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Le Corps Sonore

The Artists’ Process

Sunday, July 23, 2017
2:00 PM–3:30 PM

The site-specific installation Le Corps Sonore, which makes the museum space itself an instrument of transformation, is the centerpiece of the Rubin’s exhibition The World Is Sound. In this conversation moderated by curator Risha Lee, artists Laetitia Sonami, Bob Bielecki, and Éliane Radigue (via Skype from Paris, France) will discuss their creation, its connection with Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, its interaction with other works of art in the museum, and its place in their long careers as artists and innovators of electronic music and sound art.

The World Is Sound exhibition is made possible through the generosity of HARMAN. Major support is provided by Rasika and Girish Reddy. The Rubin also thanks Preethi Krishna and Ram Sundaram and contributors to the 2017 Exhibitions Fund.

 


About the Speakers

Photo by Asya Danilova.
 

 

Composer, performer, instrument builder, and installation artist Laetitia Sonami was born in France and settled in the United States in 1975 to pursue her interest in live electronic music. She has studied with Éliane Radigue, Joel Chadabe, Robert Ashley, and David Behrman. Sonami’s sound performances, live-film collaborations, and sound installations focus on issues of presence and participation. Best known for her unique instrument, the elbow-length lady’s glove, which is fitted with an array of sensors tracking the slightest motion of her hand and body, Sonami has performed worldwide and earned significant international renown. Recent projects include the design of a new instrument, the Spring Spyre, which she premiered for a new composition by Éliane Radigue, OCCAM IX (as part of Radigue’s OCCAM Ocean series); Sound Gates, a public sound installation on a 2.5 km pier in Rijeka, Croatia; and Sheepwoman, a live film in collaboration with video artist SUE-C, based on a novel by Haruki Murakami.

Sonami has received numerous awards, including the Herb Alpert Awards in the Arts, the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Awards, and an Ars Electronica Honorary Mention.

Bob Bielecki has worked in the media arts field for more than forty years, creating unique instruments and sound designs for installation and performance. He is known for his innovative use of technology to develop distinctive electronic effects and environments and is engaged in ongoing research in psychoacoustics, sound localization, and 3-D audio. Bielecki has worked with notable artists including John Cage, Alvin Lucier, La Monte Young, and Pauline Oliveros. His association with Laurie Anderson dates from the mid-1970s, and he has worked with Stephen Vitiello and Annea Lockwood since the 1980s. He produced and engineered the groundbreaking media-arts residency program ZBS/AIR, and he helped to pioneer the field of binaural radio. A recipient of grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts, he is an associate professor of music at Bard College and serves on the faculty of the Bard MFA Program.

Éliane Radigue started her electronic music career in the 1950s. A student of Pierre Schaeffer, she later became assistant to Pierre Henry. Eliane first started exploring pieces using feedback techniques and later adopted the ARP 2500 modular system, which she used as her instrument for more than 30 years. In 2000 she created her last piece for the ARP and tape, L’lle Re-Sonante, for which she received the Ars Electronica Golden Nica. Since 2001 she has composed mostly for acoustic instruments. Major works include Geerliande, Adnos, Jestun Mila, Trilogie de la Mort, Naldjorlak, and the more recent OCCAM series. Two recent publications explore the life and work of Éliane Radigue: “Entretiens avec Éliane Radigue” by Bernard Girard (Editions Aedam Musicae), and “Éliane Radigue—Portraits Polychromes” (Institut National de l’audiovisuel).

Risha Leeis the curator of The World Is Sound. She is a graduate of Harvard College, and holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Columbia University. Her work has focused on artistic connections and encounters that traditionally have fallen under the rubric of Asian art but defy easy categorization. She has taught a variety of art history courses at Columbia University and the American University of Beirut, and is currently an independent curator and writer living in Brooklyn.

​Tickets: $20.00

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