28th meeting, Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Veljo Runnel
Wednesday, November 28th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

This month's helikoosolek features a return visit from biologist and nature recordist Veljo Runnel, who will present to us the revival and redesign of the online portal for Estonian animal sounds, Kõrv loodusesse (Ear into Nature).

The portal was launched in 2000, with as its main purpose the offering of online multimedia resources to schools. But as feedback has shown, the website has been used not just for educational purposes, but by many general listeners seeking a connection to nature when time or opportunity does not permit them to go there themselves. The website has had the same design and build more than ten years and with all the advances in web technologies it became apparent that it was time to modernize the Kõrv loodusesse portal.

In helikoosolek we will look at what has been done and why:

• scientific database
• quiz module
• new look and feel

Plus a general discussion on topics such as:

• nature sound databases - concepts and functions.
• How to use amateur nature recording for scientific purposes.

Veljo Runnel is a biologist, but also studied psychology at the University of Tartu. He started sound recording in 1999, with as his main interests the sounds of animals and natural soundscapes, but also auditory perception in general and the interpretation of  the sonic world. He has been running workshops for teachers and nature interpreters for learning about biodiversity in nature, and also workshops in nature photography and sound recording.

He has released several nature sound CDs with The Estonian Fund for Nature.

http://www.loodusheli.ee
http://naturesoundscapes.eu
http://estlander.soundcloud.com

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms.  The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback.  Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee

27th meeting, Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Martins Rokis
Wednesday, October 31st
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

Martins Rokis works with sound in different contexts/forms combining interests in so-called computer music and sound art. His work is a blend of generative strategies and improvisation exploring digital sound synthesis, spatiality and multimodality of human perception. In 2012 he founded duh-noh, an small-scale independent platform for digital and physical releases. He mostly works with open source software and operating systems, programming his own tools, using his computer not as a cheap and easy solution for simulation of already existing musical practices, but rather as a tool for modeling physically impossible situations and exploring the ways that this medium and working conditions changes, influences or even controls ones aesthetic choices, and perhaps let’s one think about sound in ways that aren't possible using other existing methods. Often by means of processes that intensify perception, he is specifically interested in constructing situations in which the audience is not just passively hearing some kind of fixed “audio reality” but also actively participating in it's creation through the act of hearing.

http://www.martinsrokis.com
http://duh-noh.com

For helikoosolek we will be exploring themes such as:

• software as artistic medium
• how software can enable (or disable) ways of generating form and translating ideas
• role of tools we use in our creative process or why technological objects are never neutral
• core differences between physical and digital instruments
• live coding, performance and different notions of “liveness”

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms. The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback. Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/helikoosolek
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee

26th meeting, Wednesday, September 26th, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
open listening session
Wednesday, September 26th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu



Less talking and more listening this week, as helikoosolek organiser Patrick McGinley selects a playlist of sound and video featuring field recording, acoustic experimentation, spatial exploration, and composition. McGinley will delve into the collection of sounds that have come his way as the purveyor for over 10 years of framework radio, and that have come to his attention through the worldwide network of sound artists of which he has been a part for just as long. We will explore durational listening and how it affects perception, and discuss and describe our experiences of non-musical listening.

Likewise, participants are able and encouraged to bring along their favorite non-musical recording to share with the group, as an experiment with the first "open-mic" segment of helikoosolek.

Patrick McGinley is an American-born sound, performance, and radio artist based in Europe since 1996. In 2002 he founded framework, an organisation that produces a weekly field recording-themed radio show, broad- and podcasting around the world. In 2005, he began working closely with the artist-run organisation MoKS in southeast Estonia, relocating there permanently in 2009. Most recently McGinley has been giving presentations, workshops, and performances based on the exploration of site-specific sound and sound as definition of space. McGinley's work is about small discoveries and concentrated attention; it focuses on the framing of sounds around us which normally pass through our ears unnoticed and unremarked, but which out of context become unrecognisable, alien and extraordinary: crackling charcoal, a squeaking escalator, a buzzing insect, or one's own breath. He works equally with spaces, objects, resonances, and people, in composition, performance, or simply collective action and experience, in exploration of perception via attentive listening.

