Monday 14 December 2015, 8pm
Delighted to welcome the exciting pairing of Austrian-based drummer Martin Brandlmayr and French improviser, composer and visual artist eRikm. The programme will start with a set from current Cafe OTO/Sound and Music Embedded artist-in-residence Mari Ohno.
eRikm is a French improviser, composer and visual artist who has been active in art since 1992. Maintaining a constant fusion between thought, instinct and sensitivity, he pursues a simultaneity of practices and addresses the interplay between various compositional modes, relating to and using all languages. From his early experience as a guitarist through to his later visual work, he is a maverick genre-bender who breaks down anyone’s attempts to conveniently classify him. Quickly recognised as a virtuoso turntablist and sound artist (1996), eRikm has made a longlife habit of crossing all territories and « world-systems » deemed "independent", "institutional". At the same time (1997), he has developed an open and aspirational approach toward the technological media, both as a means of development for a new economic model and as an instrument for creation, production and diffusion. He deals with sounds like living organisms, constantly in flux, always open to the risk of accident or delight/unisson. As he plays with all these contradictions in his improvisations, his performance reaches new heights of intensity, trading off both understanding and sensation, seriousness and farce, anticipation and instinct. His work references both the intimate and political, both popular and high culture, but without demonstration. Rather he creates a short-circuit connection between points with his live generated (and degenerated) material – from noise to reference – presenting multiple ways to capture each moment of the present in clear focus. Throughout his career, collaborations have naturally occurred with his audiences and contemporaries, most notably :Luc Ferrari,Christian Marclay,Mathilde Monnier,Bernard Steigler,Fm Einheit... The kind of coincidences which have confirmed his instinctive search for transmutation, and to play on several levels. Since 1997, on his own or with collaborators, eRikm has toured (with 5-7 on-tour projects to date), or created by request specific pieces, both transversal or for fixed spaces (record labels, radio, festivals, art centres...) In the meanwhile, each time building on what has emerged before, the most personal fragments from his work (notably from his early artworks in photography, drawings, visual installations and video) continue to substantiate a singular kaleidoscopic vision.
Martin Brandlmayr is widely recognized for his work in a variety of so-called “post-rock” bands, namely Radian, Trapist, and Autistic Daughters, among others. Critic Brian Olewnick has called Brandlmayr’s work “extraordinarily precise”. Among others, Brandlmayr has recorded or performed with John Tilbury, Fennesz, Chad Taylor, and Otomo Yoshihide, eRikm. He was artist in residence 2002 at Podewil, Berlin. He now lives in Vienna, Austria and is an active member of Polwechsel.
Mari Ohno is a sound artist, based in London and Tokyo. She is a PhD student studying sound and science at Goldsmiths, University of London. Most of her works are sound installation and performance, which are focused on the cross-discipline areas of sound, computational, and biological arts, to explore the boundary between living and non-living. She has been selected for a residency as one of two composers for the Embedded programme organized by Sound and Music (UK), and is spending 18 months in residence at Cafe OTO.
Her works have been presented at various venues, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Japan), Tokyo Wonder Site (Japan), Cafe OTO (UK), among others. In addition, She has presented her projects at international conferences, such as ISEA and NIME.
She has been selected for prestigious competitions, including the Grand Prix of Tokyo Sonic Art Award, the Jury Selection of Japan Media Arts Festival, and the Nomination of BLOOOM Award by Warsteiner in Germany.