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Amoenus Recordings: Label Launch
28th and 29th of November at Karmen Camina
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Amoenus Recordings, a new label born from our work promoting the use of spatial audio in immersive arts via events, workshops and residencies.
For the occasion, we have curated a two-day festival at Karmen Camina in Strasbourg. The festival will take over the venue’s concert hall, boasting a 33.4 custom-built sound system.
Karmen Camina is a dynamic cultural venue located in Strasbourg's former tobacco factory, offering a blend of music, art, and social engagement. The space includes a club, bar, café, concert hall, and a spacious rooftop terrace, providing panoramic views of the city.
The venue is equipped with a 360-degree sound dome with 35 CYM Acoustics speakers in the concert hall, ensuring high-quality audio experiences.
https://linktr.ee/karmen.camina
Amoenus Presents: Amoenus Recordings
28th of November 2024 via Bandcamp
For the launch of Amoenus Recordings, we are excited to present five excerpts from binauralized ambisonics recordings.
These capture both private and public free improvisation sessions between renowned saxophonist John Butcher and electronic musician & spatial audio innovator Christian Duka, recorded at IKLECTIK's live venue in Waterloo, London, before its demolition in 2023.
Amoenus Presents: Amoenus Recordings.
28th of November 2024 via Bandcamp
For the launch of Amoenus Recordings, we are excited to present five excerpts from binauralized ambisonics recordings.
These capture both private and public free improvisation sessions between renowned saxophonist John Butcher and electronic musician & spatial audio innovator Christian Duka, recorded at IKLECTIK's live venue in Waterloo, London, before its demolition in 2023.
For the launch of Amoenus Recordings, we are excited to present five excerpts from binauralized ambisonics recordings.
These capture both private and public free improvisation sessions between renowned saxophonist John Butcher and electronic musician & spatial audio innovator Christian Duka, recorded at IKLECTIK's live venue in Waterloo, London, before its demolition in 2023.
SELECTED PAST EVENTS
PAST EVENTS
Amoenus Presents: XOLO
11th of May 2024 @The Bath House
6:00pm to 11:59pm
XOLO returns once more in conjunction with the AMOENUS surround sound system at The Bath House in Hackney Wick on Saturday 11th May.
For this event we are starting to explore beyond hearing by inviting the musicians to share a flavour or scent as a pairing to their sets to expand to reaching the other senses. This also explains the image chosen for this event, a scan rather than a photo and therefore a collated set of images featuring a cake and cutlery on a sideboard, a more febrile exploration.
Join the event
Amoenus presents: XOLO
11th of May 2024 @The Bath House
6:00pm to 11:59pm
XOLO returns once more in conjunction with the AMOENUS surround sound system at The Bath House in Hackney Wick on Saturday 11th May.
For this event we are starting to explore beyond hearing by inviting the musicians to share a flavour or scent as a pairing to their sets to expand to reaching the other senses. This also explains the image chosen for this event, a scan rather than a photo and therefore a collated set of images featuring a cake and cutlery on a sideboard, a more febrile exploration.
Join the event
Introspective Electronics x Experiment Intrinsic
21st of April 2024 @The Bath House
16:30pm to 10:30pm
On Sunday 21st April, we are handing over the reigns of The Bath House to two of the finest London-born ambient collectives ~ Introspective Electronics and Experiment Intrinsic. They join forces to take us an all-day beanbag-laden adventure, transforming the space into a cozy cuddle cocoon and inviting six local DJ’s to weave sonorous threads throughout the day.
DJ sets by:
Cerpintxt b2b Gyorgy Ono
Excelsior Ruth
Miro sundayMusiq
Sybil
Join the event
Introspective Electronics x Experiment Intrinsic
21st of April 2024 @The Bath House
16:30pm to 10:30pm
On Sunday 21st April, we are handing over the reigns of The Bath House to two of the finest London-born ambient collectives ~ Introspective Electronics and Experiment Intrinsic. They join forces to take us an all-day beanbag-laden adventure, transforming the space into a cozy cuddle cocoon and inviting six local DJ’s to weave sonorous threads throughout the day.
DJ sets by:
Cerpintxt b2b Gyorgy Ono
Excelsior Ruth
Miro sundayMusiq
Sybil
Join the event
Aural Cinema
29th of March 2024 @The Bath House
7:30pm to 11:30pm
For the next event of our residency at The Bath House, we are inviting you to an evening of multi-channel electroacoustic music on our spatial sound system.
