Tuesday 05 mar 2019 _Slow moves video is now on Vimeo as part of the preparations for the Porting Self project. It was composed an recorded at Studio84 by BOP (Bjelkeborn&Pignon).
Tuesday 26 feb 2019 _This 21st century musical instrument is developed and expanded as part of the Porting Self project. Months of tweaking and hacking is now coming together for the final push of composition and rehearsals.
Thursday 07 feb 2018 _Thomas Bjelkeborn and Paul Pignon is trying some new but old tweeks, adding a second computer for additional soundextensions of the woodwinds and flutes. It's PD work on Linux also exploring netobjects to connect it to the main computer running MAX. It's cold in Studio84 today so we'll keep the hats on.
Tuesday 29 jan 2018 _Meet the Sound Quartet ensemble for the first performance of Porting Self and the Fridays PUSH concert at Fylkingen 29th march. Thomas Bjelkeborn sound artist investigating the relationship between traditional acoustic instruments and it's electronic extensions, where new physical-digital instruments often are combined with advanced audiovisuals. Martina Claussen mezzo-soprano and composer-performer with a focal point on electronic interaction of her own voice, as sound source of her electroacoustic compositions, and live electronics. Emma Lloyd violinist specialising in the performance of experimental contemporary music and improvisation. She performs as a soloist and in small ensembles, working often with live electronics. Musician and composer Paul Pignon multi-instrumentalist with wide experience in computer music and electroacoustic live structures and sounds.
Tuesday 22 jan 2018 _Martina Claussen is now part of the ensemble for the final work and first performance of Porting Self. She is a mezzo-soprano, vocal artist, composer and composer-performer. The focal point of her work lies in the interaction of her own voice, which also is the main sound source of her electroacoustic compositions, and live electronics.
She studied voice, vocal pedagogy, computer music and electronic media at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.
Her compositions have been broadcasted by various radio stations in Europe and have been selected to be played at international Festivals such as Festival Futura 2015 and 2017 (Crest, France), Ars Electronica 2017 Austria, the BIMESP XI Bienal Internacional de Música Electroacústica 2016 de Sao Paulo (Brazil) and the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival 2016 and 2017 (USA).
She works at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna where, since 2009, she holds the position of ao.Professor of Voice. www.martinaclaussen.at. Koray Tahiroglu that was part of the first concert is now replaced by Martina Claussen.
Thursday 07 jan 2018 _ The project is back on track in Studio84. It's time to give new and old software a runthrough in search for inspiring sound twists. In the autumn Thomas Bjelkeborn received a small investment grant for electronic related tools from Stockholm City Culture. This was perfect for his artistic development work for Porting Self. It made it possible for him to update his most important software of all, Cycling74 MAX/MSP, to the new version 8, happy days. Almost all his artistic work relate to this software since early 90ies. He also took the advantage of a black Friday offer on the iZoptope Stutter engine, it will come very handy in live performance as it is fully realtime controllable and creates very nice repetitive structures, a nice complement in the steps forward towards the completion of Porting Self. On top of this he also had the possibility to update his visuals software to Resolume6 and the Blackmagic videointerface to go with it, including electronics for development of a new livevideoswitcher and some new lowbudget but revolutionary cam's, look for news on new visual tweeks later on.
Thursday 20 dec 2018 _ Thomas Bjelkeborn and Paul Pignon again met for several weeks of intensive exploring at Studio84. Part of the work was commenced by studies and revision of Squelgrain, an older piece that share similarities with the Porting self project. It was a good way to evaluate the recent work of Porting self and to recapitulate and compare to older strategies and structural thoughts. The revisioned version of Squelgrain was premiered by BOP (Bjelkeborn and Pignon) 14th december at the JulELjud festival by VEMS at Fylkingen, as one further step on the way towards the Porting self conclusion. The concert was also used as a tryout for another setting for the cam-switcher realtime visuals. We recorded video from the concert as documentation and possible upload on vimeo, stay tuned. And now it's time to take a break, we'll be back 2019.
Friday 7 dec 2018 _ The project had to momentarily slow down. In early november Thomas Bjelkeborn was diagnosed with a vitreous detachment with complications,and on top of that hit by a flu that went to the throat and balancing nerve. But the work is now back on track with a last effort before the Christmas vacation.
