Three shorts

The Seashell and the Clergyman, music by Hypochondriac Resonators
PARARSE, music and video art by 1LL0~
Reclaiming Vision, Music by Henry Vega & Jan Willem Troost

The Seashell and the Clergyman (Germaine Dulac, France, 1928)

La coquille et le clergyman (better known as The Seashell and the Clergyman) was Germaine Dulac’s expression of what she termed a new “art of vision”. Here, she coincides with the tenets of Surrealism and with Antonin Artaud, who was temporarily associated with the movement. While Dulac’s symbolism-influenced cinematic aesthetic approached the film as a series of metaphors with their own internal logic, Artaud saw it as a juxtaposition of images invoking displacement and dissociation, a search for the incongruous, to challenge the established value system. The radicality of the script – and indeed his other writings – showed that Artaud was perhaps the first person to realise film’s ability to plug directly into the audience’s psyche. The final version of the film created a new breakaway language through the unconscious.

Music by Hypochondriac Resonators – Dan Gibson (modified cello/electronics) and Vladimir Vlaev (modified guitar/electronics)

The soundtrack of The Seashell and the Clergyman by the electro-instrumental duo Hypochondriac Resonators aims not only to explore and underline the “unstable landscape” created by the image, but also to trigger the viewer’s own contemplation as an “act upon the subconscious”. With the palette of their setup of modified acoustic instruments and electronics the two follow the dynamic of the images both with precise synchronicity and rhythmic freedom. The duo carefully choses sound material which breaths together with the image as a single audio-visual composition.

PARARSE, music and video art by 1LL0~ (Guillermo Martín-Viana and Juanlu Montoro Santos)

PARARSE (Andalusian for 'Stop!'), an audiovisual performance by 1LL0~, invites the audience to observe the contrast between our daily overload of stimuli that distract us from reality, and a "pause" that embraces that reality; the former is represented with images of our contemporary society, and the later with "slowed down" moments based on short movies made a 100 years ago. Images and music propose an alternative reality for our every day life without a constant renovation of stimuli.

Live music (percussion and electroacustic) composed as an accompaniment to the projection of a mixed, realtime, audio-reactive synthesis between Absolute Cinema films from the 1920's and current images.

About the artists:
Guillermo Martín-Viana (1995) is a Spanish drummer and visual artist based in The Hague (NL). Highly versatile, his musical career has taken him through stages around the world (South Korea, Italy, Netherlands, Mexico, Japan, Belgium), playing styles such us Hard Bop, Cumbia, Electroacustic Music, Jazz, Klezmer, Free, Ska or Thrash Metal. His music is filled with a love for the instrument, an instant ability for sonic and spatial composition, and a deep and joyful groove. He studied Jazz Drums at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague and is currently an online teacher at Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory.
Besides his musical achievements, Guillermo is also an active painter, graphic designer and multimedia artist. He is known from combining his music career with his visual art projects, creating performances that show both sides of him.

Juan Luis Montoro (1991) is currently experimenting with the boundaries between traditional instruments (either soloists or ensembles), performance techniques and technology. His work is frequently based on extended instruments (adding embodied sensors to traditional instruments to control sound process) and analysis of electronic sound synthesis, which he uses as material for structuring his compositional ideas.
In 2014, after concluding his bachelor studies at the Conservatory of Málaga (CSMM), he moved to The Netherlands to study Sonology and Master in Composition in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Nowadays, he is teaching Composition In Málaga. He has has collaborated with ensembles such as the Neue Ensemble , QME, Ensemble Klang, Trio Zukan... and in events which include the HF (Amsterdam), Gaudeamus (Utrecht), Mixtur (Barcelona), Fundación Juan March (Madrid), Música en Segura (Jaén), or Kilkenny Music Festival (Ireland).

Reclaiming Vision (Marjolijn Dijkman & Toril Johannessen, Norway, 2018)
Music by Henry Vega & Jan Willem Troost

Captured through a light microscope, Reclaiming Vision features a diverse cast of microorganisms, sampled from brackish water, alongside algae, cultivated in a lab. The film reveals various processes in the water that are hidden to the naked human eye. By investigating the brackish water, its inhabitants, its properties, and the traces left by human activities, the film is a reflection upon the relationship we humans have with our surroundings, especially through what we cannot see.