Pieces and performances by:
Aki Pasoulas
Blackhawk::N471v3
Georgina Brett
John Wynne
Jose Macabra & Christian Duka
Join the event
Aural Cinema
29th of March 2024 @The Bath House
7:30pm to 11:30pm
For the next event of our residency at The Bath House, we are inviting you to an aural screening of six sonic films presented by local sound artists on our spatial sound system.
Pieces and performances by:
Aki Pasoulas
Blackhawk::N471v3
Christian Duka & Jose Macabra
Georgina Brett
John Wynne
Join the event
Amoenus presents: Formant Value, Jin Synth, Eight Fold Way & Avsluta b2b Christian Duka
9th of March 2024 @The Bath House
7:30pm to 11:30pm
For the next event of our residency at The Bath House, we are inviting five local artists to concoct lysergic ambient and downtempo potions on our spatial sound system.
Join us for an evening of deep horizontal music, with a live performance by Formant Value weaving spatial dimension into his deeply intricate music productions, joined by Jin Synth, Eight Fold Way and Avsluta b2b Christian Duka exploring our custom spatial sound DJ setup, all crafting adventurous sound journeys to tickle your imagination ✨
Join the event
Formant Value, Jin Synth, Eight Fold Way & Avsluta b2b Christian Duka
9th of March 2024 @The Bath House
7:30pm to 11:30pm
For the next event of our residency at The Bath House, we are inviting five local artists to concoct lysergic ambient and downtempo potions on our spatial sound system.
Join us for an evening of deep horizontal music, with a live performance by Formant Value weaving spatial dimension into his deeply intricate music productions, joined by Jin Synth, Eight Fold Way and Avsluta b2b Christian Duka exploring our custom spatial sound DJ setup, all crafting adventurous sound journeys to tickle your imagination ✨
Join the event
Spatial Audio Workshop
23rd of February 2024 @The Bath House
10am to 5pm
This introductory full-day workshop looks at the theory and practice of working with spatial audio technology on Ableton Live. The workshop will cover two solutions: the 4DSOUND Suite and Envelop For Live.
The participants are invited to work on a short spatial sound composition of their own in binaural audio. The resulting pieces will be played back on our spatial sound system at The Bath House in Hackney Wick.
The workshop will be led by Christian Duka and Lucie Stepankova.
The participants are invited to work on a short spatial sound composition of their own in binaural audio. The resulting pieces will be played back on our spatial sound system at The Bath House in Hackney Wick.
The workshop will be led by Christian Duka and Lucie Stepankova.
Join the workshop
Amoenus presents: Stone, Nexcyia, mu tate and Avsluta
10th of February 2024 @The Bath House
8:00pm to 11:59pm
For the next event of our residency at The Bath House, we are inviting four local artists to concoct lysergic ambient and downtempo potions on our spatial sound system. Join us for an evening of deep horizontal music, with live performances by Nexcyia and mu tate who will weave spatial dimension into the captivating sound worlds of their music productions. To spice things up, we invited Stone and Avsluta to test and explore our work-in-progress spatial sound DJ setup to craft adventurous sound journeys for your yearning ears.
Join the event
Stone, Nexcyia, mu tate and Avsluta
10th of February 2024 @The Bath House
8:00pm to 11:59pm
For the next event of our residency at The Bath House, we are inviting four local artists to concoct lysergic ambient and downtempo potions on our spatial sound system. Join us for an evening of deep horizontal music, with live performances by Nexcyia and mu tate who will weave spatial dimension into the captivating sound worlds of their music productions. To spice things up, we invited Stone and Avsluta to test and explore our work-in-progress spatial sound DJ setup to craft adventurous sound journeys for your yearning ears.
Join the event
Listening Together
26th of January 2024 @The Bath House
8:00pm to 11:59pm
A collective listening experience in spatial audio.
Pieces and performances by:
Avsluta
Blackhawk::N471v3
Christian Duka
Edward Griffiths
Georgina Brett
Mark Slee
and more
Avsluta
Blackhawk::N471v3
Christian Duka
Edward Griffiths
Georgina Brett
Mark Slee
and more
Join the event
Listening Together
26th of January 2024 @The Bath House
8:00pm to 11:59pm
A collective listening experience in spatial audio.