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms. The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback. Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/helikoosolek
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee

25th meeting, Wednesday, August 29th, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Uwe Wüst
Wednesday, August 29th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

helikoosolek:tartu is back! we've been on summer break for the last few months, but we're back with new fall programming now, beginning very soon, in 5 days in fact, with our August edition. We thought we'd start the new season off with some physics, so this month's helikoosolek features a visit from Austrian sound engineer and acoustician Uwe Wüst.

Uwe describes himself thusly:

- born 14.2.1964 germany
- interest in sound since 1976
- drummer since 1977
- built first speakers in 1980
- built first studio in 1984
- speaker installations for cinemas, etc

Interests:

- ethnological music from all ages & regions
- natural sounds made by machines & things
- Professional sound engineer since 1999:
- chief sound engineer at Joe Zawinul's Birdland, Townhall Vienna, Planet Music (all in Vienna)
- more than 1000 live shows & recordings (music, readings, theater, television, etc.)
- many soundsystems installed Townhall Vienna, etc.)
- live mixes of The Bulgarian Voices, Joe Zawinul & The Zawinul Syndicate, Joe Sample & Randy Crawford, The Temptations, Louis Hayes, George Duke & Stanley Clarke, Scott Henderson Trio, etc.
- experiments with mics & pick-ups

For helikoosolek we will be exploring:

- perceiving sound & how human beings handle it
- mics + how to deal with them
- installed soundsystems
- theory + practical examples

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms. The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback. Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com/
http://www.moks.ee/
http://www.erm.ee/

helikoosolek:tartu ::: summer break

Hi folks,

This is just a brief note to let you know about our plans for the summer. We usually take one of the summer months off for a much needed break, but this year, due to a guest's cancellation for the June edition, we're making it two months. So we're taking June and July off, and we'll be back on August 29th with our next edition of helikoosolek:tartu. For the 2nd half of our 2012 season we're hoping to have more grassroots activites and fewer guest speakers: editions led by members, activities we can do ourselves, and things that may get us a bit more out of the museum. If you have any ideas get in touch and let us know - they don't need to be complicated, or even be completely thought out at this stage, but let's start planting our own seeds a bit more...

So - see you in August!

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms.  The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback.  Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee

24th meeting, Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Dr Felicity Ford
Wednesday, May 30th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu



Dr Felicity Ford celebrates the creative sonic potentials hidden in the everyday through a playful focus on sounds and listening, drawing attention to the background noises of ordinary life and elevating and frameworking them through a wide range of imaginative approaches. Felicity is especially interested in domestic spaces and materials as sites of meaning and artistic creativity. She likes to make soundwork about washing up, clothes, food, housework, and knitting. Recent commissions include a soundtrack for a 1934 maternity healthcare film held in the collections of the British Film Institute and the Wellcome Library - Bathing & Dressing; a project for the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture exploring wallpaper in sound - Sonic Wallpaper; and a hand-knitted sound-system, designed for playing back recordings of sheep farms and shepherds - Hûrd – A KNITSONIK™ PRODUKTION- commissioned by Rheged and the British Wool Marketing Board.

In recent years, Ford has become increasingly fascinated with the relationships between sounds and everyday textiles. All projects conducted in this realm are part of the KNITSONIK group of projects; the KNIT component is always focused on the technical and physical aspects of textiles, while the SONIK component is always focused on the particularities of various geographies, and on sound's unique ability to capture a sense of place and materiality.

Currently, Ford is on a residency at MoKS, where she is exploring the idea of a wool-based cultural exchange between the UK and Estonia. She has traveled to Mooste bearing sounds and artefacts from the British Woollen industry, and is interested in sharing and exchanging these articles for sounds and artefacts from the Estonian Wool industry. Within this mission is a broader question about the meaning of our clothes, the subtexts of our outfits, and the links between the landscapes where we live and work and the clothes which we wear therein.

