38th meeting, Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Madis Vasser and Pilootkaste
Wednesday, November 27th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

Helikoosolek: Bring your own instrument that isn't an instrument!

For the final helikoosolek of 2013 we look closer to home for sonic inspiration, with a visit from longtime (I believe even from the very first meeting!) helikoosolek regular participant Madis Vasser and the fellow members of his Tartu-based experimental band, Pilootkaste.

Madis Vasser and his fellow psychology students have been dabbling in amateur student folk music in Tartu for the past few years. This October, the group won the newly created title of Experimental Band 2013 after a performance at the AHHAA Science Centre, through a willingness to try new things, a lack of conventional musical expertise, and a conviction that interesting sounds can be created from almost anything, by anyone. This is something they would like to share at this month's helikoosolek.

This time around the session will be quite down-to-earth and hands-on: after a short presentation of footage from the Experimental Band 2013 contest and a talk about the experience, the group will demo some of the solutions they used to make different sounds before inviting all attendees to join in for some interactive experimentation. The keywords are contact microphones and everyday objects - everyone is encouraged to bring their own "instruments", whether they be things that you think make interesting sounds on their own or things you believe might be interesting to hook up to contact microphones. We might end up creating interesting sound sets for experimental bands to come!

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, Tartu Linnavalitsus, and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

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

37th meeting, Wednesday, October 30th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Nele & Taavi Suisalu
Wednesday, October 30th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

This month's helikoosolek features a visit from Estonian artists, sister and brother Nele & Taavi Suisalu. They will be presenting some of the experiments conducted as artists-in-residence at Püha Vaimu Saal in October:

"We arrived at the residency with the intention of using the human body as a potential sound generator and manipulator. We were also interested in the communicative aspects of sound: considering voice as a link between inner selves and outer space. Some documentation of our process and public showings are available on the residency's blog." - Taavi Suisalu

Taavi Suisalu is currently finishing his MA in New Media department of Estonian Academy of Arts, primarily working in the context of technology, sound and performance. He is primarily concerned with dealing, revealing and/or intervening in socio-cultural constructs and researching how these shape and influence the behavior, perception and thinking of social beings. He is a member of the performative sound art collective Postinstrumentum. For more information see http://taavisuisalu.com/.

Nele Suisalu is an artist working mainly in contemporary dance, being also interested in vocal/sound experimentations. She is a member of collective Nomad'act that aims to dodge categorization by mixing media, multiplying means, manipulating the modes of creation and production, and the access to the audience. Since 2007 living and working mainly in France. For more information see http://nomadact.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, Tartu Linnavalitsus, and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

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

36th meeting, Wednesday, September 25th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Jörg Piringer
Wednesday, September 25th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

This month's helikoosolek features a visit from current MoKS artist-in-residence, Jörg Piringer. Piringer, born 1974 and currently living in Vienna, is a member of The Institute for Transacoustic Reseach and The Vegetable Orchestra. He holds a master's degree in computer science, and works as a freelance artist and researcher in the fields of electronic music, radio art, sound and visual electronic poetry, interactive collaborative systems, online communities, live performance, sound installation, computer games and video art.

For our meeting, Piringer will show and perform a selection of new and older finished and unfinished performances, installations and sound collections . He says: "This will be no fancy artsy talk but rather showing, hearing and experimentation for me as well as for the audience. less theory more action."

To find out what to expect, have a look here:
http://joerg.piringer.net

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, Tartu Linnavalitsus, and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

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

35th meeting, Wednesday, August 28th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
Wednesday, August 28th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

July 18th, 2013 was recognised as the 4th annual World Listening Day, a global project co-organised  by the World Listening Project (WLP) and the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology (MSAE). The purposes of World Listening Day (as stated on the WLP website) are:

• to celebrate the practice of listening as it relates to the world around us, environmental awareness, and acoustic ecology;
• to raise awareness about issues related to the World Soundscape Project, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, World Listening Project, and individual and group efforts to creatively explore phonography;
• and to design and implement educational initiatives which explore these concepts and practices.

July 18 was chosen as the date because it is the birthday of the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer, who celebrated his 80th birthday this year. Schafer is one of the founders of the Acoustic Ecology movement; the World Soundscape Project, which Schafer founded in 1971, is an important organization which has inspired a lot of activity in this field. The culmination of the World Soundscape Project’s pioneering research into the sound environment is described in his seminal book, The Tuning of the World. Published in 1977, it gained international attention and defined many new terms and concepts in sound and ecology popularly used to this day.

