Thu, 29 January 09, 9.30 p.m.
Bar Novo Ciclo
Associação Cultural e Recreativa de Tondela
Rua Dr. Ricardo Mota
3461-909 Tondela
Portugal

Binaural travels to the near city of Tondela (Viseu, PT) to a screening-talking session organized by ACERT. During the session, Binaural’s history, motivations and activities will be discussed and excerpts of some videos developed in Nodar will be screened.

Binaural U.S. Tour 2009
Lectures | Workshops | Concerts
January, 21st – February, 17th 2009

Between January, 21st and February, 17th 2009, Binaural founder and sound artist Rui Costa and the sound/video artist Maile Colbert will conduct a series of lectures, workshops and concerts hosted by US universities and cultural organizations. Through this tour, Binaural seeks to share with artists, students and communities from across Atlantic the experience of an immersive and committed site-specific art practice and of creative interaction with rural communities. A particular focus will be given to the different possibilities of working with sound in a site-specific manner.

As part of the lectures, some excerpts of works developed in Nodar will be presented, by such sound / video artists as Martin Clarke & Alicja Rogalska, Vered Dror, Maile Colbert, John Grzinich, Aaron Ximm, Pablo Rega & Oscar de Paz, Jurate Jarulyte Weiss, o.blaat, Pali Meursault, Viv Corringham, Rui Costa & Manuela Barile, Suzanne Caines, Christine Niehoff and Xesús Valle.

Full Program:

Wed, Jan. 21st – 8.00 pm
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
http://www.massart.edu/
Screening and Lecture

Sun, Jan. 25th – 9.00 pm
Share NYC, NY
http://www.share.dj/
Concert by Maile Colbert and Rui Costa: “The Future Memory Project”

Mon, Jan. 26th – 2.00 pm
Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/
Conference and Workshop

Mon, Jan. 26th – 8.00 pm
Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/
Concert by Maile Colbert and Rui Costa: “The Future Memory Project”

Wed, Jan. 28th – 9.00 pm
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY
http://www.hallwalls.org/
Concert by Maile Colbert (“Transit”) and Rui Costa (“The Future Memory Project”)

Thu, Jan. 29th – 3:15 pm
State University of New York, Buffalo, NY
http://www.buffalo.edu/
Screening, Lecture and Workshop

Mon, Feb. 2nd – 4.30 pm
State University of New York, Binghamton, NY
http://www.binghamton.edu/
Lecture and Workshop

Thu, Feb. 12th – 8.00 pm
Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA
http://www.echoparkfilmcenter.org/
Screening and Lecture

Sat, Feb. 14th – 4.00 pm
Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA
http://www.echoparkfilmcenter.org/
Workshop

Sun, Feb. 15th – 7.00 pm
Los Angeles Filmforum, Los Angeles, CA
http://lafilmforum.wordpress.com/
Screening and Lecture

Tue, Feb. 17th – 7.00 pm
California Institute for the Arts, Valencia, CA
http://www.calarts.edu/
Screening and Lecture

Nodar Artist Residencies Program:
Second residency module of 2008 happens between June, 1st and June 21st in Nodar, S. Pedro do Sul (PT)

The Nodar Artist Residency Center is located in a rural mountain community of Portugal (Nodar, S. Pedro do Sul) and organizes and produces multidisciplinary artistic projects (mainly in the areas of sound, visual and intermedia arts) from both local and international artists, followed by public presentations in the region. During their stay, the resident artists are encouraged to establish interactions with the place, its inhabitants, geographic space and social memory.

The second residency module of 2008 will happen between June, 1st and June, 21st with three artists: the French sound artist Pali Meursault, the German video artist Christine Niehoff and the French performer Cédric Anglaret. The organization invites to Nodar all artists and students who want to meet the resident artists and follow the development of their projects.

On June 21st a final public event will happen, where the three projects will be presented, along with other parallel activities (a pedestrian walk, documentary films projection and a traditional dance party).