For helikoosolek:tartu, the focus will be on documenting and celebrating our outfits, and finding links between the clothes that we wear and the sonic textures in the world to which they refer. We will work together to inventory and celebrate each others' outfits; discuss the sounds associated with their making and wearing; and reflect on the texts we create every day when we get dressed. Recording equipment will be used throughout, and participants will have a chance to capture sounds in various ways, co-creating an instant and ephemeral Clothes Museum. Drawing inspiration from the astounding display of historic costumes shown at the Museum itself, The Instant Clothes Museum will culminate in a gift-giving session, in which participants will choose a badge to compliment their outfit or emphasize some aspect of their clothing which has arisen during our discussions. 

Dr Felicity Ford's activities in Estonia are supported by The British Council, The Estonian Ministry of Culture and The Estonian Cultural Endowment.

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms.  The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback.  Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum.
http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee

23rd meeting, Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Sergei Kleyn
Wednesday, April 25th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

Since 2003 Sergei Kleyn, a poet/writer/performer/composer from Odessa, Ukraine, has been the driving force behind the international community of musicians known as Ukr.tele.kom. The main issues on their agenda have been: sound exchange via various mediums (internet, snail-mail, "gypsy mail"), composing pieces together as well as improvising spontaneously in different locations all over Europe. This network consists of over 70 musicians/improvisers worldwide and has released records via net-labels and samizdat labels, including their own SAMOPAL RECORDS. Additionally, various line-ups have toured in Germany, France and Croatia extensively since 2004. Much of the network's activity has also happened in Ukraine - mainly Odessa and Kiev.

Another important part of Ukr.tele.com, dubbed "m'lah (messenger)" has been giving the voice to people otherwise not identified as musicians and to sounds they make. Included in this company have been homeless children from Ukrainian shelters, strret singers, town madmen, marketplace drunkards etc. These recordings have been featured in concerts as samples on also have appeared on records by UTK. But most importantly, this underlines the point that YOU ARE Ukr.tele.kom.

In his workshop on the 25th of April, issues on the agenda will be: using studio as means of composition/improvisation; echo; creation of ambiences; natural acoustic environments; freeware as tools to aid sound/art; and various others.

Be prepared to take part in collective composition/improv, because, after all, YOU ARE Ukr.tele.kom if you are there. Period.

Some links:
www.soundcloud.com/ukr-te
www.soundcloud.com/graveyardshift-1
www.youtube.com/ukrtelekom
www.last.fm/music/Ukr.Tele.Kom

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms.  The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback. Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee

22nd meeting, Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Pavel Kadõkov
Wednesday, March 28th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

For the 22nd edition of helikoosolek:tartu our guest will be Tartu resident Pavel Kadõkov. Pavel has a special interest in psychology, and will talk about how different sounds and music can influence the human psyche and physiology. We will listen to several recorded examples, and perform several practical experiments together. Participants will experience personally how certain sounds and music can evoke similar images for different people.

We will also discuss the potentially hypnotic influence of sound, for example sound in advertisement, meditative and therapeutic music, mystical practice, or music as a physiological and visual experience. In practice we will explore how it is possible to restore or mobilise psychic and emotional resources with the help of different meditative exercises and music. We will learn to choose music that will evoke and amplify desired psychic and emotional states. This can be very useful for those who want to learn to motivate themselves, restore energy, or maintain emotional capacity.

Pavel Kadõkov is blind, and for him sound is the main source of information. He is a sound recordist, and has a deep interest in the influence of sound on human emotion and behaviour. Having practiced several forms of meditation, he has observed and documented certain connections between sound and psychic states.

