The second edition of the ISPOD BINE sound art festival will be held in Split from November 10 till November 12, with a part of the program moving to the island of Vis on November 19. In the four days of the festival the audience will have a chance to a total of 37 different artists in 11 different projects, some of which will premiere at the festival. The shared link between all of them are the notions of experiment and improvisation in sound art.
The program starts on Friday, November 10 at a new location, the grand hall of the Arts Academy in Split. The festival opens with the Šilo Installation, a certain homage to the composer, pianist and author of the legendary Kugla playhouse, as well as the founder of the band Deep Throat, Zoran Šilović-Šile (1952-1982). The ensemble consists of: Franjo Glušac (guitar), Tena Novak Vincek (violin), Andreja Kurelec Košavić (vocals, trumpet), Bruno Vorberger (drums), Ivan Marincel (trombone) i Damir Prica Kafka (piano, sax). They will be performing four compositions in their own arrangement following Šilo’s notes as guidelines. Nikola Vincelj-Jinks will be projecting his own slides on the musicians and in the space based on the Šilo’s compositions, notes and drawings. After that, the same ensemble will perform the Prepared project 3.0 in which they deal with creating music and exploring sounds and ways of playing on prepared acoustic and electric instruments with the use of electronics and effects. The program closes on Friday with a performance by the international Šalter ensemble. Šalter ensemble is an electroacoustic ensemble of improvisers made up of some of the most innovative individuals of the Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian and Swiss music scene. Four composers / musicians, Bertrand Denzler, Tomaž Grom, Roko Crnić and Robert Roža, who are also members of the ensemble, have developed a unique concept for this short-lasting group, which was elaborated during the residency of the Music salon of the Showroom of Contemporary Sound, which took place in May of 2017. The concept was then presented in a few European contemporary music festivals. Šalter is a unique project, existing on the edge of free improvisation and composition, where collective processes shape the essence of the music. The ensemble consists of the following musicians: Roko Crnić (bass guitar, electronics), Bertrand Denzler (tenor saxophone), Marina Džukljev (piano), Tomaž Grom (double bass, electronics), Jonas Kocher (accordion), Samo Kutin (hurdy-gurdy), Julien Mégroz (percussion), Srđan Muc (electric guitar, electronics), Tena Novak Vincek (violin), Nenad Kovačić (percussion), Robert Roža (electronics), Irena Tomažin (vocals, electronics).
The second day of the festival, on Saturday November 11, the program returns to the Youth Center and the ISPOD BINE space, the festival’s namesake. The program at the amphitheatre of the Youth Center starts with the House of extreme musical theatre by Damir Bartol Indoš and his new project titled Šahtofonija rumorista: Matrica kucanja na krov. Straight from the tool-shed of a former hydraulic pump factory Jedinstvo, the musical machines Šahtofoni will spread on the stage of the amphitheatre, creating a fusion of Russolo-like intonarumori by performers DB Indoš and Tanja Vrvilo, noise rock – guitar, drums, bass, and a šahtofon installation by Ivan Bolisnić Bic, Ratko Danilović and Nino Prišuta (former band SexA), free jazz saxophone by Damir Prica Kafka and a video performance by Ivan Marušić Klif, under the supervision of forensic mirrors.
After that we finally descend into ISPOD BINE where two interesting noise concerts will take place. First up on the stage will be the instrumental band Bizon from Split. With their nervous and noisy music they will be the perfect introduction to what comes next, and that is the first performance after the 90s by the cult avant-garde band SexA! This time without vocals, but enhanced with the powerful sax by Damir Prica Kafka, we will witness an improvised noise concert by true legends: Ivan Bilosnić – Bic (guitar), Nikica Prišuta / Nino (bass) i Ratko Danilović (drums).