(cilck on the image to see it in detail)

Art Projects:

Cédric Anglaret (France)
“A legend that becomes reality”
Performance in public space

Description:
Investigate for local traditional tales, beliefs and legend, choose one and make it come true.

Intentions:
The idea is, in this time of transition, to reactivate the past (traditions) within the present in order to question the future. An old legend that suddenly reappears calls for reactions and interrogations.

Christine Niehoff (Germany)
“Survival kit”
Visual arts

A quasi-instructional video about survival in post catastrophic times. Partly comical and absurd due to the sheer hopelessness of the endeavor (survival chances seem to be pretty slim in many scenarios), partly very serious due to the determination to try, the work will be a collection of video art, writing, photography, sculpture, installation and performance. The project will be made locally in response to the space and people of Nodar.

Pali Meursault (France)
“Walk[s]”
Field recordings, sound art

« Walk[s] » is a project of sound creation and also the research for a form of musical writing, through the meeting with an environment. This research will use the techniques of field-recording, as well as improvisation with found objects, sound installation or documentary, and mainly: walking exploration and encounters. All of this carried out with an extended idea of what an environment is, by questioning the sonorous specificities of space, as well as its geographical, temporal, social or political datum.

Co-organization: Associação Cultural de Nodar | Binaural
Funding: Portuguese Ministry of Culture / General Office for the Arts
Support: MoKS (Estonia) | Criar Raízes Project (Portugal) | S. Pedro do Sul City Council (Portugal)
Media Partner: Viseu TV

How to reach Nodar, see the link.

For lodging near Nodar, see the link.

Nodar Artist Residency Center coordinates, along with the “Criar Raízes” Project, the “Cinema nas Aldeias” program in the S. Pedro do Sul area.

The “Cinema nas Aldeias” (“Cinema in the Villages”) program consists in the itinerant projection of documentary films in the most isolated and peripheral rural villages of the Gralheira mountains, in partnership with the local community organizations. The purpose of this project is to promote a contact with the diversity of the contemporary world and to develop a sense of understanding and tolerance regarding different forms of living and thinking.

The new strategy of “Cinema nas Aldeias” is set to include more villages in the projection schedule, to promote the program to outside audiences, and to search for a diversified and renovated set of interesting documentary films. In order to stimulate the communication between creators and audiences, some of the directors will be invited to the projection events.

The June 08 schedule of “Cinema nas Aldeias” includes two documentary films directed by Carlos Eduardo Viana and produced by Associação Ao Norte, “O Fole” (“The Fole, an object from daily rural life”) and “Contra Corrente” (Against the Current”), and other two directed by Tiago Pereira, “Arritmias” (“Arrhythmias”) ” and “11 Burros Caem no Estômago Vazio” (11 Donkeys Fall on an Empty Stomach”).

The projections will happen in June 7, 8, 21 and 25 respectively in the rural villages of Covas do Monte, Candal, Nodar and Rompecilha.

+info:
Associação Cultural de Nodar

Binaural and Associação Cultural de Nodar present:

Media Arts. Tradition. Environment.

A multidisciplinary event in rural context, organized within the scope of the Nodar Artist Residency Program. An encounter between contemporary and traditional cultures. A dialogical reflection of Nodar geographical and socio-cultural contexts, directed to both rural and urban audiences.

Nodar, S. Pedro do Sul (Portugal) 19 April 08 – 3.00 p.m.

3.00 p.m. – Pedestrian Walk on the Banks of the river Paiva
5.30 p.m. – Three Audiovisual Projects by Artists from MoKS (Estonia): John Grzinich, Evelyn Müürsepp and Toomas Thetloff
7.00 p.m. – Traditional Songs by Two Local Collectives: Worksongs from Sequeiros and Challenging Singing (ancient form of Rap) from Parada de Ester
9.30 p.m. – Cinema: Three feature movies about rural life

Three artistic projects will be presented in the scope of a cooperation agreement in place with the Estonian organization MoKS:

John Grzinich | USA, Estonia
“Flowlines” | Sound and Video Art

A Sound Locations Project

My interest is to carry out a sonic and visual survey of the landscape around Nodar through a series of site-specific recording sessions. In particular I will attempt to compare and contrast the geographic lines caused by the natural water flows towards the river at the bottom of the valley versus the man-made aqueduct that transverses the vertical lines and brings water into the village. Both of these phenomena actually rely on natural forces yet one was created for a specific purpose for the local inhabitants.

