Thomas Ankersmit

Thomas Ankersmit is a musician and sound artist based in Berlin and Amsterdam. He plays the Serge Modular synthesizer, both live and in the studio, and collaborates with artists like Phill Niblock and Valerio Tricoli.

His music is released on the Shelter Press, PAN, and Touch labels, and combines intricate sonic detail and raw electric power, with a very physical and spatial experience of sound. Acoustic phenomena such as infrasound and otoacoustic emissions (sounds emanating from inside the head, generated by the ears themselves) play an important role in his work, as does a deliberate, creative misuse of the equipment.

Author: Thomas Ankersmit

»Perceptual Geography« is a solo live project by Thomas Ankersmit, commissioned by CTM in Berlin and Sonic Acts in Amsterdam, and premiered there on the GRM Acousmonium. The music is inspired by the pioneering research of – and dedicated to – American composer and installation artist Maryanne Amacher (1938 – 2009), and performed entirely on the Serge Modular analogue synthesizer. A version of the work adapted for home listening was released on Shelter Press in summer 2021.

Ankersmit and Amacher first met in New York in 2000, and kept in touch over the following years. Her concerts and installations left a lasting impression on him, and Amacher introduced Ankersmit to the Serge synthesizer.

In »Perceptual Geography«, Ankersmit explores different “modes” of listening: not just which sounds are heard and when, but also ‘how’ and ‘where’ sounds are experienced (in the room, in the body, inside the head, far away, nearby). So-called “otoacoustic emissions” play a prominent role. These are sounds generated by the listener’s ears themselves, triggered by sounds Ankersmit produces, and emanating from inside the head - an overwhelmingly immersive experience that few listeners have experienced before.

Author: Thomas Ankersmit

Carol Robinson: Birbynė

Yannick Guédon: Baryton, treble viola da gamba

Bertrand Gauguet: Alto saxophone

Spatial reproduction of the instrumental voices via the Sound Dome: Benjamin Miller, Ludger Brümmer

With the presentation of the piece »Occam Delta XIX«, I would like to establish a new connection between the work of Éliane Radigue and the performance of Thomas Ankersmit, but also with Maryanne Amacher's work to which Ankersmit refers in his performance.

Although Thomas Ankersmit's aesthetic clearly belongs to a younger generation of composers, commonalities can be found in the structure and aesthetic of the three musicians: Extended structures that work with the most subtle changes in sound structures over longer periods of time.

In the version of »Occam Delta XIX« for Sound Dome presented here, the sound material is to be placed ethereally, abstractly and acousmatically in space, but without making its process of creation visible. Éliane Radigue, coming from the GRM in Paris, followed this principle for more than 30 years. The particularity of this interpretation lies in the separation of the three sound sources/instruments and their subtle movement in space. The latter is difficult for the musicians to perform in reality while concentrating on the difficult production of the sound. I am curious to see, if the acousmatic version of the 24 minutes lasting work, will also be able to create a similar fascination as the version with the performers on stage.

Another intention for the programming of »Occam Delta XIX« was the desire to draw attention to the new CD »OCCAM OCEAN 4«, which the three musicians recorded together with ZKM | Hertz-Lab sound engineer Sebastian Schottke here in the Kubus in March 2021 and with the help of which the listeners can also establish their own contact with the sounds of Éliane Radique.

Author: Ludger Brümmer