Holly Herndon: Concert: BODYSOUND @ Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/calendar-and-events/2014/12/05/holly-herndon-concert/4348

CONCERTS & PERFORMANCES

Holly Herndon: Concert

Friday, December 5, 2014 @ 7 pm

Venue: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Series: Performance at the Guggenheim: Blood Makes Noise

Holly Herndon’s compositions map a sonic territory that hovers between bodily experience and the virtual realm of computer technology. As part of the series Performance at the Guggenheim: Blood Makes Noise, she presents two special evening concerts in the museum’s Tower Gallery Level 5. Performing in collaboration with guest dancers and vocalists, the concerts highlight musical works written for a multichannel ambisonic speaker system, creating a uniquely immersive audience experience.

General admission tickets ($25, $20 members) go on sale October 31. Please note that due to space restrictions, ticket availability is extremely limited.

In the case of a sold out event, standby numbers are available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning 30 minutes before the start of the performance. Each person is given one number (good for one ticket), and may hold a number for one other person. After ticket-holders have been seated, numbers will be called in order and standby tickets will be sold as space allows. Please contact 212 423 3587 for more information.

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Body Sound was composed by Herndon, in collaboration with choreographer and dancer Cuauhtemoc Peranda, and performed at Stanford University CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics).

Peranda’s body acts like a voice, guiding the listener through this complex yet visceral piece. Herndon restructured the sounds of the dancer’s body to make an arrangement that is simultaneously rhythmic, fragmented, and incredibly physical. In real time, she spatialized the sound-body using ambisonics in a field of 8 speakers, while Peranda performed the original choreography, creating an uncanny duet of physical and virtual bodies. Body Sound is all about the dancer making contact with the ground; a dragged heels squeaks, his rolling torso sends tumbling shockwaves through the speakers, and each stomp of a foot is a blast of sub-bass. Herndon builds on this source material, taking time to bend the sounds into an abstract sculptural form, only to pause again and reveal the dancer’s sonorous breath.

A great sense of optimism resonates through Body Sound. This is the sound of a living, breathing body in space, and a powerfully expressive document of experimental sound art.