ASUNA - 100 Keyboards (Moire Resonance by Interference Frequency)

100 Keyboards live at Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York

*Photos credit: Julieta Cervantes

more high resolution photos at BAM:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11IXQzWMFdpR3euV6iSgnVNZsrH6DiYJf

(Japanese Text)

ASUNA『100 KEYBOARDS』- 干渉音の分布とモアレ共鳴 -

100 台にも及ぶ電池駆動の小型キーボードによる演奏。

各鍵盤が一定した音程の持続音を鳴らすことで発生する音のうなりは、その数が増えるにつれて不思議な音のモアレを生み出す。演奏されているキーボードはオモチャとして作られた安価なものが大半であるため、各鍵盤の音程／チューニングには微妙なずれがあり、さらに全てが電池駆動であるため、持続した演奏による電池の消耗で生じる電圧の下降によっても音程が不安定に推移する。これらの影響によるわずかな音のずれが織り重なっていくことで不思議なうなりの共鳴が生まれる。

このパフォーマンスは、同一周波数の音波で伝播方向が異なるものが重なり合うと音圧などが複雑に分布する現象である干渉音と、その微妙な差音が重なることで発生する音のモアレの現象に焦点している。 

音を聴いている耳の方向を変えてみたり少し場所を移動して耳をすますと、空間における複雑な干渉音と共鳴が、微細な位置ごとに異なる音のうなりやループ／ビートをうみだす。それは「モアレ (moire)」の原義である「織物の模様」をそれぞれの耳で編むような聴覚体験といえるだろう。

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• I would like all visitors to handout a printed copy of the TEXT and picture about the above-mentioned this works at the entrance or before the show starts. Any size and format is acceptable. (The native language of the country in which this work is performed and English should be printed in parallel or each in print.)

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TECHNICAL RIDER

▲ Engineering - Do not need any sound system. It is ok for only keyboards. In the unlikely event that in a space where the sound does not resonate, It may need some engineer help.

▲ Location / Room - A space with good acoustics & reflections is desirable. Walls made of sound-absorbing materials are not preferred.  No carpet on the floor and no curtain on the wall. If there are large windows in the space where we are performing and there are curtained, I want to take curtains out or leave the curtains open. Curtains and other fabric materials absorb sound, so you want to create an environment where you can get a lot of sound reflection if possible. It cannot perform in a space so large that it is difficult to get sound reflections from the walls. However, the shape does not have to be square. You can play in a variety of rooms. If you have any diagram of rooms, please share them.

▲ Installation - 8 meters in diameter for put 100 keyboards. And there should be at least 1 ~ 2 m of space for people to walk around the keyboards. The space should therefore be at least 9 ~ 10 m square. 

▲ Set up / Packing - Each requires 5 hours. If could set up the day before the performance and packing up the day after the performance, that dates would be perfect. If it is a performance schedule that requires it to do the whole process in two days, please let us know . Most of the work will be done by ASUNA alone, but it would be helpful to have one staff member who can help with installing and un installing the batteries.

▲ Soundcheck - If it can spare the time, it would be helpful if i could also set aside an hour or so for a sound check after the set-up is complete.

▲ Time & Situation - The piece of running time is 85 minutes for the one performance. There is no interval. No problem for accept latecomers, BUT, This performance/concert is not like an installation work. I strongly hope the audience to listen there from the beginning to the end. There is a flow / story of the sound phenomina that leads from the beginning to the end in performance. It is complete as one work from the beginning to the end.  Therefore, in the case of festivals, etc., the timetable should be such that no other performances take place within the time of the performance. Also, I would prefer not to have a free-entry concert.

▲ Lightings - ASUNA will bring a small light to place in the center of the keyboards. However, it will also need the help of lights to illuminate the rest of the space and keyboards circle. If there is a lighting engineer, I would like the intensity of the lighting to be set proportionally to the volume. If lighting fades in and out are difficulty, please adjust the lighting during the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes. It he will tell about that adjustment directly at the when set up and sound check.

▲ Batteries - Please prepare batteries at the promoter / organizer's expense. If that's a schedule where you'll be performing for a series of days, you can play for three times on the first battery. If it will be more than that, you will need to replace the battery. You don't have to replace all of them because keyboards vary from one another, but you can ask us about that.

BATTERIES 

Prepare the following number of batteries. Alkaline battery is better. 

These batteries will allow you to perform three to four times. If it will be performing more than that, or if it need to flight to next place for the show, it will need to exchange everything. 

Not all batteries are emptied, even if they are replaced. It is only replaced because of the change in performance or sound. So be sure to recycle and use the replaced batteries at your venue or organizer. There is no need to throw the batteries away.

Although they appear to consume a large amount of battery power, they consume only a small amount of power when compared to the power we normally use in our daily lives.

< Batteries for the 1st. performance >

AAA = 16 units

AA (Red frame of attached image) = 460 units

C = 22 units

D = 5 units

< 2nd. performance>

AA = +70 units

< 3rd. performance>

AA = +120 units

* Please ask for more than four performances.

TRANSPORT

Need to transport three boxes like a photo. and two suitcases.