Pieces and performances by:
Avsluta
Blackhawk::N471v3
Christian Duka
Edward Griffiths
Georgina Brett
Mark Slee
and more
Join the event
INFINITE MONKEYS
Join the monkeys
INFINITE MONKEYS
13th of January 2024 @The Bath House
4pm to 12am
Infinite Monkeys Theorem states that infinite monkeys with projectors, synthesizers and an infinite amount of time could produce an AV version of “Selected Music From Washing Machines 85-92”. This theorem was tried in real life, but only for a day. The seven monkeys involved produced 5 minutes of cow sounds, slammed projectors and synthesizers with a stone and ate 21kg of bananas. Infinite Monkeys will try it again performing live on Saturday the 13th of January from 4pm to 12pm at The Bath House. The Monkeys performing at The Baths will be available for adoption, please adopt a Monkey, and bring one to your home after the show.
Join the Monkeys
Free Improvisation in Spatial Sound
︎27.04.2023 @Stone Nest
David Toop, Lucie Stepánková, Christian Duka, John Butcher and Aimée Theiot come together to build “living sonic sculptures” on a 4DSOUND system
Tickets & Info
Exploring Spatial Sound: A week of learning and creating in a 4DSOUND system
Twenty participants had the opportunity to explore the potential of spatial sound through the use of 4DSOUND technology, and develop works for this one-of-a-kind instrument, gaining technical, theoretical, and creative insight into how to produce and present spatial sound productions.
This 5-day deep-dive course took place in a bespoke 4DSOUND system installed at the historic arts venue Stone Nest in Soho.
- Dates: 15–19 May 2023
- Place: Stone Nest, London W1D 5EZ
- Deadline for applications: Monday 3 April
In the process of the course, participants collaborated to create original works in spatial audio (compositions or performances) and present them in a public event at Stone Nest on Friday the 19th of May.
More info & apply
4DSOUND and Amoenus warmly invite artists, musicians, creatives, performers, designers, and the creative community of London and beyond to take part in a 5-day course on spatial sound.
Twenty participants will have the opportunity to explore the potential of spatial sound through the use of 4DSOUND technology, and develop works for this one-of-a-kind instrument, gaining technical, theoretical, and creative insight into how to produce and present spatial sound productions.
This 5-day deep-dive course will take place in a bespoke 4DSOUND system installed at the historic arts venue Stone Nest in Soho.
- Dates: 15–19 May 2023
- Place: Stone Nest, London W1D 5EZ
- Deadline for applications: Monday 3 April
In the process of the course, participants will collaborate to create original works in spatial audio (compositions or performances) to be presented in a public event at Stone Nest on Friday the 19th of May.
More info & apply
The Listening Body
Performed in December 2022 & March 2023 @IKLECTIK
The Listening Body features Christian Duka for sound processing and spatialisation across a multi-speaker setup, Steve McInerney as a gong performer alongside Henrique Matias (Hems) - forming the group known as 'Flying Disks’ - and Pascal Savy performing live electronics.
The focus is on immersing both audience and artist in the present, transforming the act of listening into an embodied experience. Rather than just an auditory spectacle, the performance seeks to make the entire body a resonating vessel, molded by sound as it interacts with the architecture of the space. It's a deep exploration of presence, where the music is a continuum of physical sensations, prompting attendees to introspect on the ephemeral nature of reality through the medium of sound.
The focus is on immersing both audience and artist in the present, transforming the act of listening into an embodied experience. Rather than just an auditory spectacle, the performance seeks to make the entire body a resonating vessel, molded by sound as it interacts with the architecture of the space. It's a deep exploration of presence, where the music is a continuum of physical sensations, prompting attendees to introspect on the ephemeral nature of reality through the medium of sound.
The Listening Body
Sound Slick by The Inner Ear
9th of October 2022 @IKLECTIK
Presented by Isa Barzizza and Digidub
Smeared across the surface of the SE1 landscape, Sound Slick is a live listening event featuring musicians and improvised programmed sounds diffused in Ambisonics. The Inner Ear are based at ‘The Tank’, a unique old oil tank-venue in northern Sweden (Svanö), which uniqueness stands in its 24-second reverb.
This piece draws heavily on a recording session made at The Tank in summer 2022 by the Inner Ear in collaboration with Isa Ferri, during an intense 5 days sessions.
All the programmed electronics uses samples from The Tank and the inspiration for the piece is drawn from the archaic landscape sprawling south of the river in what is now known as SE1. Expect live and improvised vocals, throat singing, instrumentation, electronics, surround sound submergence and performance.
