Knockdown hosted the inaugural Ladies of Experimental Music… a festival of noise, Dada hijinks and vampire robots, oh my!
Performances by:
Metalux
Fat Worm of Error
Vinka Varna
Snaykhunt + RAFT
Trabajo
Maria Chavez
Jeanann Dara + David First
DJ Maria Minerva
Organized by Pat Noeker
The 10th installment of the ongoing sound and performance series ASSEMBLE found itself at the Knockdown Center on May 11, 2013 when 16 superb performers randomly positioned throughout Knockdown simultaneously played long sustained notes of A and E. The list of performers is as follows:
Alexandra Drewchin JR., Bonnie Baxter, James Corrigan, Jeanann Dara, David First, Kate Henderson, Laura Ortman, Michael Durek, Camilla Ha, Daniel Schlett, Sto Len, Ted McGrath, Jason Poranski, Sadaf H., Adam Holquist, and Charles Shriner.
Live visuals will be performed throughout by Matthew Caron, Peter Shapiro, Eric Drasin, Reid Bingham, Sofy Yuditskaya and Matt Romain of of Fast Food Music Video.
The first set started at 8:30 and the second at 10. In between Ash Can Orchestra performed with The Amazing Amy, a contortionist.
ENDE TYMES V was the fifth-annual celebration of NOISE, EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC, and VIDEO ART.
Hosted by KNOCKDOWN CENTER, SILENT BARN, and OUTPOST ARTISTS RESOURCES, Ende Tymes V presented more than 60 artists over the course of 5 nights. A densely packed lineup featured a wide variety of street-level experimental music and noise art: harsh noise, avant-garde, drone, modular synthesis, and our personal favorite “unclassifiable.”
Knockdown hosted the opening night performances, featuring large scale installations, a multi-channel sound system, and workshops by the likes of:
Bob Bellerue & Wanda Gala, Sputnik Trio, Julia Santoli, Timeghost, Lary7, Marcia Bassett & Samara Lubelski, Z‘EV, Greg Fox, POSTCOMMODITY and Daniel Neumann.
Suggested donation at the door.
The installations will remain on view Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th from 2-6pm.
Piano Vectors
for 6 pianos: a world premiere by John King
Laura Barger
Taka Kigawa
Joseph Kubera
Jenny Lin
Tania Tachkova
Ning Yu
A major work of 80 minutes in duration for our 30,000 square foot main exhibition space, Piano Vectors for 6 pianos filled Knockdown with rich textures of sound. Each solo pianist was seated at a piano at a chance-determined location. This composition was begun with a system of organizing time, and this system in turn generated all subsequent musical and spatial elements. Imagine the 6 pianists traveling through space and time, each at their own rate, speeding up or stretching time in chance-determined and improvised ways. Piano Vectors explores and summarizes King’s ideas on the organization of time and space as the primary focus of sound.
AUDITORIUM was an extended evening of site-specific electronic and electroacoustic performances organized by artists/curators Lea Bertucci and Tristan Shepherd. The focal point for this event was a custom 10-channel sound system installed throughout the 50,000 square feet of Knockdown Center. This system acted as the point of departure for multichannel works by innovative sound-based artists Nate Wooley, Sabisha Friedberg,Marina Rosenfeld, Woody Sullender, and Phil Niblock. Bertucci and Shepherd commissioned new works from the seven composers, instrumentalists and audio artists to develop works uniquely suited to the site. The project culminated in a day-long event in which the selected artists presented their projects on site in a roving auditory experience.
For the 2015 iteration of this event, now in its third year, the event drew on a roster of artists whose work represents diverse perspectives, some as instrumentalists, others who come from a sculptural/installation based sound practice and still others whose work centers more on composition.
Curated by Joe Ahearn, presented by Clocktower Productions
Presented by Red Bull Music Academy, Drone Activity In Progress, sixteen solo of today’s most daring sound artists and duos performed on three stages filling the massive space of the Knockdown Center with the thundering noise, drone and experimental techno.
Presented by Live Nation and Honda Stage, progressive house music DJ Deadmau5 played a free concert for fans in celebration of his upcoming double album, 5 Years of Mau5.
Deadmau5 gave his fans a taste of his newest tracks mixed in with some old favorites in an exciting performance that was streamed live on YouTube.
Presented by Live Nation, hype man A$AP FERG and rapper MIA performed to a packed house in The Knockdown Center’s main space.
Named one of the ten defining artists of the 2000’s decade by Rolling Stone and one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine, M.I.A. has been nominated for an Academy Award and two Grammys (“Paper Planes” and “Swagga Like Us”).
Presented by Red Bull Music Academy, Hardcore Activity presented a sampling of the most extreme recording artists in jazz, techno, metal, noise, classical, hip hop and beyond.
Artists included:
Kranky’s ambient prince Tim Hecker
Grindcore legends Napalm Death
Gunplay – the Maybach rapper with a Bible on the dash
Scandinavian free jazzers The Thing all feature
Wolf Eyes, Regis, Bastard Noise, Lubomyr Melnyk, Skullflower, Joe McPhee/Chris Corsano, Okkyung Lee, Clipping, Yoshiko Ohara, Reg Bloor, and Gnaw, with visuals provided by Nuit Blanche.
TRAYSH NEW YORK, an urban extension of TRAYSH ISLAND, brought together emerging multimedia/musical artists and legendary talents for one night only.
For nearly ten years, musicians and artists have been gathering at Harold Arts, now 8550 OHIO, in Chesterhill, Ohio to raise awareness for the development of its growing sculpture park through a multimedia/music festival called TRAYSH ISLAND.
Artists Included:
R Stevie Moore
Jody
DonChristian
Little Band of Sailors
Xenia Rubinos
Jimmy Whispers
Alta Vida
jaytram
Supporting Cast Included:
Molten Death
VHVL
Living Things
Leblaze
Rowan
