Featuring live sound scores by Olivia Block and Tomeka Reid.
In collaboration with Chicago Film Archives and Experimental Sound Studio, Rebuild Foundation’s Black Cinema House presents KINOSONIK, a pilot project of live music/sound performances with cinema. Two pairs of collaborating sound/music artists, selected by ESS, will each spend 4 to 6 weeks studying and working with several short films selected from CFA’s extensive vault. The artist pairs — Tomeka Reid & Olivia Block and Marvin Tate & Joseph Clayton Mills — have been selected because of their substantive and exemplary artistic accomplishments to date, their commitment to risk-taking exploratory approaches to sound and music, their long-standing experience in collaboration, and their interest in integrating their various sonic approaches with moving image.
Structured as two mini-residencies, the pilot program results in two live performances by each pair, one at BCH and one at ESS. For audiences, it promises to be a rare and deeply engaging experience of live sound with cinema, given the unique and sophisticated talents of the artists, and their commitment to rigorous improvisational and compositional approaches.
Films selected for KINOSONIK #2:
The Face of the Earth (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1953, 16mm transfer to video)
Educational film from Encyclopedia Britannica about the forces that build up and wear down the continually changing surface of the Earth. Juxtaposes rocks and minerals in close detail with views of canyons and mountain ranges. Originally with sound.
Babbit Reserve Mining Blast (Jack Behrend, 1961, 16mm transfer to video)
One continuos take of a mining blast in a field from afar. Originally shot as a sponsored film for the Reserve Mining Company to observe and remedy defective explosives while mining Tachonite, an iron-bearing sedimentary rock.
Disintegration Line #1 (DL1) (Lawrence Janiak, 1960s, 16mm transfer to video)
Another direct animation by Lawrence Janiak, this piece features chemically generated visual variations produced directly on 16mm film. The grey tones and the very subtle coloration effects are all the result of the persistence of vision in the eye. The abstract animation field textures subtly depict the infinitesimal nuclei of energy called Tanmatra, a moving field of aggregates of atoms and cosmic motion called the dance of Shiva. This full field abstract animation is produced by the Brownian motion effect. (Description courtesy of Lawrence Janiak)
Last Whole Earth Catalog (JoAnn Elam, date unknown, 8mm transfer to video)
The title of this fast paced experimental film presumably refers to the American counterculture catalog published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972. The film quickly edits and overlaps scenes from various rural and urban landscapes, creating a strong “wish you were here” feeling.
Featured Musicians for KINOSONIK #2:
Olivia Block creates original sound compositions for concerts, site-specific multi-speaker installations, film, and performance. In a recent feature article in the April 2011 issue of The Wiremagazine, Julian Cowley describes Block’s compositions as “finely nuanced textures of environmental material and occasional surges of sonic power blended with an elegant instrumental architecture.” Her compositions often include field recordings, scored segments for chamber instruments, and electronic textures. Additionally, she performs her own partially improvised compositions for inside piano and electronics. She has performed throughout Europe, America, and Japan for nearly 20 years. Her works have premiered at La Biennale di Venezia 52nd International Festival of Contemporary Music among many other festivals. Her releaseMobius Fuse (Sedimental, 2001) was voted one of the best albums of the decade by Pitchfork. Her 2008 DVD release with film artists Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder, Untitled (SOS editions), was included in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and the Expanded Cinema symposium at the Tate Modern in London.
Chicago based cellist, composer, and educator Tomeka Reid has been described as “a remarkably versatile player,” (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune). Equally adept in classical and jazz contexts, Ms. Reid predominantly finds herself in experimental and improvisatory settings and composes for a wide range of instrumentation, from big band to chamber ensemble. Ms. Reid’s music combines her love for groove along with freer concepts. Ms. Reid is an integral part of Dee Alexander’s Evolution Ensemble, Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble/Strings, Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) Great Black Music Ensemble, and co-leads the internationally recognized string trio Hear in Now with performances in Poznan, Poland; Paris, France; Rome, Venice, Milan, Italy; Soazza, Switzerland; and in the US: Chicago, New York and Vermont. In addition to the aforementioned ensembles, Ms. Reid performs with many of today’s forward thinking musicians in the world of jazz and creative music including Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Jeb Bishop, Myra Melford, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Mary Halvorson, Denis Fournier, Edward Wilkerson and Harrison Bankhead. Ms. Reid also leads her own trio featuring guitarist Matt Schneider and bassist Josh Abrams, for which she composes. Ms. Reid can be heard on numerous studio recordings. As a composer, Ms. Reid has been commissioned by the AACM, the Chicago Jazz Festival and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and has had several opportunities to showcase her work abroad at festivals such as Umbria Jazz, An Insolent Noise and Vignola Jazz. She has been nominated and awarded residencies for composition with the Ragdale Foundation and the 2nd Annual Make Jazz Fellowship hosted by the 18th Street Arts Organization. Ms. Reid was selected as a 2012 participant in the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute held at the University of California: Los Angeles.
Seating is limited, so we ask that attendees RSVP in advance. Please note that we cannot guarantee seats for attendees who do not RSVP.
KINOSONIK #2 will also feature a performance at Experimental Sound Studio (5925 North Ravenswood Ave.) on Saturday, December 6 at 8pm.
KINOSONIK is made possible by an Artstour & Live Music grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.