This piece draws heavily on a recording session made at The Tank in summer 2022 by the Inner Ear in collaboration with Isa Ferri, during an intense 5 days sessions.
All the programmed electronics uses samples from The Tank and the inspiration for the piece is drawn from the archaic landscape sprawling south of the river in what is now known as SE1. Expect live and improvised vocals, throat singing, instrumentation, electronics, surround sound submergence and performance.
Sound Slick
by The Inner Ear
Smeared across the surface of the SE1 landscape, Sound Slick is a live listening event featuring musicians and improvised programmed sounds diffused in Ambisonics.
︎ Tickets
FREE IMPROVISATION IN 3D SOUND
John Butcher, Ute Kanngiesser, Sharon Gal and Christian Duka come together to build living sonic sculptures.
12.05.2022 @IKLECTIK
Free Improvisation in 3D Sound
︎12.05.2022 @IKLECTIK
John Butcher, Ute Kanngiesser, Sharon Gal and Christian Duka come together to build “living sonic sculptures”.
Tickets & Info
Avsluta & Atau Tanaka
︎Online event curated by IKLECTIK
︎Performed in 3D sound, streamed in Binaural Audio
︎Full Performance︎
An evening of vocal synthesis and digital processing and EMG muscle sensing streamed live from IKLECTIK. The online event also featured 3 readings by Brandon LaBelle, Sally Jane Norman and David Toop.
AVSLUTA & ATAU TANAKA
︎Online event curated by IKLECTIK
︎Performed in 3D sound, streamed in Binaural Audio
︎Full Performance︎
An evening of vocal synthesis and digital processing and EMG muscle sensing streamed live from IKLECTIK. The online event also featured 3 readings by Brandon LaBelle, Sally Jane Norman and David Toop.
UR: Human Presence
An immersive performance that explores the inner workings of the human body.
Curated by Christian Duka in collaboration with Pell Ensemble, Jose Macabra and Elissavet Sfyri
︎Performance Review︎
An immersive performance that explores the inner workings of the human body.
Curated by Christian Duka in collaboration with Pell Ensemble, Jose Macabra and Elissavet Sfyri
︎Performance Review︎
Curated by Christian Duka in collaboration with Pell Ensemble, Jose Macabra and Elissavet Sfyri
︎Performance Review︎
GUTZ
︎Blindfolded Sonic Experience
︎@Aures London, 25 channel system
Jose Macabra, Christian Duka, Guy Harries and Aki Pasoulas came together to investigate pain in the everyday human experience.
GUTZ
︎Blindfolded Sonic Experience
︎@Aures London, 25 channel system
Jose Macabra, Christian Duka, Guy Harries and Aki Pasoulas came together to investigate pain in the everyday human experience.
Resolution
Immersive audiovisual event with Roly Porter, Piksel and Bruised Skies.
Sound installation by Emmanuel Spinelli and early pieces from electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram.
In collaboration with Resolution
︎Article on RedBull Music︎
RESOLUTION
Immersive audiovisual event with Roly Porter, Piksel and Bruised Skies on a 25 channel sound system.
Sound installation by Emmanuel Spinelli and early pieces from electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram.
︎Article on RedBull Music︎
FUTURESHOOK
︎Music performances in a 25 channel speaker system @Aures London
︎In collaboration with Edited Arts
Futureshook explores the ways in which modern audio-visual technologies have affected the way we create and consume art - from the re-imagining of turntablism to combining the acoustic with the electronic.
Featuring performances by Shiva Feshareki, Ben Vince & Lucinda Chua, MARMO and Ben Koosha
FUTURESHOOK
︎Music performances in a 25 channel speaker system @Aures London
︎In collaboration with Edited Arts
Futureshook explores the ways in which modern audio-visual technologies have affected the way we create and consume art - from the re-imagining of turntablism to combining the acoustic with the electronic.
Featuring performances by Shiva Feshareki, Ben Vince & Lucinda Chua, MARMO and Ben Koosha
Immersive Audio R&D
︎@IKLECTIK ART LAB
AMOENUS collaborated with IKLECTIK art centre to host a series of immersive audio research and development projects.
The R&Ds took place on our new 13.4 Ambisonics sound system and involve a diverse group of artists, each exploring 3D audio practices in their respective artistic fields.
