Medialab-Matadero Madrid
AV_BR · Audio-visual Experimentation and Free Culture in Brazil
Image: Laborg
With the collaboration of the Cultural Centre of Spain in São Paulo
Within the framework of Brazil’s participation as the guest nation at ARCO 2008, Medialab- Prado presents AV_BR · Audio-visual experimentation and free culture in Brazil, two days of activities centred on current art and technology projects by independent Brazilian artists.
The event will begin on 14 February with a lecture by Felipe Fonseca on the processes of collaborative creation and social technologies in Brazil. It will be followed by a live presentation of the project Fetalcohol, a syncopated noisist re-reading of Bossa Nova and other popular Brazilian music.
On Saturday 16 February, within the framework of the monthly AVLAB gatherings held by Medialab-Prado since October 2006, there will be a live presentation of three Brazilian sound and visual art projects: Gengivas negras, Laborg and Retrigger x Reverse Tunes.
The project includes an information point about on-line Brazilian platforms for collaborative artistic production, media, and volunteer activities within the concept of “free culture”.
PROGRAMME
14 February 7 pm
Lecture by Felipe Fonseca: Free Culture, Collaborative Creation, and Social Technology in the Brazilian Context
Several years ago in Brazil, it became possible to develop significant research tasks as well as a series of practices related to social, technical and methodological matters when certain necessary conditions were met, partially accidentally, in connection with access to multimedia production, free knowledge and social technologies.
Based on international experiences including media tactics and interaction among civil society, various government requests, and a very active group of autonomous networks, a media education situation was constructed collectively.
This response was aimed not only at the Brazilian context but also for global application and repercussion. This replicable methodology follows the Brazilian tradition of fearlessly mixing different cultural influences, as la Tropicália and the modernist movement Antropofágico did in the 20th century.
Felipe Fonseca is a researcher and organizer of projects on collaborative production, independent media, free software, and social technologies. He was one of the coordinators of the Digital Culture project at the Ministry of Culture in Brazil and a researcher/intern on the Waag-Sarai exchange platform in 2004. He is one of the creators of the social technologies project MetaReciclage and a member of the advisory committee for the project Descentro. At present he is also involved in carrying out workshops as part of the Bricolab project, an international network of technology appropriation laboratories.
He has given lectures at international events such as (un)Common Ground and Pedagogical Faultlines (Amsterdam, 2007), Shift (Lisbon, 2006), Wizards of OS (Berlin, 2006), iSummit (Rio de Janeiro, 2006), Incommunicado (Amsterdam, 2005), Alternative Law Forum (Bangalore, 2004) and Next 5 Minutes (Amsterdam, 2003).
http://metareciclagem.org/drupal/
http://bricolabs.net/
Live presentation of the Fetalcohol project
A re-reading of Bossa Nova and other popular Brazilian music, where samples and loops are edited surgically and asymmetrically, elimination certain harmonic elements, replacing them with motors/oscillators and frequency generators. This way, the ambient noise associated with Bossa Nova instrumental music, albeit in a ghostly, hypnotic, rough way quite different to the idealized harmony that characterizes the MPB school.
The project was started in 1996 by Carlos Morevi, also a member of the duo Gengivas Negras and co-founder of the netlabel Container Inc, which distributes albums by Brazilian bands in the noise/post-industrial genre.
http://www.container-inc.org
16 February 7 pm
12th AVLAB Meeting: Gengivas negras, La Borg and Retrigger x Reverse Tunes
As part of this series of meetings, AV_BR presents the following Brazilian artists:
La Borg
Audio-visual creation nucleus engaged in the developing installations and performances which integrate digital media with the manipulation of chemical substances mixed in a laboratory set up with aquaria, cameras, and computers. This way, dynamics are created that arise from the reaction of these substances, oils, and pigments, in synchrony with soundscapes.
Gengivas Negras
The duo Gengivas Negras from the Brazilian city of Curitiba is made up of Carlos Morevi –also in charge of the Fetalcohol project - and Theo Cordeiro, member of the group Mecanotremata.
Their work investigates synthetic sounds that combine the industrial universe with the spontaneity of current noise. In their high-impact live performances, they use distortion pedals, software, samplers, electronic percussion, and hacker hardware. Their projects include the net-label Container Inc, which launches their albums and those of other experimental Brazilian artists.
http://gengivasnegras.blogspot.com/
Retrigger x Reverse Tunes
Joint project by two artists active on the experimental electronic and underground scene in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, which combines live PA and DJ sets with the use of theremin, megaphone, and midi controls. The project mixes copyleft music and audio programmes on free software, resulting in broken melodies and fractured beats merged with breakcore, dubstep or noise sounds, which also tend to form a surprising bridge with surf music, funk, Big-Band jazz and electronic samba.
Retrigger and Reverse Tunes, who work together via the Internet, are an essential reference in the field of projects related to underground music and cyberactivism, and they are involved in several activities including net radio programmes, urban interventions, and the management of net labels. They have participated in festivals such as FILE-Hipersonica, FAD (Digital Art Festival of Belo Horizonte) and Gives Me Wood (Belgium).
http://www.retrigger.net
http://www.myspace.com/reversetunes
http://www.myspace.com/tozziniDJ KASKA (Global Beats)
This Brazilian DJ, a Madrid resident since 2002, explores the fusion of Brazilian, African, and Asian rhythms, as well as recent Balkan music from Eastern Europe. His sound spectrum encompasses Funk electronic beats, Broken Beats, Nu-Jazz, Dub, Hip-Hop and drum'n'Bass, all in perfect harmony, a free music without borders. He is also the director and producer of the radio programme Global Beats on Radio Círculo de Madrid.
He is also takes part in the Colectivo “Planet Groobeat” with DJ Roberto R and guest musicians (percussion, berimbau, didgeridoo, sax...), with whom he has performed at festivals and major clubs around the world, including: the Notthing Hill Arts Club, Jazz Café of London, Tisunami Club in Germany, the International Arts Festival of Castilla y León, Zuco 103 (Holland), the Festival Espantapitas and the Festival REC Madrid with Bugz In The Attic and State of Bengala. In his performances, he has shared billing with international artists of the stature of Faze Action, Thievery Corporation and Future World Funk (United Kingdom), Dj Dolores and Dj Patife (Brasil), Kosta Kostov (Germany), and Bruno E, from SuperJazz.
www.myspace.com/djkaskaglobalbeats
www.djkaska.com
www.circulobellasartes.com
