«Z4 Studio
Residency 2025»
Hardi Kurda
Hardi Kurda is a sound artist, composer, improviser, researcher, curator, and founder of SPACE21 Festival for experimental music and sound art, and the Archive Khanah, an interactive sound archive platform in Slemani. He explores radio noises that may have been considered illegal, abandoned, unheard, invisible, broken, distorted, untold, forgotten, or simply noises from nowhere, without a place or destination. Hardi developed his works for radio during the Radio Art Residency in Halle during the pandemic. In his PhD dissertation, Hardi developed the concept of the «Found Score,» a listening medium using everyday materials to reimagine listening experiences through engaging other senses based on his listening experience in a crisis when he immigrated to Europe. Hardi was granted the first artist residency of Beyond 1932 project from Royal College in London (2024). His works include «Your Resonance» (2023), «Lost in Baghdad 0109» (2023), «String Pulses» (2023), «Illegal Frequency Porto 1012» (2022), «Everything is Illegal» (2021), «Listening's Urgency» and «Interactive Radio Antenna» (2020), and his released solo album «Radiola Springs» (2022).
Part of score of Hardi Kurda's piece «Recycling Objects» from 20216
On 8 December 2024 Hardi Kurda will be giving a workshop in Zurich inviting people of all ages to participate in the creation of the Zurich version of his work «Recycling Objects».
When?
08.12.24 13:00–17:00
Who and what?
Participative workshop with Hardi Kurda.
Suitable for anyone aged eight and over who is good on their feet and curious about the sounds of their neighbourhood. People under the age of 14 can take part if accompanied by an adult.
Where?
The starting point will be communicated upon registration.
How to participate
Free admission, registration required at tickets@sonicmatter.ch until 5 December 20224.
From 24 November to 4 Dezember the soundartist and performer Jad Atoui will come to Zurich as the first holder of the «Z4 Studio Residency» at Zeughaus 4. Here he will work on further developing his installation «Vibrant Pools», which explores the multisensory experience of sound.
On Tuesday, 28 November 2023 at 7 p. m. in Zeughaus 4 / IFMZ, Zeughausstrasse 56, 8004 Zurich Jad will give an insight into his work and a preview on his contributions to SONIC MATTER Festival 2023. Following the presentation we invite you to an aperitif on site.
The «Z4 Studio Residency» is a cooperation of IFMZ – Initiative Freie Musikszene Zürich with SONIC MATTER – Platform for Experimental Music and OTO Sound Museum.
Jad Atoui is a Beirut-based sound artist and improviser whose work spans through live performance, compositions, installations, and workshops. He composes and performs electronic and electro-acoustic music. Jad has performed with musicians like John Zorn, Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Anderson, Chuck Bettis, Tarek Atoui and Anthony Sahyoun. He has also given and co-directed workshops at Marfa Sounding, Ashkal Alwan and Beirut Synth Center. His commissioned work folio includes residencies at The Stone (NYC), The National Sawdust (NYC), Beirut Art Center, Arab Image foundation and The Sharjah Art Foundation.
During his formative years in New York, Atoui found interest in the New York avant-garde scene while working closely with NYC downtown musicians, learning improvised music techniques; along with working at The Stone and The Guggenheim museum.
In 2015, Atoui spearheaded the «Biosonics» project in collaboration with scientist Ivan Marazzi in order to incorporate bio-sonification of behaviors as compositional tools. The project was later published in John Zorn’s «Arcana Book Vol. XVIII» and premiered at The National Sawdust as part of The Stone’s commissioning series.
Jad's currently working with artist and musician Anthony Sahyoun on their Duo NP. They released their first album «Lattices» under Ruptured Label. Recent musical ventures also include joining Kinematik's «Ensemble 1: Al Jadi».
- 1 – 3 DEC: WEICHEKISSENHEISSEOHREN Lounges & Festival Center
Installation «Vibrant Pools» - 1 DEC: borderline club culture
Performance installation «In-Resonance» (Co-creation of Jad Atoui & june as) - 2 DEC: Long Night of Interferences
Solo performance «Purge» - 3 DEC: Meet the Artist / Jad Atoui
Introduction to «Vibrant Pools» and activation of the installation
Solo live performance
Jad Atoui will be performing «Purge», a solo piece that reflects on his recent experimentations with modular synth, waves of galactic pads driven by distorted rhythmic bass and energetic noise.
Installation «Vibrant Pools» © Kira Kynd
«Vibrant Pools» is an installation that delves into the realm of acoustic resonance, focusing on the transformative power of sound when interacting with various objects through iterative recording and playback.
At the core of this installation lies the idea of immersing different objects, brass, glass and iron vases in particular, in the acoustic ambiance of a room and allowing their unique resonant frequencies to unfold. Each object contributes its distinctive character to the sonic tapestry of the room.
Borrowing from Alvin Lucier’s pioneering work around natural acoustics and their relation to space, the piece commences with gentle and atonal sounds transduced into objects, gradually introducing the listener to the subtle vibrations and harmonics hidden within these objects. As the iterative recording and playback process progresses, the sonic landscape begins to form dynamically. The interplay of resonances, overtones, and reverberations creates a rich mosaic of sound, resonating with the soul of the room.
Through the cyclical process of recording and playback, the objects' sonic personalities become more pronounced and vibrant, as if they are engaging in a symphony of their own conduction. The transformation is organic, with the room itself becoming an active participant in this sonic transfiguration, and a witness to the subtle musicality that surrounds objects daily.
«Vibrant Pools» is an embodied research into the life of objects and the poetics of space; it is a foray into their ontology and its relation to human subjectivity.