Dorit Chrysler: CALDER PLAYS THEREMIN & Alberto Novello: Live Visuals | SIMULTAN Festival 2023

Commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art (NY) to make a sound piece in conjunction with the exhibition Alexander Calder: Modern from the Start, Dorit Chrysler identified two of Calder's sculptures, Snow Flurry, I (1948) and Man-Eater with Pennants (1945), to interact with and "play" the theremin. Based on this resulting Audio-Video Installation and EP,  Dorit will present excerpts of this work live as well as additional original compositions written for Theremin, synthesis and vocals.

Visual Artist Alberto Novello will add audio reactive laser projections and analog video art to Dorit’s music.

Dorit Chrysler is a Berlin/NY based composer and sound artist and the founder of the NY Theremin Society.  Hailed as a Theremin Virtuoso and Pioneer, her work explores the application of the electro magnetic theremin instrument in various mediums. She has been awarded the Austrian State Stipend in Composition 2023 and has a master of musicology from the University of Vienna.  Chrysler has performed across all continents (eg Lincoln Center, Coachella, Roskildefestival) and has written music for film and theater.  Her works are part of collections at the Guggenheim Museum & Moderna Museet. Her works have been commissioned by the MoMA, Venice Biennale and Klang Fest. Chrysler has collaborated with the San Francisco Symphony, CERN, Laurie Spiegel, Herb Deutsch, Elliot Sharp, Trentemoeller, Alva Noto, to name but a few. She is the founder of Dame Electric, a festival dedicated to female pioneers in electric music and has produced Theremin Orchestra Performances at LA Disney Hall, Pioneerworks NY and Ambient Church. In 2023 her work “ Calder Plays Theremin '', a MoMA sound commission, was shown at Fridman Gallery in NY, Kunstwerke Berlin and Schaumbad, Graz. Her recordings have been released on Mute, PlasticTrayRecords, PlagDichNicht Records, MonikaEnterprise, InMyRoomrecords, PrurienceFactory.

Website 

Alberto Novello a.k.a. JesterN’s practice repurposes found or decontextualised analogue devices to investigate the connections between light and sound in the form of contemplative installations and performances. He repairs and modifies tools from our analogue past: oscilloscopes, early game consoles, analogue video mixers, and lasers. He is attracted to their intrinsic limitations and strong ‘personalities’: fluid beam movement, vivid colors, infinite resolution, absence of frame rate, and line aesthetics. By using these forgotten devices, he exposes the public to the aesthetic differences between the ubiquitous digital projections and the vibrance of analogue beams, engaging them to reflect on the sociopolitical impact of technology in a retrospective on technologisation: what ‘old’ means, and what value the ‘new’ really adds.

Website

Credit photo: Dorit Crysler at Heroins Of Sound, courtesy of the artist

The project is part of the national cultural program “Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023” and is financed and organized in partnership with the Municipality of Timișoara through the Center for Projects.

Part of

SIMULTAN Festival 2023

SIMULTAN Festival 2023