︎ Watch the full documentary ︎
Immersive Audio R&D
︎@IKLECTIK ART LAB
AMOENUS collaborated with IKLECTIK art centre to host a series of immersive audio research and development projects.
The R&Ds took place on our new 13.4 Ambisonics sound system and involve a diverse group of artists, each exploring 3D audio practices in their respective artistic fields.
︎ Watch the full documentary ︎
ABOUT AMOENUS
3D Sound System
Our bespoke ambisonics sound system, currently installed in IKLECTIK ART LAB
Amoenus is a musicians-led, cooperative cultural organisation that promotes the development of music as a multi-sensory, participatory experience.
Our work focuses on shifting the way in which music is experienced today: departing from the traditional one-sided mode of consumption, we consider audiences as creative participants.
We acknowledge music as a dynamic agent for societal and cultural transformation, believing that the evolution and broad adoption of immersive sensory technologies can have a significant, transformative impact worldwide.
Amoenus originated a series of immersive events organised at Aures London by London based artist Christian Duka following “UR: Human Presence”, a multidisciplinary artistic experience presented at Aures London in 2018. These events were organised to provide local artists with the opportunity of working with spatial audio in their own practice and present it to the public.
Following a series of immersive music events carried out in 2019 at Aures London in Waterloo, Amoenus was set up as a charitable cultural organisation and received a grant from Arts Council England to build a 16.4 audio system in order to carry out their work independently. The sound system was installed at IKLECTIK, a community space in central London that promotes experimentation in music and contemporary art from 2020 to 2023. There, the Amoenus sound system facilitated and enhanced more than 200 events as part of IKLECTIK's programme. Amoenus’ own curatorial works explore the intersection of various fields encompassing electronic music, free improvisation, interactive & participatory arts, performance art and new media practices.
In London, Amoenus also organised a workshop at Central St Martins university, exploring ecological contexts through spatial sound and a 5-days course on spatial sound at Stone Nest in central London (Shaftesbury Avenue) in collaboration with Amsterdam-based creative studio 4DSOUND. Outside of London, Amoenus led a workshop at Birmingham Open Media with a group of 40 neurodivergent individuals.
Amoenus collaborates with:
The Bath House, a not-for-profit community space with a cafe, bar multiple event spaces and studios. They host many permanent local businesses, as well as offering a wide range of workshops and events that change weekly
PELL ENSEMBLE, created in 2014 by Choreographer, Dance and Digital Artist Rebecca Evans. Her work uses interactive and immersive technologies combined with dance to engage audiences and communities in both the making and performance process.
4DSOUND, an Amsterdam-based studio focusing on spatial sound as a creative medium. Since 2007, 4DSOUND has been at the forefront of some of the most creatively challenging and technically complex projects using spatial audio in the context of architecture, music, opera, fashion and research.
Candy Mountain, a design, project development and production studio, driven by transforming ideas into reality, exploring the outer realms of technology, specialist craftwork and sound creation.
The Studio in Bath, led by creative producer Nik Rawlings, they support artist residents and business partners to develop projects through grant applications, business development, networking and events, as well as working with university colleagues to engage students in resident activities and internship opportunities.
The birth of the Amoenus project: “UR: Human Presence”, 2018.VISION STATEMENT
The Locus Amoenus is a theme recurring in modern and classic literature, it means “a place without walls”. Many authors identified it with a pleasant place-non-place for the refreshment of the soul, where the protagonists of their works found refuge from dangers and hardships. For Homer the Locus Amoenus was the island of Calypso, for Boccaccio it was a place of safety away from the plague pandemic.
Today, Amoenus is actively working to create spaces that, through the constantly evolving entity of sound, enable us to imagine new realities founded on the principle of the human being as a creative entity. Its conceptualisation stems from a recognised need for local communities to imagine how futures like this can feel like before they can take the right steps "in the world" to actualise them.
Amoenus currently focuses on the use of immersive sound technology as a tool to be used experimentally for such communal acts of world building.
Listening Together
︎The Bath House, 80 Eastway, London E9 5JH
︎26th of January 2024
︎20:00 - 23:59
︎Cost: £15
Pieces and performances by:
Avsluta
Blackhawk::N471v3
Christian Duka
Georgina Brett
Mark Slee
OLO
and more
A collective listening experience in spatial audio.
