics and media art in early 80s. Since then she served in launching venues including NTT/ICC and juried for international competitions including Ars Electronica and Japan Media Arts Festival. Her research focuses on interrelations among media technology, art, culture and society, both in contemporary and in early visual media.

Kusahara is Professor Emeritus at Waseda University and currently teaches at the graduate schools of Nihon University and Digital Hollywood University. Kusahara holds Ph. D in engineering from University of Tokyo.

 

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April 2: Viola Yip

For the next colloquium of the semester, held on April 2 (Tuesday), we are very pleased to welcome sound artist Viola Yip, who will give a talk on the topic “Designing instrument as composing and performing”

The talk will start at 4 pm in M6094 Future Cinema Studio.

Date: April 02, 2019 (Tuesday)

Time: 4 pm

Venue: M6094 Future Cinema Studio, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong

Topic: Designing instrument as composing and performing

 

Abstract:

 As an experimental music composer and performer, Viola Yip’s recent interests fall on designing new experimental instruments to explore the sonic materiality of found objects, the interactions between performative gestures, instruments, space, as well as her own composer-performer body as an intersectional work-in-progress.

In her talk, she will show some of the instruments that she built for herself. Through discussing the thought process behind each instrument, it will also demonstrate how instrument building has become an important process for composing and performing.

 Biography:

A native of Hong Kong, Viola Yip is a New York‐based composer and performer, who tries to find the boundaries and push them in her sound world.

Her compositions are not limited to acoustic music, electronic music, graphic scores and structured improvisations. Recent works have appeared in ArtX at Bowling Green State University, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Ravinia Festival, Fresh Inc Festival, soundSCAPE Festival, TEDXSMU, University of Florida, University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, NASA saxophone conference, ThingNY spam v3.0 concert, Quiet City concert, Vox Novus Concert, Musicarama concert series (Hong Kong) and PAUSA Art House (Buffalo).

As a new music advocate, she performs contemporary works regularly as a pianist, speaker and improviser. Her recent interest falls on using her own voice as an instrument and exploring the expressivity and musicality of the human natural voice

March 20: Ikue Mori CONCERT

For the next colloquium, held on March 20 (Wednesday), we are very pleased to welcome Japanese sound artist Ikue Mori, who will give a concert “Spectra Improv + Moving Image – Ikue Mori with Ken Ueno, HKNME and friends”

 

The concert will start at 8 pm in SCM Multimedia Theatre.

Admission: registration required on https://goo.gl/forms/7fUQsxc1leCc9vrv2

 

Date: March 20, 2019 (Wednesday)

Time: 8 pm

Venue: Multimedia Theatre, G/F Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong

Admission: FREE – registration required

 

featuring

Ikue Mori 森郁恵

Ken Ueno (HK/ USA), extended vocals/ curator

Ikue Mori (JP/ USA), electronics/ video

Shane Aspegren (HK/USA), drums/ electronics

Matthew Lau (HK), percussion

Angus Lee (HK), flute

Fiona Lee (HK), electronics and objects

Simon Hui (HK), double bass

 

In partnership with the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble

 

FREE Admission, Registration Required

免費節目，請先登記留座

 

Registration登記>> https://goo.gl/forms/7fUQsxc1leCc9vrv2
Programme Enquiries 節目查詢：info@hknme.org

March 19: Ikue Mori

For the next colloquium of the semester, held on March 19 (Tuesday), we are very pleased to welcome Japanese sound artist Ikue Mori, who will give a talk on the topic “Find out how this work”

The talk will start at 4:30 pm in M6094 Future Cinema Studio.

Date: March 19, 2019 (Tuesday)

Time: 4:30 pm

Venue: M6094 Future Cinema Studio, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong

Topic: “Find out how this work

 Abstract:

Ikue Mori will first give an historical introduction starting from 1977 with the downtown New York music scene, NO WAVE drummer band, improvisors and electronics composers. She will propose to the students to listen to various collaborations and solo music pieces and will talk about the transformation of the performance scene with the use of instruments, from drums, drum machines and laptop. She will finally demonstrate how to perform with Max patch and control visuals, proposing a short live performance while watching the computer window of the Max patch activity.

Biography:

Ikue Mori moved from her native city of Tokyo to New York in 1977. She started playing drums and soon formed the seminal NO WAVE band DNA, with fellow noise pioneers Arto Lindsay and Tim Wright.

DNA enjoyed legendary cult status, while creating a new brand of radical rhythms and dissonant sounds; forever altering the face of rock music.

In the mid 80’s Ikue started in employ drum machines in the unlikely context of improvised music. While limited to the standard technology provided by the drum machine, she has never the less forged her own highly sensitive signature style.

During the 90’s she has subsequently collaborated with numerous improvisors throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, while continuing to produce and record her own music.

In 1998, she was invited to perform with Ensemble Modern as the soloist along with Zeena Parkins, and composer Fred Frith, also “One hundred Aspects of the Moon” commissioned by Roulette/Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust.

Ikue won the Distinctive Award for Prix Ars Electronics Digital Music category in 99.