Friday 15 nov 2018 _ The french composer and electronic musician Philippe Moenne-Loccoz visited Studio84 for two days of development and discussions on artistic subjects that is greatly related to the Porting Self project. Some of the ongoing cooperation of Thomas Bjelkeborn and Philippe Moenne-Loccoz was part of the Fridays PUSH concert at Fylkingen on the 16th november. They were also joined at Studio84 and at the concert by Eva Lindal on violin and Paul Pignon on assorted reeds, flutes and didgeridoo for a proper chamber quartet performance, almost as a prenotion of what Porting self might bring.
Sunday 4 nov 2018 _ The work on Porting self is intensified with the aid of Paul Pignons musicianship and profound experience. The work is now moving at a steady pace in Studio84 (1st image), often with rehearsals and experiments with both Thomas Bjelkeborn and Paul Pignon involved. Porting self has it's focus on new ways of worldmaking, where highlevel contemporary extended instrument techniques is combined with advanced digital sonification, sonic realtime alteration and sound synthesis. The duo BOP visited the Kontakt festival (2nd image) with a recap on the older piece Howling Shouts, a piece that holds much of the essens and viewpoints for the continuous work on Porting self.
Thursday 1 nov 2018 _ Musician and composer Paul Pignon is now part of the Porting Self project. He is a fantastic multi-instrumentalist with wide experience in computer music and electroacoustic structures and sounds. He has worked with Thomas Bjelkeborn in the duo BOP (Bjelkeborn and Pignon) since 1996 with numerous tours crossing allover Europe. All participants in Porting self greatly enjoyed to work, discuss and play with Émilie Girard-Charest who is now leaving the project to focus on her own compositional work for a Canadien festival the coming spring. Below is BOP performing at Svensk Musikvår 2018.
Monday 23 okt 2018 _ Now starts a short period for evaluation and rest, followed by many months of intense musical development and compositional work at Studio84 and EMS (Elektronmusikstudion) in Stockholm. The first concert and the workperiod since the project start has raised a lot of ideas, questions and issues that needs to be dwelled upon. Thomas Bjelkeborn says; "I've discovered a serious problem with dsp core handling that needs to be adressed to enable me and my computer to do greater things. I've also started to test three new interfaces (instruments) for enriched interaction with musicians and gestures, the widely spread LEAP, the not so much known SONUUS, and my own lightsensitive Blackbox (also found 2 mint mini-torches as preliminary source for lightinput). And lastly I've started to develop a dsp/gestural instrument based on the Axoloti card, a big thanks to Daniel Araya at EMS for valuable info and inspiration and to Paul Pignon for being a great sounding board for my thoughts on dsp and computers. The 1st concert gave me the chance to further test my cam-to-switcher ideas for realtime visuals. I'm hoping to enable music control to the switching and maybe adding a second computer for handling of images and mapping in Resolume with control over OSC."
Friday 19 oct 2018 _ The concert day was intense with rehearsals from early morning. The program for the concert had a very nice setting that displayed the many exciting artistic facettes of the musicians within the Porting Self project. Both Emma Lloyd and Emilie Girard-Charest performed there own soloworks as well as other contemporary chamber music from sweden and Thomas Bjelkeborn and Koray Tahirogly performed their joint work KET conversations. As a result of the first days of collaboration they all as a chambermusic quartet performed the experimental work Porting prequel which also included elusive realtime visuals.
Thursday 18 oct 2018 _ In the morning Emilie Girard Charest and Emma Lloyd did rehearsal on Emilies piece S'Offrir for cello and violin, assisted by Thomas Bjelkeborn. They gathered for a nice lunch where they where joined by Koray Tahiroglu. During the afternoon the full ensemble did a joint exploration on the quartet part of the Porting Prequel work. Porting Prequel is a first etude and preliminary prework for a composition to be first performed 29 march in it's finalized state as Porting Self. During the evening Thomas Bjelkeborn and Koray Tahiroglu did rehearsals for the KET conversations audiovisual work.
Wednesday 17 oct 2018 _ Emma Lloyd started early morning Wednesday at Fylkingen with rehearsal of Purfling by Malin Bång and exploring duo work for Porting Prequel with Thomas Bjelkeborn. Emilie Girard Charest joined Wednesday evening for work on a second duo as part of the Porting Prequel with Thomas Bjelkeborn. Porting Prequel is a first etude and preliminary prework for a composition to be first performed 29 march in it's finalized state as Porting Self.