Photo credit: Valya Korabelnikova. The picture was taken at the closure event of "Exploring Spatial Sound", a week-long workshop in collaboration with 4DSOUND at Stone Nest in Shaftesbury Avenue back in May 2023.
Schedule
︎8pm: Mark Slee, performing live and presenting Envelop For Live, an open-source spatial audio production toolkit that allows artists to produce and perform unforgettable events in Envelop listening spaces, or explore their own DIY projects.
︎8:45pm: Georgina Brett, presenting “FocusSing”.
“FocuSing” is about vocal, contextual communication. The harmonic element uses vowel sounds and is inspired by chord sequences in Debussy “Clair De Lune”. The pitches/harmony grow in confidence and develop throughout the piece, representing stability and constancy. The rhythms are voiced using the plosive consonants, p,t,k and b,d,g and derive from the rhythm of speech of Taglines, developed using minimalist techniques. The ambisonic palette allows the long note chords to swell, rotate and retreat like waves, giving the rhythms permission to scurry around after each other. The spatial element affording them space for their individuality, growing and disappearing.
︎9:20pm: Avsluta - creating sonic ecosystems through free improvisation with found objects and digital processing.
︎10:00pm: Edward Griffiths, live performance.
︎10:20pm: Eszter Andrea Kerecsen, live performance.
︎10:45pm: Presentations by participants of our upcoming Spatial Audio Workshop, taking place on the 26th of January from 10am to 5pm.
︎11:40pm: Christian Duka, presenting “Embodied Cinema”, an immersive sound piece inspired the phenomenology of perception.
About the artists
Avsluta
Avsluta dedicates her creative practice to object-oriented improvisation, live performance, interactive installation, curation and DJing. In her improvised electro-acoustic performances, as if working with magnifying glass, she interrogates, animates and amplifies the voices of seemingly inanimate entities and explores our relationship to them through sound-making. Lucie co-creates with found objects and natural materials, field recordings, electronics and digital processing to generate sonic possible ecosystems and speculative ecological narratives. The general aim is to encourage audiences to engage in listening as an active-creative practice and prompt a sense of more-than-human kinship.
Andrea Esther Kerecsen, a mostly London based programmer and artist, "infected and corrupted" by the live events industry. Living behind the scenes, working in the shadow on heavy backends and backlines, but sometimes the pull of the spotlights are too hard. Blackhawk::N471v3 is a project name, connecting the ancient past with modern days, making scaffolds, structures, patterns, manifolds to use, visuals to listen to, soundscapes to watch.
https://soundcloud.com/n471v3
Christian Duka
Photo by Alice UnderwoodChristian is a sound artist/designer, immersive audio specialist and co-founder of Amoenus, a cultural organisation that promotes the development of music as a multi-sensory, participatory experience.
Following a month-long residency on spatial sound at MONOM in Berlin with 4DSOUND in 2018, he curated UR: Human Presence, an interdisciplinary immersive performance presented at Aures London. He has since been exploring spatial audio as a tool to explore the relational and multi-sensory aspects of experiencing and making music through cultural activities carried out via the Amoenus organisation in London.
Before committing his full focus to Amoenus, Christian taught sound design, electronic music, and audio/visual production in higher education institutions including SAE Institute and Greenwich University in London.
Georgina Brett
Georgina Brett is a composer and event organiser. After studying an MA in Electroacoustic composition under Jonty Harrison she went on to produce cd’s of binaural recordings from eco-festivals. In 2003 she began making vocal live-looping collages/improvisations/compositions and has composed many albums exploring a range of ideas and musical challenges for mono-choir. She began Tuesdays Post : Live Progressive Ambient in 2012 to promote artists creating music on the cusp of electro-acoustic and ambient styles. Having gained a fascination for surround sound spatial music at undergraduate level she has curated a number of multispeaker concerts in London over the years.
Mark Slee
Intricate grooves, dreamy textures, playful whimsical bounce. Over the course of an electronic music obsession more than 20 years strong, Mark Slee has evolved a deep musical style that reflects a unique personality, blending intuition and introspection with a methodical approach to production and curation.
