Exploding Cave

Sorry for any crosspostings

C.S.O.A. Cox18
In Collaboration with Digicult, with the partecipation of JointSventure,
Vocecov, Dorkbot Milan
Presents:

EXPLODING CAVE
Days of free research between cinema, sound, video and digital

17th - 18th of April 2009
C.S.O.A. Cox18
Via Conchetta 18 - Milan

Info: [email protected] ; [email protected]
Info: http://cox18.noblogs.org ;
http://www.digicult.it/En/2009/ExplodingCave.asp

Curated by : Marco Mancuso (Digicult director, art critic and curator),
Marco Lorenzin (Cox18), Claudia D'Alonzo (freelance art critic and curator)

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Trafficando con le forze tecnologiche emergenti, tra il 1966 e il 1967 Andy
Warhol crea l'Exploding Plastic Inevitable, formando uno spazio
contradditorio e sperimentale. Invece di una loro naturalizzazione,
produceva un montaggio che scomponeva lo spazio nel quale diversi media
interferivano ed entravano in competizione gli uni con gli altri (…).
Improvvisamente, il ritmo della musica suonata dai Velvet Underground e
dall'attrice/cantante Nico, i giochi di luce, i movimenti dei diversi film
di Warhol, le performance dei ballerini si univano per creare qualcosa di
significativo, ma prima di cogliere il senso di quello che stava avvenendo,
tutto diventava nuovamente confuso e caotico. Il rumore ti colpiva. Volevi
urlare, o lanciarti in una danza sfrenata, dovevi muoverti, agire (.).
Nell'apparente oscurità e nel caos dell'Exploding Plastic Inevitable, si
poteva trovare una possibilità di trasformazione, se non di liberazione". -
[Branden W. Joseph, My Mind Split Open]

The Milan we know has been planned, starting from the 1950's, in a way
similar to that of the organization of work, the districts are separated by
classes, the distances are calculated between workplaces and houses. You
plan a specific family. You plan a certain type of house (…). The general
feeling was that of a crystallized future, dominated by events mainly
incomprehensible and not to be participated to (…). In the 'existentialist
cave' of 1950's Milan, the traditional codes of the "Milanese" ballroom were
replaced by the experimentation of new musical genres and new exchange
methods between sounds and visions that in turn involved specific dynamics.
The relationship of seduction was evident in the liberation of the body
moved by musical rhythms, not anymore by the 'classical dance forms' of the
dance hall. People's looks are freed of the bourgeois aesthetics of the
'jacket and tie' (…) - [John Martin, Primo Moroni, La Luna sotto casa ]

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///Special productions: Otto von Schirach / Orgone (otolab) - In Zaire
(C.Rocchetti+G.I.Joe) / Virgilio Villoresi

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With a double reference both to the "existentialist caves" of 1950's Milan
and the experimentation of Andy Warhol's "Exploding Plastic Inevitable",
"Exploding Cave" is a 2-days event that will be held in Milan on April 17th
and 18th, in the spaces of Cox18, structured in a series of meetings,
workshops and performances that investigate the relationship and the least
common denominator that ties cinema, sound, video and digital arts.

Organized by the same Cox18 with the collaboration of Digicult, Exploding
Cave suggests the idea of an explosion, of an effort to "go beyond" the
normal audiovisual perception towards multiple directions, both in the
practices of audiovisual creation and in the performative methods. It
investigates the phenomenon of the "optical unconscious", the concept of
matrix, the analysis of both production and fruition forms that work to the
rediscovery of a primary root of the audiovisual language, a common core at
the base of the contemporary dialogue among cinema, video and digital arts.
Exploding Cave revises and desecrates a complex machinery, bringing to rapid
combustion the images and sounds of the cinema-cathedral of Hollywood, of
television and of the social (anti)media; it is a sudden storm for the
expansion of stories, hallucinations and extraordinary dreams, but it is
also a concrete demonstration of experiences, knowledge and criticism of the
present; it opens a tear on the harmonic visions and on today's most
deafening noises.

