Next City Sounds: Live-Performances

As part of the »Next City Sounds« symposium, Swedish composer Klara Lewis and sound artists and musicians Francisco López and John Chantler will be presenting their work.

In his concert at the ZKM, Francisco López will be presenting a new immersive composition, which was commissioned by the ZKM | Music and Acoustics Institute as part of the »Next City Sounds« project. The composition is based on the environmental sounds, which have been recorded at various sites in Karlsruhe, whereby only recordings from the quietest hours of the night were used. Francisco López has been internationally active as a sound artist and musician for over 40 years. His works include hundreds of sound installations, which have been presented in museums such as the PS1 Contemporary Art Center New York, the Museum of Modern Art Paris and the Center of Contemporary Art in Japan. He has already presented his works in over 70 countries, and received numerous prizes, such as the Qwartz Award and a total of 4 Honorary Mentions of the Ars Electronica.

Swedish composer Klara Lewis will play an audio-visual live set. She is currently working with Simon Fisher Turner and Rainier Lericolais on a series of live performances, in which new soundtracks to the silent film classic »Berlin: Symphony of a Great City« are being presented. Her debut album »Ett« was released in 2014 on the Editions Mego label. She used field recordings from Sweden, Turkey and Germany, among others, for this. In collaboration with the Swedish producer Peder Mannerfelt, her »Msuic« EP was also released in 2014, in which organic sounds and field recordings together with harsh noise sounds can be heard.

Swedish-based sound artist and musician John Chantler will present a multi-channel version of »The Long Shadow of Decline« live at the ZKM. This three-part suite for organ and electronics, which represents a large part of his current album »Still Light, Outside«, contains both severely minimalistic passages and dense harmonies and moving timbres. In his live performances, John Chantler uses generative systems, so that endlessly variable, ever-changing textures are created. In 2009, he released his first LP »U« together with Lawrence English and Tujiko Noriko. For his subsequent album »The Luminous Ground«, he worked primarily with modular synthesizers – the album was select as one of the Top 50 Publications of 2011 by The Wire magazine.