Toril Johannessen (b.1978, Norway) is an artist living in Tromsø. Perception and representation as historical and technological constructs are recurring themes in Johannessen’s artistic practice. Combining historical records with fiction and her own investigations, and with an attention to how science coexists with other systems of knowledge and belief, her works often have elements of storytelling in visual or written form. Solo shows include Entrée and Trykkeriet, Bergen (2019); OSL Contemporary, Oslo (2019); Munchmuseet on the Move, The Munch Museum (w/M.Dijkman), Oslo (2018); Hordaland Art Centre, Bergen (2017); ARoS, Aarhus (2017); Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo (2016). Group shows include Trondheim Art Museum (2018); the 13th Dak’Art Bienniale de Dakar (2018); Plug In ICA, Winnipeg (2017); Extra City, ARTSPACE, Auckland (2014); 13th Istanbul Biennial (2013) and Documenta 13 (2012).

Marjolijn Dijkman (b. 1978, NL) is an artist and co-founder of Enough Room for Space. Her works can be seen as a form of science – fiction; partly based on facts and research but often brought into the realm of fiction, abstraction and speculation. Solo shows include OSL Contemporary, Oslo (2019); NOME, Berlin, DE (2018), Munch Museum, Oslo, NO (2018); Fig. 2 at ICA, London, UK (2015); IKON Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2011); Berkeley Art Museum, US (2008). Group shows include Contour Biennale 9, Mechelen, BE (2019); The Overview Effect, BOZAR, Brussels, BE (2019); 21st Biennale of Sydney, AU (2018); 11th Shanghai Biennale, CN (2016); 7th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, BR (2009) and the 8th Sharjah Biennial, UAE (2007).

Music by Henry Vega (electronics) and Jan Willem Troost (cello)

The music for Reclaiming Vision is a composition for electronics, cello and voice, composed by Henry Vega, with himself on electronics and Jan Willem Troost on cello.

Henry Vega, born in New York City (1973), is an active composer and performer of new music whose works appear in productions of theatre, dance and concert music that focus solely on modern artistic trends. His music ranges from virtuosic instrumental writings to subtle colorful compositions orchestrating traditional instrumentations with the world of electronic sound. His current interests lie within theatrical settings of his music in combination with video in the space of minimal aesthetics that cross simple harmonies over noisy counterpoints. His releases include 'Wormsongs' (2011 - arteksounds.com) and 'Stream Machines' (2013 - arteksounds.com) a collection of five commissioned works composed in his micro-minimal style.
Vega's works have been presented on radio programs across Europe and performed at festivals and venues in Europe and the Americas including La Monnaie (BE), Deutschlandfunk (DE), MATA Festival (US), November Music (NL), EYE Film Institute (NL) and Stedilijk Museum Amsterdam (NL) among others. He has had the pleasure to write music for soprano Claron McFadden and ensembles such as Ensemble Modelo 62, the MAE, VocaalLab, Ensemble Integrales, the Ragazze String Quartet and the Roentgen Connection.

Jan Willem Troost is a versatile cellist and you can find him playing in a classical orchestra, working with composers and choreographers, or performing authentic Argentinean tango. At the moment Jan Willem is cellist in Sexteto Canyengue, Ensemble Modelo62 and several Dutch orchestras. He is the principal cellist for the contemporary Ensemble Modelo62 and has toured Mexico, Argentina, Indonesia, Japan and the Dutch Caribbean with his various ensembles.

As a studio musician, he recorded many CD’s from classical, experimental to hip-hop and film music. Currently he is developing his own compositions and soundscapes and a broad cello solo repertoire. He wrote and performed his own music for the production Pessoa – a mist opera that was premiered during the Cello Biënnale 2014 at the Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam. Together with dancer/choreographer Samir Calixto he created Beating Hollow, a duet for dancer and cellist (in collaboration with Korzo Productions) which was a selected finalist in the Jur Naessens Muziekprijs 2009 competition at the BIMhuis, Amsterdam.