In a city that builds and models the social spaces through mechanisms of
exclusion and consumption, in contrast to the municipal politics of
repression and evacuation of autonomous spaces and self-managed realities in
Milan and in Italy, Exploding Cave wants to reconstruct paths and moments of
synthesis between experimentation of new social and creative forms, and
involvement of other independent cultural realities in town, like
JointSventure (http://www.myspace.com/jointsventure), Vocecov
(http://www.myspace.com/vocecov) and Dorkbot Milano
(http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotmil/). A space therefore built to overcome the
typical spectacular construction of an event (creator and spectator, speaker
and listener), with the purpose of creating a more open circle, less
centered on the performance but based rather on the sharing of knowledge and
experiences. In concrete terms, a moment to give the floor to the artists /
artisans and the machines / software they use for their audiovisual
production practice.

The formula thought for Exploding Cave is that of "a moment of free search",
that allows the public - through a dynamic and articulated course - and the
featured artists to start a dialogue that helps better understand the
dynamics that unite cinema, sound and video to the universe of digital
creation.

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FRIDAY 17TH OF APRIL

23.00 - 03.00
The opening of Exploding Cave is devoted to the relationship between sound
and images, expressed through dynamics of research and experimentation
especially in a performative context. An evening full of digital aesthetics,
between noise sounds, glitch, electro, 8bit and generative visualizations of
graphic codes in movement. The first live set will see the duo Komplex
(Mariano Equizzi and Paolo Bigazzi - http://www.ottovonschirach.com/) that
will introduce their live audiovisual set "Blood Electric", where the
reading of the homonym cyber-text, through a clock fixed in bpm, produces a
constant flow of data that are destined to the controlling of visual effects
and sound generation: the sequence that is so produced is controlled through
the I use of wireless sensors, and fed by a series of pre-registered images.
Later the audiovisual improvisation live set consisting of one of the most
important names of the international idm/electro/punk Otto von Schirach
(Schematic - http://www.ottovonschirach.com/), and of one of the members of
the Milanese collective otolab, Orgone (http://www.otolab.net). A live set
which is expected full of energy and improvised elements, pushed towards the
search of a total audiovisual and sensory involvement of the audience,
something in between hardcore electronics and generative graphics. Lastly,
the 8bit music of one of the most interesting names of this ever rich
musical scene, the Swiss Stu (http://www.toondra.ru/en/motiongraphics.htm),
that for the occasion will cross Game Boy and Atari with Milanese Tonylight
(http://www.tonylight.it), who has been promoting this genre on a national
basis for years.

SATURDAY, 18TH OF APRIL

16.00 - 18.00
Saurday will begin with an afternoon workshop with artists/hackers/designers
that work on the thin line between creativeness and technological
experimentation, realized in collaboration with Dorkbot Milan
(http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotmil/): the objective is to build new tools and
innovative platforms for the audiovisual production. The first appointment
is with the newborn Popular Electric Laboratory (L.A.P.), consisting of the
eclectic Milanese artist Tonylight and Peppo Lasagna, with the intention of
planning and building electronic tools for audio/video applications, of
developing open source interfaces fit to create sounds and images, videos,
lights. For this event, LEP introduces its last projects: "Leploop", a small
analog synth to produce music (http://tonylight-leploop.blogspot.com) and
"Videomoog", a video synth to produce images of synthesis able to follow
music. During the presentation, various prototypes will be observable, and
it will be possible to listen to, and try, the tools, apart from exchanging
ideas on the projects.

18.00 - 19.00
The late afternoon will be dedicated to the presentation of the
Videoscreening cared for by Claudia Di Alonzo and Marco Lorenzin: an endless
cycle projection of films, videos and short films, will then be held at
night in the spaces underlying the area where live shows take place. This
time we start from the sound experience, in order to directly connect it to
the re-appropriation of images and preexisting films (found footage). We
will move from the combinatory game by Alberto Grifi (Verifica Incerta), to
the ironic contamination of films by Bruce Conner (A Movie; Mongoloid; Mea
Culpa); from the collages by Stan Vanderbeek (Achoo Mr. Kerrooschev), to the
anticipations of the video scratch by Dara Birnbaum (Technology /
Transformation: Wonder Woman; Pop Pop Video); from the re-appropriation
operated by René Viénet on the dialogues of an Hong Kong martial arts movie
( La Dialectique Peut-Elle Casser Des Briques?) to the ironic and
disrespectful de-construction of voices and gestures by Johan Soderberg
(Surplus; Read My Lips; The Voice); from the criticism of the television
images through repetitions, slowing down and overlaps by Duvet Brothers
(Blue Monday; War Machine) and Gorilla Tapes (Death Valley Days), to the
improvement of the scratch video brought by the collective EBN (Commercial
Entertainment Product), a technique that derives from the revolution of
sampling and remixing sounds born during the 1970's in the Bronx, with Hip
Hop. The screening will be closed by the mash ups of Eclectic Method (U2
ZooTV Remix) and the trailers on commission of AddictiveTV (Snakes on a
Plane; Iron Man).