Fully committed to digging the troves of modern dance music, Slee aims to uncover releases that stand out. His monthly mix show on Proton Radio showcases his discoveries, with over 100 mixes presented in the past decade. In 2016, Slee joined forces with musical partner Atish to form the label Manjumasi. Debuting with his own Nocturne Belle EP, Manjumasi celebrates quirky dance music that explores new territory without forgetting the dance floor. Beyond Manjumasi, Slee's original productions and remixes have been released on such imprints as Cityfox, Seven Villas, Lost Diaries, Cosmic Society, Magician On Duty, Nugget, Where the Heart Is, Proton Music, and more. In addition to regular appearances on his San Francisco home turf, Slee's style has earned him DJ sets in notable locales, such as Kater Blau and Sisyphos in Berlin, Cityfox in New York, and Robot Heart.
Since 2016 Slee has also been developing immersive, spatial audio-visual production tools for systems of up to 32 channels via Envelop. Notable live performances with Envelop include MUTEK.SF and FORM Arcosanti.
OLO
My name is Edward Griffiths and OLO is my sonic-works avatar (basically an emoticon representing my face). I also run the XOLO event series. XOLO exists to develop opportunities for sonic and visual artists at the forefront of creative exploration. I find it difficult to explain my pieces in writing but it suffices to say that they are often the result of internal worlds leaking but are intended to work externally as explorations of non-linear narratives and dimensions.
About Envelop
https://www.envelop.us/
E4L (Envelop for Live) is an open-source spatial audio production toolkit that allows artists to produce and perform unforgettable events in Envelop listening spaces, or explore their own DIY projects. E4L operates within Ableton Live Suite (10-11+) and is designed to be a flexible platform for artists to compose with immersive sound. E4L’s modular design also allows developers to create unique audio effects for the Ambisonics domain.
About The Bath House
https://thebathhouse.co/
The Bath House is a not-for-profit community space with a cafe, bar multiple event spaces and studios. We host many permanent local businesses, as well as offering a wide range of workshops and events that change weekly.
About AMOENUS
https://amoenus.co.uk
This workshop is organised by AMOENUS, a cultural organisation that promotes the development of music as a multi-sensory, participatory experience. Amoenus ran several residencies, workshops and events since 2018 in collaboration with several art organisations, spatial audio technology companies, educational institutions and community venues including IKLECTIK, 4DSOUND, Sony, Stone Nest, Central St Martins, BOM Birmingham, Insitute of Contemporary Music Perfromance and Goldsmiths University, receiving support from Arts Council England in the process to build their very own 16.4 state of the arts spatial audio sound system, currently housed at The Bath House in Hackney Wick.
A collective listening experience in spatial audio.
Pieces and performances by:
Avsluta
Blackhawk::N471v3
Christian Duka
Georgina Brett
Mark Slee
OLO
and more
Schedule
︎8pm: Mark Slee, performing live and presenting Envelop For Live, an open-source spatial audio production toolkit that allows artists to produce and perform unforgettable events in Envelop listening spaces, or explore their own DIY projects.
︎8:45pm: Georgina Brett, presenting “FocusSing”.
“FocuSing” is about vocal, contextual communication. The harmonic element, inspired by Debussy's "Clair De Lune," uses vowel sounds and chord sequences. Pitches/harmony evolve, symbolizing stability. Rhythms employ plosive consonants (p,t,k,b,d,g) inspired by Tagline speech rhythms using minimalist techniques. The ambisonic palette lets chords swell, rotate, and retreat like waves, while the spatial element gives rhythms space to grow and disappear.
︎9:20pm: Avsluta - creating sonic ecosystems through free improvisation with found objects and digital processing.
︎10:00pm: Eszter Andrea Kerecsen, live performance.
︎10:20pm: Edward Griffiths, live performance.
︎10:45pm: Presentations by participants of our upcoming Spatial Audio Workshop, taking place on the 26th of January from 10am to 5pm.
︎11:40pm: Christian Duka, presenting “Embodied Cinema”, an immersive sound piece inspired the phenomenology of perception.
About the artists
Avsluta
Avsluta dedicates her creative practice to object-oriented improvisation, live performance, interactive installation, curation and DJing. In her improvised electro-acoustic performances, as if working with magnifying glass, she interrogates, animates and amplifies the voices of seemingly inanimate entities and explores our relationship to them through sound-making. Lucie co-creates with found objects and natural materials, field recordings, electronics and digital processing to generate sonic possible ecosystems and speculative ecological narratives. The general aim is to encourage audiences to engage in listening as an active-creative practice and prompt a sense of more-than-human kinship.
