Sultana Zana & Yashas Shetty
Sat, March 05, 2022 8:00 pm CET
- Location
- Cube
- Language
- English
As part of the »bangaloREsidency-Expanded« of the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore, the media artist Sultana Zana and the artist, biohacker and musician Yashas Shetty will present their projects.
The goal of the residency initiative »bangaloREsidency-Expanded« of the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore is to establish a long-term artistic exchange between India and Germany in order to create new approaches to the artistic practice of the respective other culture. In the context of an open call, Indian artists were invited to apply for a residency at the ZKM | Hertz-Lab in early 2020. An Indian-German jury selected two outstanding project proposals by Sultana Zana and Yashas Shetty, which will be realized starting in February 2022.
Inspired by computer music à la Curtis Roads, media artist Sultana Zana has experimented in recent years with techniques including micro sound synthesis and composed fractal soundscapes based on granular sound particles. At the Hertz-Lab, Zana will create an expansive sound composition, for the development of which she will first explore different forms of non-human sound perception and translate the insights gained into generative audio patches and new codes.
Yashas Shetty is an Indian artist, biohacker and musician who creates art, music and musical instruments using scientific materials such as biotechnology, visual programming languages and interactive media. Shetty has already received a prize award at ZKM in 2017 for his media art work »The Nine Billion Names of God« as part of the competition "What does the internet hear?".
In cooperation with the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore
Work texts by Yashas Shetty and Sultana Zana
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Yashas Shetty »Approximation of the Sea«, (2020 – 22), for tanpura, piano and electronics, 30’
The ‘drone’ influences Western minimalism for almost 60 years now. Beyond its influence on Western classical music, its presence has extended into popular music as well, with early bands such as The Velvet Underground to some German Krautrock groups borrowing heavily from the concept of the drone. Its influence reaches deep into popular music and culture of today. Yet, the historical narrative of the drone has always been a one way street. It is a story told by American composers in which the early origins of this transfer of technology are shrouded in mythology and mystification.
»Approximation of the Sea«, developed by sound artist Yashas Shetty in collaboration with ZKM | Hertz-Lab sound engineer Benjamin Miller for tanpura, piano, and electronics, explores both the technical and aesthetic challenges of composing with surround systems. It is designed especially for the ZKM_Cube. The piece in itself extends from Shetty's ongoing research into the history of encounters between Western composers and Indian artists in the 20th Century and is rooted in his broader artistic practice of extracting histories from mythologies.
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Sultana Zana »The Only Time Is Now! Where Are You?«, (2020 – 22), for live electronics, 30’ – 40’
As human beings, we cannot be sure if others see the world in the same way as we do. This piece creates a mythical space that is atmospheric, and through the course of the performance, it fills up with the imagery of our own mind, where behind closed eyes, the shape of our memories reveal themselves. This is a private experience.
In this piece, I take the audience on a journey that is metaphysical, that starts at the surface of perception. But when we move in space, time and sound, when layers emerge, then contact with all that lies below the threshold of consciousness is possible.
I also bring my observations of how other beings perceive the same world of sounds differently, into this piece. Two years ago, I was looking at the sonic space or ‘sonic land’ of mycelium and insects. These two years, however, had a great psychological impact on all of us, as the world around us completely changed its shape due to the pandemic.
When this happened, I could not dig into the ground. So I started digging into my own psychic world and that's how this piece came about.
Author: Sultana Zana
Impressum information
ZKM | Hertz-Lab: Yannick Hofmann – Project manager ZKM bangaloREsidency – Expanded, Dominik Kautz – Production manager & program, Ben Miller – Sound director, Hans Gass – Light & Event technician, Götz Dipper – Guest artist coordinator, Jakob Schreiber – Technical support
ZKM | Videostudio: Xenia Leidig & Andy Koch – Camera
ZKM | Kommunikation & Marketing: Tanja Binder – Head of ZKM | Communication & Marketing, Samira Kaiser, Ida Kammerer, Anouk Widmann, Svenja Liebig – Homepage & Communication