19.00 - 21.00
On prime time Saturday, there will be a meeting with the artists that will
perform live during the evening, introduced and moderated by Marco Mancuso.
This will be the chance to get to know from an insider point of view the
"modus operandi" of all musicians, video artists and designers involved - an
"open-machine" meeting.

23.00 - 03.00
The night is finally devoted to the live performances in the central hall.
Echran (Fabio Volpi, Davide de Col the and Accursio Graffeo -
http://www.myspace.com/echran) is a project of audiovisual research where a
cinema environment is created in which the soundtrack influences and deforms
the movie materials used in the live visual set. Echran offers a live set
split in two parts: in the first one "Stardust" the visuals develop starting
from a sequence with a close up of Charlotte Rampling's face, in the second,
the visions of A.Tarkowsky are reconstructed through some of his famous
masterpieces, like Solaris and Sacrifice. Later on, the audiovisual live set
coming from the second production of Exploding Cave with the participation
of JointsVenture and Vocecov: the electro-acoustic improvisation group In
Zaire (Claudio Rocchetti + G.I.Joe -
http://www.myspace.com/claudiorocchetti) will take the floor in an energetic
performance halfway between electronic, analog and percussive sounds,
accompanied for the occasion by the special visual and cinema talent that is
Virgilio Villoresi (http://www.myspace.com/vjvirgilio), for a totally
exceptional AV set, very motivating and exciting for the audience. Finally,
one of the historical names of the club / underground scene of Milan, Dj
Pier, will accompany with his techno / electro sounds the projects of
sonorization of "Dillinger è morto" (live editing of the 1969 masterpiece by
Marco Ferreri beginning from a sampling of the work in 69 parti and 19
details) and "CINEmatic eXperience" (vjset), remixed in real time by
ilcanediPavlov! Project by Alessio Galbiati, focused on a live performance
with a special attention to the cinematic image, which was born as a part of
DJCINEMA and quickly became a performative project. ilcanediPavlov!
collaborates since its beginning with the cinema culture digital magazine
Rapporto Confidenziale (http://www.rapportoconfidenziale.org/).

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Program: Friday, 17th of April

23.00 - 23.45 - sala centrale
"Blood Electric" live av concert: Komplex (Paolo Bigazzi / Mariano Equizzi)

00.00 - 00.45 - sala centrale
Live set + generative visual: Otto von Schirach / Orgone (otolab)

01.00 - 03.00 - sala centrale
8bit av set: Stu / Schnauz / Tonylight



Program: Saturday, 18th of April

16.00 - 18.00 - archivio Calusca
Workshop of audiovisual experimentation: L.E.P. - Laboratorio Elettrico
Popolare

18.00 - 19.00 - archivio Calusca
Videoscreening: a cura di Claudia D'Alonzo e Marco Lorenzin

19.00 - 21.00 - archivio Calusca
Presentations: Paolo Bigazzi / Mariano Equizzi (Komplex) e Virgilio
Villoresi moderati da Marco Mancuso

23.00 - 23.45 - sala centrale
Live AV set: Echran

00.00 - 00.45 - sala centrale
Live AV concert: In Zaire (C.Rocchetti + G.I.Joe) / Virgilio Villoresi

1.00 - 03.00 - sala centrale
Cinematic techno set: Dj Pier + ilcanediPavlov!

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DIGICULT is an Italian cultural and editorial project concerning promotion
and share of art and digital culture, spreading the impact of new
technologies and sciences on art, design and contemporary society. DIGICULT
is based on the active participation of 40 professional people about, who
represent the first wide Italian Network of journalists, curators, artists
and critics in the field of electronic culture. DIGICULT is also the editor
of the monthly magazine DIGIMAG produce an electronic music and audiovisual
podcast, DIGIPOD, and has also its own newsletter international service
DIGINEWS. DIGICULT in finally involved with in many side activties with the
art agency DIGIMADE
http://www.digicult.it/en/
http://www.digicult.it/digimag_eng/
http://www.digicult.it/podcast
http://www.digicult.it/agency