For this month's helikoosolek, we will be exploring a selection of the exercises in one of Shafer's later publications, 1991's A Sound Education: 100 Exercises in Listening and Sound-Making. An extract from the book's introduction:

The subject we are concerned with is sound, and the task is to suggest ways teachers might help students listen more effectively. [...] Obviously we listen in different ways to different things, and there is much evidence to suggest that not only individuals but societies listen differently. For instance, there is a difference between what we might call focused listening and peripheral listening. Why do we focus on certain sounds and merely overhear others? Are some sounds discriminated against culturally so that they are not heard at all? [...]  Are some sounds filtered out or rendered inconspicuous by others? And how does the changing acoustic environment affect the kinds of sounds we choose to listen to or ignore? [...]  I believe that the way to improve the world's soundscape is quite simple. we must learn how to listen. it seems to be a habit we have forgotten. we must sensitize the ear to the miraculous world of sound around us. [...]  How could I put all this in the most cogent manner for teachers and individuals who might be interested in such a program? I decided the simplest form would be the best: a collection of exercises - I would call them Ear Cleaning Exercises. [...]  I have gathered them loosely so that those at the beginning are concerned with aural perception and imagination, while those in the middle deal with the making of sounds, and those at the end deal with sound in society. [...] Take them: they're yours.

R Murray Shafer
Indian River, August 1991.

We will explore these exercises in or around our usual base at ERM. Please come prepared to spend some time outdoors, and bring pens/pencils and paper. An initial selection of the exercises in the book will be made, but participants are also very welcome (and encouraged) to suggest their own choices if they have access to the book.

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, Tartu Linnavalitsus, and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

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

33rd meeting report

photo by jaak kikas

a little late coming, but we're finally getting around to posting a recording from may's helikoosolek, which featured an extended group improvisation using old radios. we think it sounds great, and we though you might like to hear it.

34th meeting report

many thanks to all who came out to the 34th meeting of helikoosolek:tartu, where we explored field recording without technology. it was a rainy evening, so we sought a location with some cover, and choose the newly-renovated tartu train station. we only managed to snatcha  few minutes in the waiting area before they closed for the evening, but the covered train platforms provided the perfect environment (loud with the falling rain on metal roofing) for the rest of our meeting.

our outcome included drawing, writing, and paper-folding, all inspired and in response too the immediate sonic environment. here is a selection of what was produced. a few more contributions should be coming soon.

34th meeting, Wednesday, July 31st, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
Wednesday, July 31st
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

photo by Michael Gallagher

For this month's helikoosolek, as is out wont in summer, we will take a field trip out of our usual seminar room for a foray into technology-less field recording. There is much technology associated with sound and soundwork, but the most important remains the ear. In this meeting we will explore other ways of 'recording' sound, of responding to and interacting with a sonic environment. The recordings we make will be in movement, using our bodies or voices as playback devices, or on paper, as writing or drawing, using a pencil as a needle to record and interpret the vibrations around us.

Please come prepared to spend time outdoors, with appropriate clothing and good shoes. Please also bring writing or drawing materials (pens, pencils, paper, etc). An alternative indoor program will be prepared in case of bad weather. please arrive at ERM on time! We will set off from there shortly after 6pm.

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, Tartu Linnavalitsus, and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

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

33rd meeting, Wednesday, May 29th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Sven Vabar & Patrick McGinley
Wednesday, May 29th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

This month helikoosolek explores the radio - as object, instrument, and memory. Your regular host Patrick McGinley will be joined by local writer, reviewer of literature and sound/music, and editor working at the Estonian Literary Museum, Sven Vabar. Sven will present us some archival recordings and discuss their importance to him. In his own words:

I am going to present some radio sounds from my childhood in Elva, roughly from 1981‒1984. My grandparents had a huge vacuum tube radio, Minija 2, produced in Lithuania in 1962. From it we listened to Voice of America, Fred Jüssi's broadcast „Looduseaabits“ („ABC-book of nature“ or smth :)), live broadcasts of  the Song Festival, etc. I am going to play those sounds and some other signature tunes and broadcasts that we listened to back then, and which I later collected from the archives of Estonian National Broadcast. I played those sounds on the first Topofon event in Tartu in 2010, but that event was more „art“ and no words; this time I will talk about what those sounds meant to me as a small child, how they unconsciously defined for me „what is out there“ beyond the borders of our little flat in Elva. I suspect this static noise of our radio, and the analog synth ambient signatures inspired by J.M. Jarre, Vangelis, Kraftwerk and the like more or less defined me, how I see and sense the world now, and also what sound and music I listen to these days. But I strongly suspect I am not unique in any way; I think the whole generation in Estonia, Eastern Europe and partly the whole Western world was strongly influenced by these kind of radio sounds, so we have an opportunity to re-sense and discuss our unconscious aural past.

For the 2nd part of our meeting we will collectively explore the sonic potential of a collection of old radios, improvising together with the sounds we can extract from them, tuned to or between stations. We will become a live improvised radio orchestra, playing with the sounds on, or of, the airwaves. Our experiments will be conducted and recorded by Patrick McGinley, who recently produced raadio mälu for his regular radio show framework. you can listen to it here.

We will be bringing as many old radios as we can find for our experiments, but if you have one, please bring it along! shortwave, mediumwave, longwave, FM, AM, small, large, whatever you have! It should be battery powered and have a built-in speaker.

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, Tartu Linnavalitsus, and Eesti Kultuurkapital.

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

32nd meeting, Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
Wednesday, April 24th
18:00-20:00
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

Spring is finally springing, so this month we take helikoosolek:tartu out of the museum and into the streets for a series of autonomous city soundwalks led by our regular host Patrick McGinley. We will explore the soundscapes of the city of Tartu, focusing on both the recognition of those environments and the surprises therein when approaching them with ears open are eyes closed.

Participants will explore the city in pairs, one with eyes open and one with eyes closed, each working their way through 4 directives: leading with eyes open, following with eyes open, leading with eyes closed, and following with eyes closed. The walk will last approximately an hour, after which we will gather again at ERM to discuss our observations.

Please come on time so we can begin our walk promptly at 18:00. Please wear comfortable soft-soled shoes, and dress appropriately for the weather. The forecast is good, but we will have an alternative indoor program in case of rain.

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 18:00-20:00 at the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

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

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

31st meeting, Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Stefano Pocci
Wednesday, March 27th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

Our March meeting features Stefano Pocci (Italy), who will present the work and ideas of American composer John Cage by means of audio, video, textual and performance materials.

During last year's John Cage Centennial (1912-2012), Stefano Pocci was guest at Ptarmigan in Tallinn where he introduced the Italian publication A 1000 and one note for John Cage edited by independent magazine of arts and literature [dia•foria, of which he is a co-founder. Such publication will be soon released as part of the upcoming Cramps Records John Cage Centennial boxset. Moreover, in August, 2012 he opened the online resource www.johncage.it, a site that aims to celebrate the links between John Cage and Italy.

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 Tartu Linnavalitsus.

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

30th meeting report

thanks to everyone who joined us for our contact microphone-making session yesterday. everyone managed to leave with their own functioning mic, and we even had some time to try them out and make some initial experiments - pretty good going for only two hours. here are a few images and some extracts from the recordings we made. at the bottom you will also find, as promised, details of the playlist of recordings we listened to during our meeting, with links for more information on each artist. for those of you who were with us: please don't hesitate to contact any of these artists if you have any questions of comments about what you heard, i'm sure they would all be more than happy to hear from you!

these are extracts from recordings made on the handful of audio recorders we had at our disposal. these ranged from hard disk recorders to digital dictaphones to even one microcassette recorder. you can listen through, or try creating your own mix. this first recording was made with the microcassette recorder, and the strangeness of its sound comes not only from the medium but also from the compression as the sound was transferred from cassette to computer.


of course one of the most attractive things in a room full of people with contact microphones is a piano.


although we also had some percussion on the room's ventilation covers.


these are the sounds inside the sound system's amplifier.


and the sound of a chair being rolled across the floor.


and at least one person made it out of the room to record the bathroom sink.


and of course the toilet.


and the playlist:

• emmanuel costantini
  http://www.ecsound.net/
  - trying to sleep in a cold cradle…
• gregory ovendon
  http://www.thesoundfarmer.com/
  - wind through fence
• holland hopson
  http://hollandhopson.com/
  - rime accumulation
  - squeaky chain
• jez riley french
  http://jezrileyfrench.co.uk/
  - ants eating apricot
  - as (urfaces) as001 extract
• lee patterson
  http://www.myspace.com/therealleepatterson
  - b229 br 1.1
  - t.ings wire ext 1
• mikel r. nieto
  http://mikelrnieto.net/
  - hormigas
  - prat slain
• milos vojtechovsky
  www.sonicity.cz/
  - 091124204543
  - 121129001417
• pablo sanz
  http://www.pablosanz.info/
  - fabrica puignero, estructura
  - traffic, structutal transduction
• patrick mcginley
  http://www.murmerings.com/
  - dieppe fence
• peter cusack
  http://www.petercusack.org/
  - rail contact hoverfly
  - rail contact pass trains
• rubén garcía villaplana
  http://www.observatori.com/
  - totem
• sala
  http://alas23.blogspot.com/
  - juosta
  - kvass
  - ledas
• sebastiane hegarty
  http://www.sebastianehegarty.com/
  - resistance 4
• simon whetham
  http://www.simonwhetham.co.uk/
  - ba tank03
  - ja cnt03
  - jy bellsnt01
• subscape annex
  http://www.subscapeannex.com/
  - machete
• udo noll
  http://aporee.org/maps/
  - prag belohorska trampole 1
  - prag belohorska trampole 2

30th meeting, Wednesday, February 27th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Patrick McGinley
Wednesday, February 27th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu



RSVP via the facebook event here!

This month, after January's concentration on microphone specifications, polar patterns, and usage techniques,  we will continue our explorations with the construction of our own simple contact microphones.

A contact microphone is a microphone that records audio vibration passing through solid objects, rather that passing through air, as with a conventional microphone. Contact microphones can be used to explore hidden or unheard sound in any resonant structure (such as wire fences, walls, support cables, ventilation...) or can simply be used to directly amplify musical instruments (as a pickup for an acoustic guitar, for example). In our short meeting we will have the materials for each participant to construct a simple functioning mono contact microphone with minijack output, for use with any recording device. We will also discuss further more advanced construction options that can be continued at home, make some initial recordings with our new microphones, and listen to a playlist of recordings from the international field recording community made with such microphones.

Participation is free, and participants will be able to keep their microphones. Materials and space are limited, and will be allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis, so please come early. Please bring your own sound recorder and headphones if you have them.

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 Tartu Linnavalitsus.

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

29th meeting, Wednesday, January 30th, 2013

MoKS presents:
helikoosolek:tartu
with Patrick McGinley
Wednesday, January 30th
6-8pm
Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Tartu

Welcome to the first meeting of helikoosolek:tartu for 2013! We have great plans for the new year, so we hope you haven't forgotten about us.

Our January meeting will feature an introduction to microphones and microphone techniques by your regular host, Patrick McGinley. This will be the first step towards constructing our own microphones, a long-requested activity that we will finally be getting to in the coming months.

We will discuss and explore different types of microphones (condenser, dynamic, electret, ribbon, contact, hydrophone, geophone), their polar patterns (cardioid, hypercardioid, omnidirectional, figure 8, directional), and the recording techniques for which they are used (AB, XY, ORTF, SASS, binaural, mid-side, jecklin disc). we will have first-hand experience of many of these as we try out different mics while listening directly through headphones to the differences between them and the various techniques. we will experiment with the various techniques and explore placement of microphones on objects, instruments, and bodies. Using these techniques we will make a first series of collective field recordings in and around ERM.

If you have microphones of your own, a sound recorder, and/or headphones for listening, please bring them along! If you are a musician you are also welcome to bring your acoustic instrument.

Patrick McGinley is an American-born sound, performance, and radio artist who has been based in Europe since 1996, and in Estonia since 2009. In 2005, he began working closely with the artist-run organisation MoKS, and has been organising helikoosolek:tartu since its beginning in 2010. Most recently McGinley has been giving presentations, workshops, and performances based on the exploration of site-specific sound and sound as definition of space. In live performance his interest in field recording has developed into an attempt to integrate and resonate found sounds, found objects, specific spaces, and moments in time, in order to create a direct and visceral link with an audience and location. For more information on his work see http://www.murmerings.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 Tartu Linnavalitsus.

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