SexA, full name Sedativ ex. Apoteka, was basically up to their first, and unfortunately only album titled “No Sleep ‘Till Pussy/ Fuck Piction” (1990, Idle Valley/ FV Založba), the marginalized and hidden secret of Yugoslavian alternative rock scene. They started in 1980 as a band inspired by post-punk and new wave, avant-garde influences, art, early noise and experimentation, and were hailed in rare journalist titles as the hope of a second new wave generation, along with Trobecove Krušne Peći and Gustaph y njegovi dobri duhovi, todays Gustafi. Nevertheless, up until 1990 they were basically invisible to the public. In their second comeback they appeared in a completely different style, then-budding noise and chaos rock. They stopped playing after the aforementioned album and single “Pussy In The Sky With Diamonds/ Ti Dam Ja” (1991, Iz Sve Snage). Almost unnoticed, the band had a third reunion at the end of the 90s in Amsterdam, where they relocated in search of a better life. The only tangible product from that phase was an audiotape titled “My Head Got Pregnant” (1998, Kekere Aquarium). Besides the aforementioned releases, SexA produced an additional 4 audiotapes and a music video “Jeane Jone Story” (1991, Maydi Film & Video), from their second, noise-phase. With this performance, the first one after so many years, we expect a powerful noise rock concert with Capri’s sax and plenty of improvisation.
As Ratko Dalinović said about the show: The joy of playing together is a constant which has been present in “Sexa” from the beginning. And that is it, a simple and important thing which should be happening among people when they do something together. And that extended into playing with Damir Prica – Capri “Cul de Sac” (among other things!) with whom there is another extra dimension to what we produce. The music itself is not limited by any stylistic marks and goals. That is something to be consciously and deliberately avoided or used in one’s own accord. It is important to have room to breathe, and anything that should happen – will happen.
The third day of the festival is dedicated to a dialogue between acoustic and electronic instruments and will open with a performance by Alen Sinkauz, a musicologist and composer who studies the hybridity of merging musical and theatrical principals in performance, as well as improvisation as an exploratory tool for new performance formats. He will be performing La casa verde, a solo show which originated on the island of Silba during his residency with the SEA Silba Environment Art platform.
The night continues with the performance by young talent SO BEAST (Michele Quadri and Katarina Poklepović), who use sampling and field recordings of urban chaos and isolated natural environments, a digital piano, electric guitar, drum machine, live electronics, percussion and vocals. We finish with an improvised live performance by young Split DJ Cuisine Dub.
During the festival, as part of the NMG@PRAKTIKA project, an interactive 8-channel audio-spatial installation by Hrvoje Pelicarić will be exhibited at the Youth Center. Titled Reduced point of flow (for sphere, 8 ear-piece speakers and Umwelt), the installation consists of a sphere designed for the listener’s head, equipped with a miniature multichannel sound system. The interior is designed strictly out of audio material, reproduced in controlled conditions of the sphere, while the rest of the stimuli are reduced to a minimum.
Since three days of sound art is indeed not enough, the ISPOD BINE festival, in cooperation with the Austrian Black Page Orchestra, is organizing a field trip to the island of Vis on November 19, where the members of the Orchestra; Leonhard Garms, Igor Gross, Alessandro Baticci, Luca Lavuri, Alfredo Ovalles, Matthias Kranebitter, will perform a composition by Karlheinz Stockhausena: Mikrophonie I (1964) for tam-tam, two microphones, two filters and controllers in a submarine port in the Rogačić bay on the island of Vis.
The German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen is one of the most influential composers of the 20th century known for his innovative work in the field of electronic music. One of his central compositions in this field is also one of the most innovative pieces of music from the last century, titled Mikrophonie I. In it, the composer actively uses the microphone as a musical instrument, as opposed to its standard, and up until then only used passive function of recording or amplifying sound. Mikrophonie I is performed by six musicians. Two percussionists play a large tam-tam with a wide array of tools. The second pair of musicians move the handheld microphones according to a precisely defined composer’s partition and in doing so create subtle details and noises, while the third pair of musicians apply the resonant bypass filters onto the microphone exits in order to rearrange the created sound onto a system of speakers. Considering the specific acoustics and atmosphere, the submarine port in the Rogačić bay seems like an ideal location for the performance of the piece and the creation of a unique experience. The Black Page Orchestra will perform the piece on a large tam-tam they build themselves in the summer of 2017 and this will be the second performance of the piece after its Vienna premiere at the Unsafe+sounds festival, and the first performance in Croatia.
