focus: default #9 x 3345 – 02.10.2023 with performances by Jia Liu & Shuoxin Tan + a talk by [ _ _ _ ] (Shuoxin Tan, Jia Liu, Li Song)
The second part of our upcoming two-day program is happening on Monday the 2nd of October.
On Monday the 2nd of October, we are hosting an intimate gathering at the top floor of the Central Library in collaboration with 3345 The Hague. For this occasion, we present two solo performances by computer music composers and sound artists Jia Liu and Shuoxin Tan.
There will also be an accompanying talk on ‘collaboration and communication through network music’, together with Li Song, with whom they form the network music ensemble [ _ _ _ ]*. They share the same interest in algorithmic acoustics and composition, SuperCollider and live coding. Can algorithms be collaborative? The entrance for this event is free of charge, you can reserve a spot here.
In this focus newsletter, we would like to share with you a selection of works made by the artists set to perform.
*this event is part of a two-day program that default den haag is curating on the first two days of October. The ensemble [ _ _ _ ] (Shuoxin Tan, Jia Liu, Li Song ) will also perform at default#8, taking place in the Grey Space in the Middle on Sunday the 1st of October. More information can be found here.
Shuoxin Tan (performance)
Shuoxin Tan, born in Beijing, now living and working as a freelance composer and sound artist in Cologne. She studies Epistemic Media at the Institute for Music and Media Düsseldorf with Julian Rohrhuber and Marcus Schmickler. Her research currently focuses on algorithmic acoustics and mathematical formalization. How to apply “purloined” theoretical knowledge into artistic practice is her curiosity. Influenced by Lacanian topology, namely the Borromean rings, she has founded the network-music ensemble and research group [ _ _ _ ] together with Jia Liu in Karlsruhe and Song Li in London. The ensemble started during the Covid lockdown in November 2020 and developed a collaborative algorithmic network-music performance system from scratch, adopting the programming language SuperCollider. Their research and practice embody the new form of computer music performance with theoretical thinking. Her work has been released on labels such as Superpang, Infant Tree and Zoomin’ Night.
a selection of works includes:
Narrative Fountain
(self-released, 2023)
from two roots
(Infant Tree, 2023)
Simultanhalle, April 30, 2021
(self-released, 2021)
Other works include Durch den Vorhang gehen 穿过屏风 (Shuoxin Tan, Natalia Molina Bohórquez, 2022), Monotonia (2021) and jun. 9, 2023 - cologne (2023), as part of the ‘sleepings’ series.
Jia Liu (performance)
Jia Liu is a composer and computer music performer based in Karlsruhe, Germany. She composes for acoustic instruments as well as electroacoustic music and other media. Since 2019, she has been programming and performing live computer music. Currently, she is focusing on algorithmic composition, music with autonomous systems and network-based collaboration. In 2021 she founded the network ensemble [ _ _ _ ] with Li Song and Shuoxin Tan. She studied composition and music informatics at the Conservatory of Music in Shanghai and at the University of Music Karlsruhe, at the Institute for Music Informatics and Musicology.
[ _ _ _ ] (Shuoxin Tan, Jia Liu, Li Song) (talk)
“Three placeholders sitting in a room between empty spaces.” This is how the ensemble [ _ _ _ ] describes itself. It was founded in 2020 by the artists Li Song, Shuoxin Tan and Jia Liu, to compose music for the network.
The three members share the same interest in algorithmic acoustics and composition, SuperCollider and live coding. Can algorithms be collaborative? What happens when the Borromean knot is applied to network structures for collaborative algorithmic composition?
Both in their solo-work and ensemble performances, they often play “unamplified’, using only laptop speakers or other small loudspeakers set-ups. With a different listening mode and sensitivity then most often associated with this realm of music, they bring a personal take on (collaborative) algorithmic computer music.