John Grzinich is a mixed-media artist who has worked primarily with sound composition, performance and installation since the early 1990s. He has performed and worked on projects extensively throughout Europe and the US and has published a number of CDs of his compositions on such labels as Staalplaat (NL), Edition Sonoro (UK), SIRR (PT), CUT (CH), CMR (NZ), erewhon (BE), Intransitive Recordings (US), Orogenetics (US), Elevator Bath (US), Pale-Disc (JP), Digital Narcis (JP), and Cloud of Statics (CH). Currently John is a project and media lab coordinator for MoKS – Center for Art and Social Practice, an artist-run international residency center and project space in southeast Estonia.

http://maaheli.ee/

Evelyn Müürsepp | Estonia
“Pattern Research” | Drawing, painting, photography, installation

Recently a visit to Obinitsa (Setu village in Estonia by Russian border) twisted my mind. A local craftswoman showed me traditional patterns that ladies have done for hundreds of years and what they still keep creating on their clothes (embroidering, crocheting, knitting etc). There is one rule they have followed – one is never allowed to copy given pattern, but one always has to alter it somehow and must be able to show where the alteration was made. By coming to Nodar- I keep my eyes, senses and ears open. What can I find there? To research and collect patterns in and around Nodar. Drawing, painting, photographing, and recording them. These can be either patterns from nature or patterns from people’s activities (eg wallpaper patterns, stichings on fabrics). Work produced based on research: either animation, video, drawings, paintings or installation. It depends on the material I gather and in what I find.

Evelyn Müürsepp, is an Estonian visual artist. She holds a B.A in Fine Arts by the University of Tartu and is one of the coordinators of MoKS, an art residency center in Mooste. Evelyn collaborates with the sound artist John Grzinich in several projects combining sound and visual arts, and she has presented her solo works (mainly graphic art, painting, photography, site-specific installations) in galleries and festivals in several Baltic and northern Europe countries.

http://maaheli.ee/eku

Toomas Thetloff | Estonia
“Nodar Vs. NOGS” | Still photography video.

To perceive the fruitful characteristics of a subject, it is wise to examine it from many different perspectives. If we consider a space to be a vocabulary then we also need tools of common language to share the experience. For this reason I want to undergo the collective experience of Nodar through the eyes and ears of an ordinary villager. In a small community it is important for an organization to be aware of its impact on the community. One way to learn this is by examining the myths and stories people hold on them.

Toomas Thetloff is an Estonian interdisciplinary artist working in the fields of photography, sound, installation, performance and video. Since 2005 he has been running several performance-actions in cooperation with „Art Security” and EKSP. He is also a coordinator for an experimental project space „p.o.t.t.” and a member of MOKS.

http://www.fantomas.jabber.ee

Poster of the event (click on image to enlarge the poster’s size):

The Nodar Artist Residency Program for 2008 is about to start and will happen in four different modules between March and October. In this year’s residencies 15 artists from different origins and artist backgrounds were chosen by the selection committee to develop their own projects in the Nodar region. The Nodar Artist Residency Center, located in a rural mountain community of Portugal, organizes and produces the development of multidisciplinary artistic projects (mainly in the areas of sound, visual and intermedia arts) from both local and international artists, followed by public presentations in the region. The resident artists are encouraged to establish interactions with the place, its inhabitants, geographic space and memory.