The festival is organized and produced by NGO Mavena – 36 miracles of hers, the founders and artistic directors of the ISPOD BINE festival are Natasha Kadin and Hrvoje Pelicarić, who is also the technical director of the festival. The tech is realized with the help of Frane Tošić and Eugen Jeličić, while the exhibition setup and documentation of the festival are done by Gildo Bavčević and Marin Renić. The visual identity is the work of designers Kazinoti & Komenda, with the typography by Iris Klarić and animation by Tihana Mandušić.
Festival donators include the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, the City of Split, Split-Dalmatia County, City of Zagreb, SUISA Foundation, Pro Helvetia, Canton Bern & City of Biel, while Mavena’s work is supported by the National Foundation for the Development of Civil Society and Kultura Nova Foundation.
Festival partners include: Arts Academy of Split, Multimedia Culture Center Split, Youth Center Platform, Town of Vis, Coalition of Youth Associations, DB Indoš House of Extreme Musical Theater, Student Center Zagreb – Culture of change – Showroom of Contemporary Sound, Organization Bruit Zurich, Sploh Ljubljana Institute, Jazz Cerkno, Ring Ring Festival Beograd.
Media sponsors: Muzika.hr, Ravno do dna, Dalmatinski portal, Info zona, Soundguardian, DOP Magazin, Perun.hr, KLFM
10.11. FRIDAY – Arts Academy Split, grand hall
8 p.m.
ŠILO INSTALLATION / PREPARED PROJECT 3.0
Franjo Glušac, Andreja Kurelec Košavić, Ivan Marincel, Ivan Marincel, Tena Novak Vincek Damir Prica Kafka, Nikola Vincelj – Jinks, Bruno Vorberger
9 p.m.
ŠALTER ENSAMBLE
Roko Crnić, Bertrand Denzler, Marina Džukljev, Tomaž Grom, Jonas Kocher, Samo Kutin, Julien Mégroz, Srđan Muc, Tena Novak Vincek, Nenad Kovačić, Robert Roža, Irena Tomažin
11.11. SATURDAY – Youth Center Split
8 p.m. – Amphitheater
DB Indoš House of Extreme Musical Theater
ŠAHTOFONIJA RUMORISTA: Matrica kucanja na krov
Damir Bartol Indoš, Tanja Vrvilo, Ivan Bilosnić Bic, Ratko Danilović, Nino Prišuta, Damir Prica Kafka, Ivan Marušić Klif
10 p.m. – Under the stage
BIZON
Dragan Đokić, Luka Krstulović
Ex SexA + DAMIR PRICA KAFKA
Ivan Bilosnić Bic, Ratko Danilović, Nino Prišuta, Damir Prica Kafka
12.11. SUNDAY – UNDER THE STAGE
8 p.m.
ALEN SINKAUZ: La casa verde
9 p.m.
SO BEAST
Michele Quadri i Katarina Poklepović
10 p.m.
CUISINE DUB (leftfield DJ set)
OFF PROGRAM
10 – 12.11. NMG@PRAKTIKA, Youth Center
HRVOJE PELICARIĆ: Reduced point of flow (for sphere, 8 ear-piece speakers and Umwelt)
19.11.2017, Submarine port, Rogačić bay, Vis
BLACK PAGE ORCHESTRA: Karlheinz Stockhausena, Mikrophonie I (1964) for tam-tam, two microphones, two filters and controllers
Leonhard Garms, Igor Gross, Alessandro Baticci, Luca Lavuri, Alfredo Ovalles, Matthias Kranebitter
