Animosity in the Illuminated Forest

Featuring performances and talks by Cheryl Leonard, Elise Baldwin and Elin Øyen Vister (Norway)

Animals have something to say. And they’re pissed. Animosity brings the Animal Kingdom into the forest, exploring the life and death of our creatures. Composer Cheryl Leonard performs music voicing the catastrophic decline of Adélie penguin colonies near Palmer Research Station in Antarctica. Leonard will premiere three compositions that address how rising temperatures along the western Antarctic Peninsula, which change weather patterns, diminish sea ice and morph ecosystems, are causing the localized extinction of Adélie penguins. Works will be performed live on stage by a small ensemble playing amplified natural objects, including the bones, shells and stones she collected in Antarctica, together with field recordings from Palmer Station. Leonard will conduct an artist talk about her work after the performances.

Multimedia artist Elise Baldwin presents her intermedia piece Chimera, part of the Ambit series, a group of live audiovisual turntable performances. The series focuses thematically on the circular nature of memory and the decomposition of physical presence over time.

Norwegian Sound Artist Elin Øyen Vister summons the sounndscapes and the decline of the pelagic seabirds Kittywakem Puffin and Guillemot in the Røst Archipelago in Northern Norway to our shores. With extensive time, research and recordings in the area, Vister investigates a haunting reality for the species.

Elise Baldwin solo intermedia performance, a/v installation and collaborative music ventures explore themes of collective memory and the intersections between the natural world and technology. She has performed at numerous festivals including the New York Electronic Arts Festival, San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, the Brutal Sound FX Festival, and the National Queer Arts Festival. Recent awards include Experimental Television Center and CESTA residencies (2008), a Harvestworks Artist in Residency (2006) and the Frogs Peak Award for Experimental Music (2004). Elise has a degree in Film and Video production and an MFA in Electronic Music (Mills College), and has spent much of the past decade working as a commercial sound designer.
http://www.clattertrap.com/

Child of Klang aka Elin Øyen Vister is a Norwegian sound artist and composer. She has studied sound engineering, music technology, and popular musicology in Norway and England. She is also known under the alias DJ Sunshine, one of Norway’s most versatile and eclectic DJ´s. She was one of the pioneers on the Norwegian drum´n´bass scene in the 90íes. She has organized, curated and run festivals, festival programs and club programs nationwide and she has played records all over the world from Svalbard to Costa Rica.
http://childofklang.wordpress.com
http://www.myspace.com/childofklang

Cheryl E. Leonard is a composer, performer and instrument-builder whose music investigates sounds, structures and materials from the natural world. Leonard is fascinated with the subtle details of sounds, especially quiet ones. Many of her projects involve constructing one-of-a-kind sculptural instruments, which are played live onstage. She has written numerous soundtracks for film, video, dance and theater, and designed sounds for exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Burke Museum in Seattle. Her music has been performed worldwide and featured on several television programs. She has received grants from the National Science Foundation, American Composers Forum and ASCAP, and has been commissioned by Kronos Quartet and Illuminated Corridor. Leonard has been awarded residencies at Djerassi, Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Villa Montalvo and Engine 27.
www.allwaysnorth.com
www.musicfromtheice.blogspot.com