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FEAR OF THE OBJECT
Fear of the Object is a site-specific intervention utilizing live video and sound performance to put into dialogue the architectural resonances and dissonances found within physical space, sound and light. The work is based on the inherent frequencies and resonances of Cogburn's percussive objects, Masterof Sruti´s transducer driven membranes, and Manzano's spatialized live electronics. Audio generated video projected from Bjørgeengen is fed back into sound and blurs distinctions between hearing and seeing.
Kjell Bjørgeengen Dave Jones VideoSynth and Flood Coil
Chris Cogburn percussion + electronics
Michele Sruti vibrating membrane
Juan Manzano electronics
Kjell Bjørgeengen (Norway) explores art as an investigation of reality, merging artistic and political transformation. His video work began at The Experimental Television Center in Owego, New York, where he collaborated with Dave Jones on large-scale video installations and the development of the Jones VideoSynth, which he employs in his prints, live performances, and installations. Since 2000, he has worked exclusively with audio-generated video, using the Jones VideoSynth and Jones Flood Coil. Bjørgeengen has exhibited widely in Norway, including Kunstnernes Hus, The National Museum of Art, and several major art museums, as well as internationally at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo), The Ludwig Forum (Germany), Dundee Contemporary Arts (Scotland), and Pori Art Museum (Finland). He has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Jon Balke, Joëlle Léandre, Okkyung Lee, Otomo Yoshihide, Evan Parker Electro Acoustic Ensemble, Marc Ribot, Keith Rowe, and many others.
Chris Cogburn (US/Mexico) is a percussionist focused on improvised music, exploring the threshold between acoustic and electronic sounds and their sites of resonance. He has performed at major venues and festivals worldwide, including Festival Aural/elnicho (Mexico City), Issue Project Room, James Turrell's Roden Crater (Arizona), and Quiet Que (Berlin). His projects include Resonance with Iván Naranjo, the electro-acoustic trio Anáhuac with Ignaz Schick and Juan García, A Spirale with Mario Gabola and Maurizio Argenziano, and an audiovisual improvisational set with Peter Holm and guest artists like Masterof Sruti, Aimée Theriot, and Judith Hamann. His recordings appear on labels such as Astral Spirits, Another Timbre, and Balance Point Acoustics. Since 2003, he has organized the annual No Idea Festival, based in Austin, Texas, with events across the U.S. and Mexico.
Michele Sruti (Italy/Norway) is known for his research in sound production and alternative percussion techniques, developing a unique style using the Gran Cassa with transducers and objects for sound exploration. Active in contemporary music, he tours and records with Dans les arbres, Huntsville, and O3, alongside solo and collaborative projects, he also composes for ensembles such as Ensemble MusikFabrik, Quatuor Bozzini, Speak Percussion, Pinquins, and Ludus Gravis. His solo work spans film, dance, and art performances, and he holds a Ph.D. in artistic research from the Academy of Music in Oslo.
Juan Manzano (Mexico) studied at the Conservatorio de las Rosas, holds a Master’s in Experimental Music from Wesleyan University, and a PhD in Composition from Stanford. His work spans chamber music, installation, algorithmic composition, live electronics, and improvisation, with compositions performed by the LA Philharmonic, Arditti Quartet, Jack Quartet, and numerous other ensembles across America and Europe. He has studied with Germán Romero, Ron Kuivila, Erik Ulman, and Brian Ferneyhough. A member of Mice Corpus, Fear of the Object, and the duo Helicoidal, he was part of Mexico’s National System of Art Creators (SNCA) and served as Coordinator of Technologies Applied to Musical Creation at CEPROMUSIC. He currently teaches analysis, composition, and algorithmic composition with SuperCollider at the Academia de Arte de Florencia in Mexico City.
RICK REED
Rick Reed is a self-taught electronic musician who has been creating his own sound since 1981. He has released seven solo recordings, including The Symmetry of Telemetry (2023), and collaborated in groups such as The Voltage Spooks, Shifting Currents, Frequency Curtain, and Abrasion Ensemble. Performing across the U.S. and internationally in England, the Netherlands, Scotland, Mexico, India, and Switzerland, Reed has also composed soundtracks for filmmaker Ken Jacobs, including Capitalism Child Labor (2006), which is in MoMA’s permanent collection. In addition to music, he is also a painter and creates short video sketches of his work.
MONTE ESPINA + LOUISE FRISTENSKY + KRISTINA SMITH
Monte Espina is an electroacoustic free improvisation duo formed by Venezuelan-born, North Texas-based musicians Ernesto Montiel and Miguel Espinel, who met in 2016. Through amplified sounds and signal processing, they create sinuous sonic environments with a fully improvised approach. Collaboration is central to their practice, having worked with artists such as Liz Tonne, Louise Fristensky, Alan F. Jones, Jason Kahn, Rebecca Novak, Justin Lemons, Dan Clucas, among many others. Their discography includes y culebra (2019), pa (2021), pueblo glortha (2021), cuatro estaciones (2022), and alquimia criolla (2024), released on labels like Marginal Frequency, Elevator Bath, and Full Spectrum Recordings.
Louise Fristensky is a composer, sound sculptor, and systems artist whose work explores the micro-refractions of reality and the unreality of shared experiences. Their projects include to swim in air, an evolving modular system of intermedial works, and False Landscapes, an experimental video and audio piece on internal spaces. They have collaborated on installations like Singing Bones of Piano Fall with Christopher Poovey and compositions such as Grrrowl for percussion trio. A frequent performer with Monte Espina, they have also worked with Aaron Gonzalez and Vic Rawlings. Their work has been featured at festivals like As If Radio (Glasgow), Audio Art Festival (Krakow), Soundlings Festival (London), and nief-norf Summer Festival, where they were the inaugural Composition TA in 2017.
Kristina Smith is a multimedia artist, writer, and maker of things. They hold an MFA with distinction, and are part of the ritual noise duo, “Ruptured Implant.” They are interested in memory, radical vulnerability, and channeling and pouring out the aches of the heart and world. They are mostly just trying to not die.
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General Admission - $20 - Entrance only
Elevated Admission - $30 - Includes 1 free drink
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Donation based drinks will be available.