Regarding this year’s projects it is worth mentioning an important presence of sound artists (7) who will develop their personal approaches to the local acoustical heritage and environment, both natural and human. For instance, Viv Corringham and Pali Meursault will deal with different notions of “sound walks” whereas Duncan Whitley will work with field recordings of a local football team to create a site-specific sound installation. Another interesting example is the project proposed by the Austrian musician Noid, a collective musical performance to happen simultaneously in several points of a mountain near Nodar, that will deal with a notion of balancing the performed sounds with the landscape sounds, without destroying what is already present.

One the other hand, an emphasis was given to projects that question and problematize the local social reality, through artistic reflections to be made together with the local communities. We believe that, together with the documentation of the local rural heritage, it is of utmost importance to provoke a free and uncompromised discussion (as it is, by definition, the artistic approach) about the reality and the tension aspects that it involves. In this regard, are worth mentioning the projects to be developed by Francisco Janes, Christine Niehoff and Cédric Anglaret.

Last but not the least, several parallel actions will be developed in each residency, namely in cooperation with the local schools. A final presentation of the artistic works will happen on the last Saturday of each residency module.

Artist residencies calendar for 2008:

31 March – 20 April
John Grzinich (USA / Estonia)*
Toomas Thetloff (Estonia)*
Evelyn Müürsepp (Estonia)*

* Artists invited under a cooperation agreement with the Estonian organization MoKS (http://www.moks.ee)

2 – 21 June
Cédric Anglaret (France)
Christine Niehoff (Germany)
Samuel Ripault (a.k.a. Pali Meursault) (France)

28 July – 16 August
Francisco Janes (Portugal)
Jurate Jarulyte Weiss (Lithuania)
Lezli Rubin-Kunda (Israel)
Viv Corringham (UK)

5 – 25 October
Arnold Haberl (a.k.a. Noid) (Austria) + guests
Wolfgang Dorninger (Austria)
Andrea Brandão (Portugal)
Duncan Whitley (UK)

Link to the complete artist residencies program (artists and projects), here.

Binaural launches a donation campaign to help supporting a set of new community-based projects in the Nodar region, a rural mountain area located in the Centre of Portugal.

These projects include the development of laboratories in audiovisual capturing and editing for the local communities’ youths, the launching of an itinerant exhibition programme of documentary films in the most isolated villages, and the setting in Nodar of an audiovisual documentation centre dedicated to the historical, social, cultural and environmental local heritages.

The donations obtained will help Binaural to buy audiovisual equipments and software, to pay the exhibition copyrights of movies and the edition of educational and promotion materials for the aforementioned projects.

Binaural is the co-producer, along with Associação Cultural de Nodar, of an international residencies’ programme on media and site-specific arts, that has been financially supported by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture with the logistic help of the São Pedro do Sul municipality.

To donate (through PayPal), go to the “Donations” box on the right sidebar of this blog.

The Latvian sound artist Maksims Shentelevs presented during Fronte[i]ras 07 a project that used recordings of mixed sounds made in specific acoustic environments of Nodar (water tanks, river banks, tree branches).

During the concert in Barcelos he created a composition using each of the three sound environments along with several percussion and string instruments (two of them built by the artist in Nodar, string instruments using burnt wood from a huge fire that almost destroyed the village two years ago).

Here is the audio from Maksims Shentelevs’ concert at the Municipal Library of Barcelos’ Auditorium (September, 29th 2007):

Maksims Shentelevs @ Fronte[i]ras 07 Play Now

The Portuguese composer, multi-instrumentist and filmmaker António Pedro developed during Fronte[i]ras 07 a very idiosincratic project, “I just want to be (what I am)”, that dealt with the urge to clarify the personal artistic borders. As a final result, António presented a multimedia performance, mixing live music with a prerecorded video conceived and shot at NOGS residency in Nodar, Portugal.

Here is the audio from António Pedro’s concert at the Municipal Library of Barcelos’ Auditorium (September, 29th 2007):

Antonio Pedro live @ Fronte[i]ras 07 Play Now

Click on photo to see in bigger size