Spark festival of electronic music and media — Feb. 26–March 2
From Tuesday, Feb. 26 through Sunday, March 2,
the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts will showcase the work of “creators and performers of new media arts” from around the world during a week of public events — nearly all of them free — at a long list of venues on and around the U of M campus.
Events include music, video, theater, dance and plastic artworks, as well as workshops, discussions, and scholarly lectures.
No advance tickets are required. See the full (and quite extensive) list of performances and events below, and for more information, visit www.sparkfestival.org
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH
Twin Cities Showcase 1
Time: 7pm
Location: Coffman Union, Whole Music Club
Works: Shield Your Eyes, Nic Buron: “Knee Bone”, Beatrix Jar: Performance Set, Mystery Palace
Twin Cities Showcase 2
Time: 10pm
Location: Temple
Sets by: Marcos Romero, The Push, Ryan Simatic, James Patrick
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH
Paper Session 1
Time: 9am
Location: Ferguson Hall, Room 225
Presentations by: Peter Shea: “Communicating Digital Art to the World”, Juergen Schmitt: “Gestalt Revolution”, Christopher Burns: “Networking Infrastructure for Collaborative Laptop Improvisation”,
Concert 1: Concert of Found Sound/Audio Appropriation
Time: 11am
Location: Coffman Union, Whole Music Club
Works: Greg Carr: “The Sounds of Your Voice”, Christopher De Laurenti: “Thrill”, David Morneau: “Familiar Voices”, Jason Wilhelm: “The Pavilion EP”, Duncan Laurie, Todd Thille: “Rock Music”, Bob Siebert: “Rrrrring Tones!”, Sean O’Neill: “Fmusak”, Natalie Bell: “Undercurrence”, Michael Pounds: “Collection”
Lecture 1: Graffiti Research Lab
Brookyn-based artists’ collective discuss their guerilla-style approach to creating and showing work.
Time: 12:30pm
Location: Regis Center for Art, Influx Space
Concert 2
Time: 2:30pm
Location: Cedar Cultural Center
Works: Mark Chambers: “…glass darkly…”, Noah Keesecker: “Tonegoblin”, J. Anthony Allen: “Anti”, Benjamin Dorfan: “Arctic Circle”, Iancu Dumitrescu: “Galaxy (I)”
Outing: Graffiti Research Lab Hits Minneapolis
Bring your bicycle, take a riding tour with Brooklyn-based GRL, and project art onto buildings.
Time: 5:00pm
Location: Minneapolis
Concert 3
Time: 8:00pm
Location: Ted Mann Recital Hall
Works: Parag Chordia: “Vadi”, Doug Geers: “Calling”, Olive Bieringa: “The BodyCartography Project”, Richard Devine: “Valez Mix”, Iancu Dumitrescu: “Other Time – Out of Time”, Ana-Maria Avram: “Nouvel Archae”, Iancu Dumitrescu: “Meteors and Pulsars” (World Premiere)
Nightlife 1
Time: 10:00pm
Location: Nomad World Pub
Sets by: Elliot Gattegno, Hybrid Groove Project (Brian Sacawa), Chikashi Miyama, Caly McMorrow, Sam Tymorek, Planet 9
THURSDAY, FEB 28TH
Paper Session 2
Time: 9am
Location: Ferguson Hall, Room 225
Presentations by: Paulo Chagas: “Polyphony and Technology”, Megan England: “The Online Graphical, Community as a Potential Interface for Interactive Music Performance”, David Kim-Boyle: “Network Music – Engagement and the Democratization of Performance”, Duncan Laurie, Todd Thille: “Rock Music”
Concert 4
Time: 11am
Location: TBA
Works: Colin Holter: “There is No Going Back”, M. Anthony Reimer: “Melancholy”, Thanos Polymeneas: “M.P.K.”, Michael Oliva: “Apparition and Release”, Iancu Dumitrescu: “Implosive Eternity”
Lecture 3: Iancu Dumitrescu
The leading composer of Romania discusses his work and career.
Time: 12:30pm
Location: Anderson Hall, University of Minnesota
Concert 5
Time: 2:30
Location: Cedar Cultural Center
Works: Neil Rolnick: “Shadow Quartet”, Tilman Küntzel: “Composition for Water”, Jen-Kuang Chang: “Sahasrara”, Ana-Maria Avram: “Four Orphic Sketches”, Iancu Dumitrescu: “Le Silence d’Or” (World Premiere)
Installation Tour
Time: 5pm
Locations: Various (meeting place TBA)
Concert 6: Making Music With Richard Devine
Time: 8pm
Famous composer and remix artist discusses how he works, and then plays a set.