In 2000 Ikue started using the laptop computer to expand on her already signature sound, thus broadening her scope of musical expression. She was commissioned by the KITCHEN ensemble, wrote and premired the piece “Aphorism”, also awarded Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship.

In 2003 she was commissioned by RELACHE Ensemble to write a piece for film In the Street and premired in Philadelphia. Started working with visual played by the music since 2004. In 2005 Awarded Alphert/Ucross Residency.

Ikue received a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in 2006. In 2007 the Tate Modern commissioned Ikue to create a live sound track for screenings of Maya Deren’s silent films. In 2008 Ikue celebrated her 30th year in NY and performed at the Japan Society. Recent commissioners include the Montalvo Arts Center and SWR German radio program and Shajah Art foundation in UAE. Current working groups include MEPHISTA with Sylvie Courvoisier and Susie Ibarra, PHANTOM ORCHARD with Zeena Parkins, project with Koichi Makigami and various ensembles of John Zorn.

March 14: Ulrich Wegenast

For the next colloquium of the semester, held on March 14, 2019 (Thursday), we are very pleased to welcome German Professor and curator Ulrich Wegenast, who will give a talk on the topic “Animated Spaces – Animation, Architecture, and Game Art”

The talk will start at 4:00 pm in M6094 Future Cinema Studio.

Date: March 14, 2019 (Thursday)

Time: 4:00 pm

Venue: M6094 Future Cinema Studio, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong

Topic: Animated Spaces – Animation, Architecture, and Game Art

Abstract:

The lecture deals with new concepts of spatial animation in the context of Architecture, Game Art, and Live Performance.

In the digital age the traditional profession and role of an animator has changed rapidly. Animation can’t be regarded exclusively as a filmic medium anymore. Animation has expanded in almost all creative fields. Chris Gehman and Steve Reinke stated in their book The Sharpest Point. Animation at the End of Cinema “the very definition of animation has become unstable in the era of digital media”. Animation became one of the most flexible media distributed on every platform and is used in different contexts like architecture, engineering, and scenography. Nowadays animation has left the black box of the cinema and the TV screen and is ubiquitous. As Steve Reinke added: “In the end, animation is triumphant, but at the price of an enormous levelling: it becomes everything.” The lecture deals with the new situation and possibilities of animation evoking a new profession combining film, architecture, and game art. A central aspect of this development is the way how media spaces are created with new digital technology: on the one hand side architecture becomes more and more fluid – i.e. in the realm of the so-called Blob Architecture –, on the other hand side animation is extremely important in regard to the construction of (virtual) space. At the lecture traditional examples of animation by Raimund Krumme, Zbigniew Rybczynski or Virgil Widrich are compared with new conceptions of animation, architecture, game and installation art by companies and artists like Zeitguised or Realities United. Within this development and fusion animation studios like Nexus or H5 (Ludovic Houplain) have produced new forms of animation and visual communication which go beyond traditional animation. Another tendency in the field of expanded animation which will be discussed in the lecture is the combination between the life performance of the theatre play or the opera and real time animation in the work of groups and artists like Sputnic/Theater Dortmund or Paul Barritt. The borderline between the reproduced image and live animation becomes blurred. These new concepts of spatial communication and expanded animation will be analyzed, presented and discussed.

Biography:

Ulrich Wegenast, born 1966 in Stuttgart, graduated from Stuttgart University (Master in History and History of Art), and Hanns Eisler School of Music, Berlin (postgraduate studies in Culture and Media Management). Since 2012 he is honorary professor at the Babelsberg Film University.

1987: founding member of Wand 5 and Stuttgart Filmwinter – Festival for Expanded Media – a festival for experimental film and media art. In 2001 development of the conference „media-space“. He was member of the Wand 5-board until 2006.

From 1993-2005 has was curator for the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film and the European Shortfilm Biennale. In 2005 he became the artistic director of the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film.

In 2002 he developed the experimental film section for the Munich Filmfest. Curatorial work and jury work for the Goethe Institute and various other institutions and festivals around the world. From 2003 to 2004 he has worked as a consultant for the Frankfurt Schirn Kunsthalle and 2005 for the documenta jubilee exhibition. 2005-2013 member of the advisory board of the Goethe Institute (Film, TV, Radio), 2007-2013 member of the jury of the German Short Film Award.

From 2004-2011 he was teaching Film/Media Art, Media Theory and Alternative Distribution at the Karlsruhe School of Design, Stuttgart State Art Academy, and Merz Akademie in Stuttgart. From 2004 to 2014 he was head of the media department of the Baden-Wuerttemberg Free Art Academy.

He has published a 6-part DVD edition on German animated film in cooperation with Absolut Medien, Berlin, and Goethe Institut, Munich which has received the Willi Haas Award for best DVD-edition on German speaking film in 2012.

Wegenast gave more than 100 lectures and workshops on animation, experimental film, media art, arts administration and game culture around the globe including Harvard University, University of Toronto, Berlinale Festival, Tallin Black Nights Festival, the Bangkok Culture Centre and Ars Electronica in Linz.

March 12: SCM Major/Elective Talk

Date: 12 March 2019 (Tuesday)

Time: 3:00 – 5:00 pm

Venue: Lecture Theatre 1 (M3017), 3/F, CMC