( 30 kg + 173 cm { Length: 78 cm × Width: 46 cm × Height 49 cm } ) × 3 boxes.  

and 

( 15 kg + 157 cm)  { Length: 30 cm × Width: 52 cm × Height 75 cm } × 2 suitcases.  

There are about 75 keyboards in those three boxes. The remaining 35 keyboards in two suitcases.

CONTACT

Manager: Masami Shimomura - msmshmmr@gmail.com

WORKSHOP / LECTURE / POST TALK

ASUNA doing workshops and lectures on the physical phenomena of interfering sounds and acoustics related to performance. Or post-talks with critics and curators of each cities. Please let know us if you are interested in.
* It will need a projector, stereo speakers, microphones, tables and chairs, etc.

▲ Short video at Gallery Kapo, Kanazawa.

▲ Promotion video at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music)

▲ Short video at Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art & Design.

▲ 100 Keyboards on Japanese TV.

▲ Documentary of the performance at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.

▲ FULL performance video at Silent Green in Berlin. Film by Charlemagne Palestine.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N064yme2v7CdBgIBVFGZ9_7sNnTfNqil/view?usp=drive_link

ASUNA BIOGRAPHY

ASUNA is Japanese sound artist who has recently been reevaluated in the experimental music and art scene in recent years. Since teens in the late 90s, he has been producing in the experimental and improvised music scene in Tokyo. His works is simultaneously an interdisciplinary perspective in art  and a hardcore/punk and a sweet, musical orientation that seems to be its opposite. His signature work was “Each Organ” (2002), a sound installation that reinterpreted the concept of things from etymology. Then also released an album of reed organ drones and idyllic electronics, “Organ Leaf” (2003), on Lucky Kitchen in Spain, and has since released on labels around the world such as Meeuw Muzak, Senufo Editions, Faitiche, 12k and etc. He also often toured with “100 Toys” avant-garde performance, which featured a large number of toys. ASUNA's recent work "100 Keyboards" is a site-specific performance featuring over 100 toy-keyboards. This focuses on physical acoustic phenomena such as interference sound and moire resonance. This work has performed at many international art festivals and theaters such as BAM in New York.

• ASUNA is a Japanese sound artist who, used 100 toy Casio keyboards to produce a smooth glistening wall of sweetness. (The Wire)

• ASUNA's live performances are an experience; textured soundscapes that blur the lines between art and music. (Tokyo Art Beat)

(Japanese Text)

ASUNA

語源から省みる事物の概念とその再考察を主題として作品を制作。同時に音の物理現象に関する美術作品の制作／パフォーマンスも行う。代表作に「organ」の語源からその原義である「機関・器官」としてオルガンを省みた「Each Organ」(2002)、本の語源としてのブナの木を元に情報の記録・運搬について扱った作品「Epidermis of Beech」(2012)などがある。近年は、干渉音の複雑な分布とモアレ共鳴に着目した作品「100 Keyboards」(2013)で、「メルボルン国際芸術祭」(2018)、「シンガポール国際芸術祭」(2019)、「ベルファスト国際芸術祭」(2019)、「ブルックリン・アカデミー・オブ・ミュージック（BAM）」(2021) など、海外のアート・フェスティバルから多数の招待を受け展示／パフォーマンスを行う。並行した音楽制作では、10代の頃から東京の実験音楽／即興／音響シーンに関わり、様々なアコースティック楽器やコンピュータによる作曲作品から即興演奏を行いつつ、無数のオモチャ楽器と電子音楽によるパフォーマンス「100 Toys」を中心に、多岐に渡りつつも一貫した作品制作を行う。これまで海外25カ国以上で演奏／展示、CDやレコードなどをリリース。ドイツの電子音楽家のヤン・イェリネクや、美術家の佐藤実-m/s、トラックメーカーのshibataらと長年に渡るコラボレーションによる制作も行なっている。

ASUNA INFORMATION

DISCOGRAPHY - https://sites.google.com/site/aaaaasunaaaaa/

INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/asuna_aotoao/

FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/asuna.aotoao

TWITTER - https://twitter.com/asuna_aotoao

BANDCAMP - https://asunaarashi.bandcamp.com/

SOUNDCLOUD - https://soundcloud.com/asuna_aotoao

ASUNA LIVE REVIEWS (selected)

(2021)

△ Bomb Magazine, US *

(2019)

△ Maintenant Festival, FR *

△ Singapore International Festival of Arts, SG *

(2013)

△ Tokyo Art Beat, JP *

ASUNA INTERVIEW

(2021)

▲ The Slowdown media, US *

▲ Digital in Berlin, DE *

(2020)

▲ Subterraneo Magazine, AR *

(2019)

▲ Polskie Radio, PL *

▲ The Thin Air Magazine, UK *

▲ Bandwagon Magazine, SG *

▲ Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, DE *

▲ BeatRoute Magazine, CA *

(2018)

▲ TRAX Magazine, FR *

▲ Scopitone Festival, FR *

▲ Euradio, FR *

▲ Ame, UK *

▲ The Melbourne Critique, AU *

▲ Happy Mag, AU *

▲ The Music, AU *

(2013)

▲ Clinamina, JP *

ASUNA PHOTOS (not 100 keys photos)