Curated by Bettina Wackernagel, Mo Loschelder and Sabine Sanio, the festival “Heroines of Sound”, now in its third year, presents past and present heroines of electronic sound. In concerts, performances, videos, and discussions, early female electronic music is presented together with female artists who are transforming and performatively interpreting electronic sound today at the highest levels of pop and electronic music. By opening up new perspectives, the Heroines of Sound make the quality and variety of female artists in the area of electronic music both audible and visible.
In 2016 the Heroines of Sound Festival is dedicated to two main focal points: The music of Beatriz Ferreyra and Christine Groult, two composers associated with the “groupe de recherches musicales” (GRM), which to this day qualifies as an insider’s tip. The second focus lies on Cathy Berberian (1925–1983), the most significant pioneer of new vocal practice in the 20th century. The festival opening will present the audio-visual performance “SHIROSHI” by Berlin artist Miako Klein. The concert programme at HAU2 ranges from amplified vocal chamber music and electronic performances with Audrey Chen, Annette Krebs and the Theremin virtuoso Dorit Chrysler to multi-channel computer music and conceptual electronic sound by Lucrecia Dalt and an experimental DJ set by JD Zazie. Ute Wassermann’s interpretation of Cathy Berberian’s famous “Stripsody” and Anna Clementi’s reinterpretations of two compositions, written particularly for Berberian by John Cage and Luciano Berio, will be supplemented by such artists as Natalie Beridze and Sofia Härdigwho are combining voice and electronic. In a portrait concert, the Ensemble KNM will present contemporary works by the two French composers Clara Maïda and Loïse Bulot. The concert program will be completed by panel discussions on the festival’s key aspects.
SOUNDBAR and Video Portraits
Once again this year, in addition to the evening programmes we are offering visitors to the festival an exhibition in the HAU foyer with video portraits and the SOUNDBAR.
The bar, a listening station equipped with several headphones, is open daily from 6:00 p.m. to provide some variety during the breaks. The Heroines of Sound Selections, curated by the artists and the festival team, presents their own compositions as well as those of artists not represented in the festival’s evening programmes. The Heroines of Sound Selections encompasses over 50 titles, with the musical spectrum ranging from the tape music of musique concrète and remixes to sound art.
Video Portraits
In collaboration with IMAfiction, Institut für Medienarchäologie (Hainburg, Austria) Heroines of Sound present film portraits of: Beatriz Ferreyra, Electric Indigo, Maryanne Amacher, Anne la Berge, Eliane Radigue, Andrea Sodomka, Rebekah Wilson aka Netochka Nezvanova, Liesl Ujvary, Suzanne Ciani.
Exhibition SHIROSHI
A performative sound, light, video and space installation by the artist Miako Klein
Galerie BRAENNEN, Stresemannstraße 25, Berlin 10963
The artist develops a structured improvisation/composition for contrabass recorder solo with electronic effects, initiating a dialogue with video recordings and acoustic image transformations. Kenya Hara’s reflections on Japanese aesthetics (WHITE 2007/2014) provided the impulse for the installation “Shiro: Concepts of White”. Starting from the term “shiro” Miako Klein develops a resonance chamber that interweaves concentration and imagination, provide the observing listeners with the opportunity to experience an energetic field between emptiness and fullness.
08.12. 18:00 Opening
09.12. 15:30–17:30 Installation
18:00 Performance
10.12. 18–20:00 Installation
11.12. 16–20:00 Installation
