IMA_experiments 4

The fourth part of the series IMA_experiments presents an exclusive German concert by legendary British group “Nurse With Wound”. Since they rarely make an appearance, the ZKM | Institute for Music and Acoustics is especially honored at being able to present this guest concert. With their surreal sound collages, the group has not only been stylistically influential and pioneering in the genre of Industrial Music since the end of the 1970s – from drones, Dada collages, noise and cut-ups their create their very own, inimitable sound. The evening opens with a concert by the Swedish musician and multimedia artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff: from oscillations and sinus-wave generators, he acquires what is for him a typically monotone and hypnotic electronic music, which he will present in combination with a special light-arrangement.

Meanwhile, over 50 albums of Nurse With Wound (NWW) exist the comprehensive and frequently unpredictable, disparate music of which is influenced by Steven Stapleton’s eclectic inclination for art, film and music. The influences cover almost all conceivable musical genres. Following only three live concerts in 1984, NWW initially remained a studio project. Only in June 2006 did the group give a “first” official concert in the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. In December of the same year the group made an appearance at All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival. Since then a NWW live line-up has established itself with Steven Stapleton, Colin Potter, Matt Waldron and Andrew Liles. Nurse With Wound has meanwhile held over 25 concerts neither of which were ever the same.
Alongside Stapleton as the chief figure behind NWW, there are a long and illustrious list of collaborators, among others, Diana Rogerson, Jim Thirlwell (Foetus), David Jackman (Organum), The Hafler Trio, Stereolab, Jim O’Rourke, William Bennett (Whitehouse), Robert Haigh, Rose McDowall (Strawberry Switchblade), Christoph Heemann, Faust, Annie Anxiety (Crass), Coil, Eberhard Kranemann (Kraftwerk, Neu!), the Malian singer/songwriter Boubacar Traoré, David Tibet (Current 93) and Sunn O))).
 

Steven Stapelton

For over 30 years Nurse With Wound has been Steven Stapleton’s chief musical project. In addition, he works as producer, remixer and, most recently also acknowledged soundtrack-composer. Under the pseudonym “Babs Santini” and further to his musical activities, Stapleton is also a renowned painter and sculptor.
 

Carl Michael von Hausswolff

Since the 1970s Carl Michael von Hausswolff has been working as composer of electronic music. For years, the tape machine was his preferred instrument; further aids are the sine-wave generators, oscillators and radar transmitters. His pieces are very minimal and conceptual, and often comprise a massive crescendo. By way of his conceptual rigor and tonal intensity, he has become one of the leading representatives of the drone/noise music within the scene of contemporary electronics. Carl Michael von Hausswolff is also active as concept artist in the fields of performance art, light and sound installations and photography. Furthermore, Hausswolff directs a foundation in honor of the EVP researcher Friedrich Jürgenson, and bequeathed his unique archive collection comprising audiotape recordings to the ZKM | Karlsruhe collection. In that Hauswolff is currently supervising a workshop at the Karlsruhe University of Art and Design (HfG), the opportunity of a concert presented itself.