Tuesday 16 oct 2018 _ Last minute late night action in Studio84, Thomas Bjelkeborn prepping sounds and tweakin' code, wednesday the big fun starts at Fylkingen.
Tuesday 9 oct 2018 _ It's now confirmed that Émilie Girard-Charest cello will perform her own work S'Offrir for cello and violin, together with Emma Lloyd on violin and Thomas Bjelkeborn on spazialisation.
Thursday 20 sept 2018 _ You can follow Emma Lloyd on her own Page on Facebook for updates and comments about her violin life.
Tuesday 11 sept 2018 _ Polymorpher is now available for listening on Soundcloud. Émilie Girard-Charest cello playing live at Fridays PUSHFylkingen with Thomas Bjelkeborn laptop/electronics and Philippe Moenne-Loccoz laptop/electronics. This is a Sound Quartet production.
Tuesday 4 sept 2018 _ Thomas Bjelkeborn, composer, curator and sound artist from Stockholm. He is known in contemporary music circles since 1988, primarily established as EAM composer for international festivals, often in the context of residencies at prominent music institutions. In his work, he investigates the relationship between traditional acoustic instruments and it's electronic extensions, where new physical-digital instruments often are combined with advanced audiovisuals to explore music beyond known horizons. He has performed compositions on all continents and frequently tours with BOP and Sound Quartet.
Monday 3 sept 2018 Koray Tahiroğlu is a musician, Academy of Finland research fellow and lecturer in the Department of Media, Aalto University School of ARTS, Finland. He is the founder and head of SOPI (Sound and Physical Interaction) research group. He practices art as a researcher focusing on embodied approaches to sound and music interaction, as well as a performer of live electronic music. Since 2004, he has been also teaching workshops and courses introducing artistic strategies and methodologies for creating interactive music. Tahiroğlu has performed experimental music in collaboration as well as in solo performances in Europe, North America and Australia.
Friday 31 aug 2018Émilie Girard-Charest is a cellist, composer and improviser. She works as a soloist and in different ensembles like Allogene and Quatuor d'occasion. She has participated in numerous creations with many composers including Fredrik Gran and she has several recordings to her credit. Émilie has participated in festivals such as Ars Musica, Donaueschingen Musiktage, Sonido Presente and MuTe Fest. She works regularly with theater, dance and performance circles and is developing projects with several multidisciplinary artists. Émilie graduated from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with a master in contemporary performance/composition from Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg and currently working on her doctorate at Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon.
Thursday 30 aug 2018Emma Lloyd is a violinist specialising in the performance of experimental contemporary music and improvisation. She performs as a soloist and in small ensembles, working often with live electronics, and collaborating regularly with composers. In addition to the modern set-up, she plays a baroque violin and performs both baroque and contemporary music written specifically for this instrument. As an improviser, Emma's performance tends to be quiet and intimate in nature, exploring the innate timbral qualities of the violin, and discovering some of the often hidden sounds that can be found with her unique combination of technique and tools.
Wednesday 29 aug 2018. Today Porting Self goes live with presentations on this webpage and on social media. In the coming days info about the participants will be added and soon the artistic and tech dev will start.
Porting Self, a music project extending traditional instruments through electroacoustic composition and realtime sonic alterations. The project is organised for the Sound Quartet ensemble with Thomas Bjelkeborn as artistic director, funded by Swedish Performing Arts Agency, Stockholm City Culture, Nordic Culture Point and Helge Ax:son Johnsons fund. The ensemble is Thomas Bjelkeborn laptop/electronics, Emma Lloyd violin/electronics, Paul Pignon reeds/flutes/didgerido & Martina Claussen voice/laptop. The project is organised by Sound Department AB at Studio 84 with work and concerts at Fylkingen. Parts of artistic work also at Elektronmusikstudion and Sound and Physical Interaction Research Group. The premiere of Porting Self is 29th March 2019 at Fylkingen Stockholm. Émilie Girard-Charest and Koray Tahiroğlu was part of a preliminary ensemble for a work-in-progress concert 19th October 2018. For updates also www.facebook.com/portingself/.