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms. The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback. Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva
Muuseum.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee

21st meeting, Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Vahram Muradyan
Wednesday, February 29th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

This month we receive a visit from Tartu-resident Vahram Muradyan. In his own words:

WHO:

Muradyan (aka vahrammuradyan) is a multi-instrumental experimental vocal artist. He was born in 1983 in Armenia. After graduating from secondary piano school at the Yerevan State Conservatory he started making goa-trance music on four-track recorders. After a couple of airings on a local radio station and in clubs he quit and continued improvising on piano, waiting for better software to come.

In 2004-2007 Muradyan went on recording and mixing beats and acoustic noises on a low-fi recorder, adding electronic sounds and eventually collected them as the Heart Cocktail album to conclude that period.

Songs About The Sona San appeared shortly after in 2008.

Muradyan’s next album Cutcult (Raw Cut)(2009) reveals his old interest in hip-hop: “collages mixed of different samples from different times and genres exhaling crunchy rhythmic hip hop sound”, as is written on his website. The album was released as 50 hand-made signed copies.

The newest album Lepiku Cradles Live is a collection of best tracks played live in audio/visual performances called “Cradles”. This was a collaboration with VJ Sveta Bogomolova.

Now he's working on a series of vocal compositions recorded in one take using loops and various self-developed multilayer techniques. First track of the series is called "Things Adi found in a drawer of an abandoned hotel room" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaM8pgdSMZc )

To download music please visit : http://www.vahrammuradyan.com/music

Everything else : http://www.facebook.com/fb.vahrammuradyan

WHAT:

Group performance/workshop/opwork "Seven letter rich language".

WHY:

http://www.istockphoto.com/search/text/Singing/source/basic#1affe05d

TOOLS TO BRING:

1) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Gray956.png
2) http://www.fpnotebook.com/_media/entEarTympanicMembraneGrayBB909.gif
3) A bottle of mineral water

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms.  The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback.  Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee

20th meeting, Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Evelyn Müürsepp & John Grzinich
Wednesday, January 25th
6-8pm

Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

For this Helikoosolek Evelyn Müürsepp & John Grzinich will lead a workshop and presentation based on the idea of "Sonic Traces", how physical processes not only leave marks but also reveal something in the sounds they make. The focus will be on sound and drawing, looking at the idea of "translation" from one medium to another. Evelyn and John will lead some simple exercises to illustrate their ideas and talk about and play pieces from their collaborative sound and drawing project "Sonic Scratch Cycles", which will be shown at the NAPP exhibition in Pärnu in February. The project is based on an ongoing series of site-specific sound and drawing actions recorded in different locations. No experience is necessary. All are welcome.

Evelyn Müürsepp is a mixed media artist and cultural coordinator, based in Southeast Estonia. Since 2001 she has worked as an artist organizer, coordinating activities for MoKS - a non-profit residency center and project space. This ongoing life-university has offered her the opportunity to learn from artists from all over the world and develop fruitful collaborations in various media. Her recent interest and ongoing work is with drawing where she explores how the repetitive movement of a pen/pencil affects the body and its motion. This surface-body-surface feedback is a generative method to shift from abstraction to figural imagery.

http://maaheli.ee/eku

John Grzinich has been conducting his own forms of sound research for over 15 years, including field recording, kinetic sculptures, electro acoustic composition, performance, group workshops and exercises in listening.

http://maaheli.ee

helikoosolek:tartu is a regular gathering for the exploration of sound in all forms. The meetings comprise presentations, concerts, workshops, discussions, and field trips pertaining to sound and its consideration in art, music, architecture, ecology, philosophy, social and cultural interaction, and any other context that presents itself. Participants are encouraged to propose activities or discussions on topics of their interest, or to present projects of their own for feedback.  Sessions take place on the last Wednesday of each month, from 6-8pm at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

helikoosolek:tartu is organised by MoKS and supported by Eesti Rahva
Muuseum.

http://helikoosolek.blogspot.com
http://www.moks.ee
http://www.erm.ee