ISACS17: Spencer Topel

Under the chairmanship of Morten Søndergaard and Peter Weibel the conference »ISACS17: Resonant Worlds – Curating Sound, Art & Science« takes place at the ZKM from 28–30 September, 2017. The conference addresses and debates the resonant worlds of sound, art, science and curation.

ISACS17 (re)investigates the  intersections of sound, art and science from the perspective of artistic / creative curation. The participants are asked to showcase, and reflect on, their own practices from the perspective of how and why choices are made in order to make things »work« – in the sense that it resonates in/with other people, contexts, culture, society, history, and »the world«. These are perhaps issues of (and effects from) embodied experiences, of language games, of existence.

Lecture

Transient Transience: Locating Art in Sound

This paper considers distinctions between visual and sonic art practices with regards to aesthetics, technology, decorum, and materiality. Current sound art trajectories are considered in relation to historical experimental interdisciplinary art movements. I further examine these topics in recent sound and interactive works from perspectives of presenter, artist, and researcher. In particular curation of the Dartmouth Resonant Spaces quarterly fall 2017 exhibition, and the realization of installations, performance-installation hybrids, and sound synthesis research since 2014.

Bio

Spencer Topel is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore relationships between architecture, space, and form. He is a recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a Danish International Visiting Artist Residency in 2013 (DIVA), the Palmer Dixon Prize from the Juilliard School for best composition, BMI and ASCAP Awards, and was an artist-in-residence with the Meitar Ensemble in July 2014 (Tel Aviv).