Location: Coffman Union, Whole Music Club
Nightlife 2
Time: 10:00pm
Location: Nomad World Pub
Sets by: Ugress, Brett Bullion, Joshua Fried, Andrew Bucksburg
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29TH
Panel Session 1
Time: 9am
Location: Ferguson Hall, Room 225
Presentations:
Paper: Guerino Mazzola: “Recent Innovations in Rubato Composition Software”
Panel Session 1: “100 years of Sound and Choreography: The Evolution and Praxis of a Collaborative Art Form”
Panelists: Linda Shapiro- [Moderator; dancer, journalist], Manjunan Gnanaratnam [Composer], Guerino Mazzola [jazz composer/pianist, music theorist], John Toenjes [composer]
Joeseph Koykkar [composer], Julie Kerr Berry [Chair, Dance Dept., U. Minnesota, Mankato- dance scholar and researcher.], Tom Kanthak – [Composer]
Concert 7
Time: 11am
Location: Coffman Union, Whole Music Club
Works: Kip Haaheim: “Meditation on the Nature of Dragonflies”, Jean Ahn: “Berkeley Arirang”, David Coll: “Position, Influence”, Phil Curtis: “Sonaurium”, Kaija Saariaho: “From the Grammar of Dreams”
Lecture 4: Paul DeMarinis
Internationally-known new media artist discusses his work and career.
Time: 12:30
Location: Influx (Regis Center for Art)
Concert 8
Time: 2:30
Location: Cedar Cultural Center
Works: Cristyn Magnus: “Eartude 1”, Iancu Dumitrescu: “Objet sonore mystérieux”, Chikashi Miyama: “Piano Chimera”, Wesley Fuller: “Details/Lines”, Christopher Biggs: “Inconspicuous Impulses”, Alejandra Hernandez: “Pies, para que los quiero #2”
Lecture 5: Simon Reynolds
Music critic and author of books such as “Generation Ecstasy” discusses today’s music and its role in our culture.
Time: 5pm
Location: Anderson Hall, University of Minnesota
Concert 9
Time: 8pm
Location: Barker Center for Dance, University of Minnesota
Works: Scott Miller: “What You Have Taken, Adam Hardin: “Echolalia”, Ken Ueno: “Sabinium, Ana-Maria Avram: “Telesma”, John Toenjes and David Marchant: “Leonardo’s Chimes”, Maja Cerar and Liubo Borissov: “Mimesis”
Nightlife 3
Time: 10:00pm
Location: Nomad World Pub
Sets by: Alex Rae, Greg Brosofske, Andrew Pask, Toiletooth, Heckadecimal, Puzzleweasel
SATURDAY, MARCH 1ST
Panel Session 2
Time: 9am
Location: Ferguson Hall, Room 225
Presentations by:
Paper: Wickham Boyle: “The Aging Experimentalists: When the Next Wave Settles”
Panel Session: “Influences of New Technologies on Music and Theater Traditions”
Panelists: Michal Kobialka [historian, Chair, Department of Theater and Dance, U. Minnesota, Minneapolis], Wickham Boyle [writer and theater producer], David Wessel [composer, computer musician, Director, CNMAT, U.C. Berkeley], Philip Bither [Curator of Performing Arts, Walker Arts Center]
Concert 10
Time: 11am
Location: Ultan Hall, University of Minnesota
Works: Karen Power: “Grounded”, Joshua Parmenter: “Palimpsest”, Iancu Dumitrescu: “Remote Pulsar”, Phillip Stearns: “Apeiron | Peras”
Lecture 6: Richard Devine
Composer and remix artist discusses his work and techniques.
Time: 12:30pm
Location: Anderson Hall, Univesity of Minnesota
Concert 11
Time: 2:30
Location: Cedar Cultural Center
Works: Peter Helms: “Sustained”, Scott Petersen: “Measuring Time and Place”, Ross Karre: “Man with a Movie Camera”, Benjamin Broening: “Dark Wood”, Iancu Dumitrescu: “Galaxy (II)”
Party
Time: 6pm
Location: Regis Center for Art, lobby
Concert 12
Time: 8pm
Location: Cedar Cultural Center
Works: Omar Daniel: “Annunciation”, Kyle Vande Slunt: “dreambubbles”, Iancu Dumitrescu: “Oiseaux céléestes”, David Bithell: “Whistle from Above”, David Wessel, Douglas Ewart, and Guerino Mazzala: “Improvisation”
Nightlife 4
Time: 10:00pm
Location: Nomad World Pub
Sets by: Freida Abtan, Greg Taylor, Soren Knudsen, Slutmachine, Richard Devine
SUNDAY, MARCH 2ND
Symposium Fast Forward
10-minute talks on new media art issues.
Time: 11am
Location: Ferguson Hall, Room 225
Works: David Hearon: “A Social Research Applet for Graphical Interfaces”, Greg Carr: “Sound as object – AKA Am I my mix”, Eric Brook: “The Poi Notation Animator”, Adam Murphy: “A Sonic Evolution of Life on Earth”, Greg Surges: “Networked Resources for Collaborative Improvisation”, Natalie Bell: “The Joy of a Jet Engine”, Nic Buron: “Using Consumer Effects Pedals in Realtime to Loop Performance In-Order to Fulfill the Role of Multiple Players”
Master Class by Iancu Dumitrescu
Internationally-known composer Iancu Dumitrescu critques work by young composers
Time: 2pm
last revised: February 26, 2008