Gene Kogan´s exhibition and workshop

octubre 20th, 2013 |  Published in News

The Unifiedfield Nomadic Artist-In-Residence Program in The Philippines presents:

Gene Kogan, in Davao [01- 03/11/2013]

Gene Kogan exhibited his sound installation in Davao and he conducted a workshop + artist talk introducing coding as a medium for artistic expression, before heading to Fete dela WSK! festival in Manila.

Gene Kogan´s exhibition poster

GENE KOGAN

Gene Kogan is a media artist and programmer from USA who writes free software for performing arts and researches emerging technologies.

“I am interested in making emerging technologies more accessible and making inquiries into their least salient properties. I want the experience of new tools to be dynamic and fluid, to facilitate the navigation of high-dimensional spaces of parameters in performance contexts. Most importantly, I want to promote the active and personalized employment of new technologies as a tool for creative expression for all people, in opposition to its dominant use as a medium for passive consumption.

I make little distinction among art, engineering, science, and education. They are all ways of inducing personal experiences of fleeting novelty. All people have an aptitude for creativity which is the product of their unique disposition and placement in the world. This core belief motivates me to build tools to help bring out those inherent artistic and performative faculties, as well as to teach those core technologies themselves, making them more approachable for others.

My own artworks are almost without exception collaborative efforts, even when my collaborators themselves are unaware of their participation. New technology is built on top of old, not only by means of inspiration, but explicitly by sourcing old technology as components for extensions, confusing traditional notions of authorship, originality, and influence–concepts previously seen as clearly demarcated entities connected by one-way relationships, but increasingly understood as ­networked and interdependent. Thus my engagement in art and creative disciplines is one of promoting community participation and knowledge, mutual solidarity and skill sharing, to bring about an environment where aesthetic expression is communal and aesthetic experience is personal.”

+info: www.genekogan.com.

GENE KOGAN ‘S PROJECT: MACEDA BOX
[November 2013: Davao. Residency project assisted by Angely Chi]

MacedaBox [a project by Gene Kogan at The Unifiedfield Nomadic Artist-in-Residence Program in The Philippines] from The Unifiedfield on Vimeo.

Maceda Box is an experimental musical instrument exploring the field recordings of Filipino ethnomusicologist Jose Maceda. A collection of his recordings, acoustic fragments spanning the whole of the Philippines and drawing from its varied musical traditions, are spatially organized according to acoustic similarity, from which we can draw upon the works in an intuitive and playful way. An electronic instrument has been developed to intuitively traverse this scattered sonic landscape, using a Leap Motion sensor to gesturally navigate and manipulate the recordings with the dexterity of a single hand. The artist will discuss the motivation and mechanics of the work, and perform an improvisation, building up an acoustic collage from the recordings. Following that, there will be a long-term installation, inviting anyone to experiment with the instrument to create compositions of their own.

MacedaBox was filmed at Lispher Inn in Davao City. Thanks to Angely Chi for the production and Davao Writers Guild; UP Center for Ethnomusicology for the Maceda recordings; photo documentation: Swito Twins, Inc. Julienne Mumar; additional equipment and documentation: Studiobugsy.

Highlights from his previous installation using the works of Jose Maceda, along with Tengal:

“30 Sounds in a Filing Cabinet” by Tengal. An old repurposed filing cabinet with 30 working drawers- each drawer plays a unique sound from the Maceda ethnomusicology archive when opened. Electrical and module programming by Nikko Torcita. Additional software programming by Eugene Kogan. Featured in the University of the Philippines Center for Ethnomusicology Maceda Projects 2013: “Listen to my Music”

*Gene exhibited his sound installation in Davao and he conducted a workshop + artist talk introducing coding as a medium for artistic expression, before heading to Fete dela WSK! festival in Manila.

* CLICK on the pictures to see them FULL SIZE