Andrea Esther Kerecsen, a mostly London based programmer and artist, "infected and corrupted" by the live events industry. Living behind the scenes, working in the shadow on heavy backends and backlines, but sometimes the pull of the spotlights are too hard. Blackhawk::N471v3 is a project name, connecting the ancient past with modern days, making scaffolds, structures, patterns, manifolds to use, visuals to listen to, soundscapes to watch.
Christian Duka
Photo by Alice UnderwoodChristian is a sound artist/designer, immersive audio specialist and co-founder of Amoenus, a cultural organisation that promotes the development of music as a multi-sensory, participatory experience.
Following a month-long residency on spatial sound at MONOM in Berlin with 4DSOUND in 2018, he curated UR: Human Presence, an interdisciplinary immersive performance presented at Aures London. He has since been exploring spatial audio as a tool to explore the relational and multi-sensory aspects of experiencing and making music through cultural activities carried out via the Amoenus organisation in London.
Before committing his full focus to Amoenus, Christian taught sound design, electronic music, and audio/visual production in higher education institutions including SAE Institute and Greenwich University in London.
Georgina Brett
Georgina Brett is a composer and event organiser. After studying an MA in Electroacoustic composition under Jonty Harrison she went on to produce cd’s of binaural recordings from eco-festivals. In 2003 she began making vocal live-looping collages/improvisations/compositions and has composed many albums exploring a range of ideas and musical challenges for mono-choir. She began Tuesdays Post : Live Progressive Ambient in 2012 to promote artists creating music on the cusp of electro-acoustic and ambient styles. Having gained a fascination for surround sound spatial music at undergraduate level she has curated a number of multispeaker concerts in London over the years.
Mark Slee
Intricate grooves, dreamy textures, playful whimsical bounce. Over the course of an electronic music obsession more than 20 years strong, Mark Slee has evolved a deep musical style that reflects a unique personality, blending intuition and introspection with a methodical approach to production and curation.
Fully committed to digging the troves of modern dance music, Slee aims to uncover releases that stand out. His monthly mix show on Proton Radio showcases his discoveries, with over 100 mixes presented in the past decade. In 2016, Slee joined forces with musical partner Atish to form the label Manjumasi. Debuting with his own Nocturne Belle EP, Manjumasi celebrates quirky dance music that explores new territory without forgetting the dance floor. Beyond Manjumasi, Slee's original productions and remixes have been released on such imprints as Cityfox, Seven Villas, Lost Diaries, Cosmic Society, Magician On Duty, Nugget, Where the Heart Is, Proton Music, and more. In addition to regular appearances on his San Francisco home turf, Slee's style has earned him DJ sets in notable locales, such as Kater Blau and Sisyphos in Berlin, Cityfox in New York, and Robot Heart.
Since 2016 Slee has also been developing immersive, spatial audio-visual production tools for systems of up to 32 channels via Envelop. Notable live performances with Envelop include MUTEK.SF and FORM Arcosanti.
OLO
My name is Edward Griffiths and OLO is my sonic-works avatar (basically an emoticon representing my face). I also run the XOLO event series. XOLO exists to develop opportunities for sonic and visual artists at the forefront of creative exploration. I find it difficult to explain my pieces in writing but it suffices to say that they are often the result of internal worlds leaking but are intended to work externally as explorations of non-linear narratives and dimensions.
About Envelop
https://www.envelop.us/
E4L (Envelop for Live) is an open-source spatial audio production toolkit that allows artists to produce and perform unforgettable events in Envelop listening spaces, or explore their own DIY projects. E4L operates within Ableton Live Suite (10-11+) and is designed to be a flexible platform for artists to compose with immersive sound. E4L’s modular design also allows developers to create unique audio effects for the Ambisonics domain.
About The Bath House
https://thebathhouse.co/
The Bath House is a not-for-profit community space with a cafe, bar multiple event spaces and studios. We host many permanent local businesses, as well as offering a wide range of workshops and events that change weekly.
About AMOENUS
https://amoenus.co.uk
This workshop is organised by AMOENUS, a cultural organisation that promotes the development of music as a multi-sensory, participatory experience. Amoenus ran several residencies, workshops and events since 2018 in collaboration with several art organisations, spatial audio technology companies, educational institutions and community venues including IKLECTIK, 4DSOUND, Sony, Stone Nest, Central St Martins, BOM Birmingham, Insitute of Contemporary Music Perfromance and Goldsmiths University, receiving support from Arts Council England in the process to build their very own 16.4 state of the arts spatial audio sound system, currently housed at The Bath House in Hackney Wick.