Amy Knoles & David Stout have created a piece called ‘Seres’ (defined as: a natural succession or series of ecological habitats), an analog-digital music performance composed and performed by Amy Knoles and David Stout. In this project the artists explore new possibilities for digitally assisted instrumental networks using acoustic and electronic percussion instruments to trigger and sculpt both image and sound. The work explores a variety of sound generation methods including the direct sonification of the image processes. The sonification methods allow for working in both tonal/atonal and/or textural oriented modes including a wide array of richly layered soundscapes. Using these techniques, the duo acknowledges the cross-pollination of contemporary art music and popular styles that have continue to evolve in the electronic underground over the past 4 decades. In this light, HYDRA can be viewed as a techno-poetic synthesis of one of the most essential musical expressions, where drumming is augmented and transformed through the expanding capacities of multi-sensory digital media.
Amy Knoles, Associate Dean; Larry Levine Chair in Contemporary Music, Faculty of Electronic Percussion at the Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts, performs original works throughout the world.
She is a recipient of the ASCAP Foundation “Composer-in-Residence at the Music Center of Los Angeles”, the Meet the Composer “Commissioning Music USA”, the “UNESCO International Prize for the Performing Arts”, the C.O.L.A and has worked with the LA Phil, Kronos Qt., Rachel Rosenthal, Frank Zappa, Pierre Boulez, Morton Subotnick, Robert Henke a.k.a. MonoLake, Ensemble Modern, Flea, Bang On A Can, Ulrich Krieger, Alison Knowles, John Cage, Elliott Carter, Morton Feldman, David Rosenboom, Mauricio Kagel, Vinko Globokar, Louis Andriessen, Lucky Mosko, Charles Wourinen, Arthur Jarvinen, Steve Reich, Tod Machover and many others; has recorded over thirty CDs/Vinyl of new and unusual music.
Her work has been described as being of: “frightening beauty, fascinating, complex” by National Public Radio and she is described as “Los Angeles’ new music Luminary, infinitely variable, infinitely fascinating” by the Los Angeles Times.
David Stout is a visual artist, composer and performer exploring cross-media synthesis and hybrid approaches bridging the arts. He is recognized for works in live cinema, interactive video, electroacoustic music and performances integrating immersive projection as an extension of performer, audience and architecture.
His work with Cory Metcalf examines the aesthetic possibilities for generative systems, artificial life networks and simulation environments. The pair are founders of the interactive media ensemble, NoiseFold, whose installations and performances have been exhibited worldwide, from Casablanca, Morocco to Marfa, Texas. NoiseFold are currently engaged with projects in visual music, data visualization, virtual reality and glassmaking. Stout previously founded the MOV-iN Gallery and the Installation, Performance & Interactivity project (IPI) at the College of Santa Fe, (NM).
He is currently director of the Hybrid Arts Laboratory at the University of North Texas, where he coordinates the Initiative for Advance Research in Technology and the Arts (iARTA) and holds joint positions in Music Composition and Studio Art.
David & Amy‘s performance will be followed by a Q&A facilitated by Mickey Delp.
Mickey Delp is an electrical and computer engineer with expertise in analog and digital circuit design and embedded systems programming. He is the founder and Chief Inventor at Delptronics, a maker of unique electronic musical instruments. He is an instructor at dadageek where he teaches electronics and programming. He is a frequent presenter at Maker Faire, Dorkbot, and Nerd Nite, and co-showrunner at Nerd Nite Austin. Mickey is also an electronic musician who performs solo and with various projects around Austin.