photo courtesy of Samuel Huber, 2013

Ben Vida Performance

Composer and sound artist Ben Vida performs at the Clocktower with percussionist Eli Keszler, presenting electronic compositions for digital and analog synthesis, drums, and automated percussion that he developed as part of the Clocktower artist production program.

Free and open to the public. Seating is limited, 108 Leonard Street, 13th Floor. Bring a photo ID. Confirmed RSVP required to events@artonair.org. No admittance after 7pm.

Ben Vida has worked with artists Siebren Versteeg, Meredyth Sparks, Marina Rosenfeld, Luke Fowler, Hisham Bharoocha, Nadia Hironaka and Mathew Suib and has played in ensembles led by Tony Conrad, Rhys Chattam, and Werner Dafeldecker. He has performed with with David Behrman, Tyondai Braxton, Nate Wooley, Ryan Sawyer, Chad Taylor, Eli Keszler, Yamatsuka Eye and C. Spencer Yeh among many others. He has released over twenty records on such labels as Thrill Jockey, Drag City, PAN, Amish, Bottrop-Boy, Hapna and Kranky.

Plus: artist David Horvitz will welcome a small group of visitors into his Clocktower project studio for a special presentation on his recent and ongoing projects here and at the Shandaken Project. To assure entry to that room you must RSVP separately to Shandaken info@shandakenproject.org.

In 2011 Vida was Composer in Residency at Diapason Space, NYC and at EMS Studios, Stockholm and was awarded a Swedish Arts Committee Travel Grant, ISSUE Project Room Emerging Artists Commission and Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona "Composing with Process" Exclusive Works Commission. 2012 he premiered a new composition for fixed electronics and small ensemble commissioned by the ACM/Palomar Ensemble in Chicago. In the spring of 2013 he is an Artist in Residence at Clocktower, NYC and Issue Project Room, Brooklyn and will stage a solo show at Audio Visual Arts Gallery in Manhattan. As both a solo artist and in collaboration Vida has presented his work in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, South Korea and Japan.

Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and currently based in New York City, Eli Keszler began playing drums at eight, and composing at twelve. Before finding an interest in experimental music and improvisation, he played in rock and hardcore bands; his work retains an intense physicality and churning, often ferocious energy. He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory, where he studied composition with Anthony Coleman and Ran Blake. He has collaborated with Phill Niblock, Roscoe Mitchell, Tony Conrad, Joe McPhee, Loren Connors, Jandek, and many others, and has recorded more than a dozen CDs and LPs for ESP-DISK, REL, and PAN.

Ben Vida, Bird Show

Ben Vida is a composer, improviser and sound artist living in Brooklyn, NY. He produces electronic compositions that utilize analog and digital synthesizing technologies and focus on aural phenomena and sound localization. Ben co-founded the group Town and Country, produced three records of world musique concrete under the name Bird Show and plays in the band Soft Circle. In collaboration with Greg Davis, he creates cross control voltage integrated improvisations and real time automatic group composition. Ben has worked with artists Siebren Versteeg, Meredyth Sparks, Marina Rosenfeld, Luke Fowler, Hisham Bharoocha, Nadia Hironaka and Mathew Suib and has played in ensembles led by Tony Conrad, Rhys Chattam, and Werner Dafeldecker. He has performed with with Tyondai Braxton, Nate Wooley, Ryan Sawyer, Chad Taylor, Eli Keszler, Yamatsuka Eye and C. Spencer Yeh among many others. He has released over twenty records on such labels as Thrill Jockey, Drag City, PAN, Amish, Bottrop-Boy, Hapna and Kranky.

Ben Vida and Lawrence Kumpf

Issue Project Room's artistic director Lawrence Kumpf sits down with artist and composer Ben Vida whose Clocktower project takes place during February/March 2013. (Then he moves over to Issue to continue the work.) They discuss Vida's work as a composer and the ideas that he works to address with analog and digital synthesizer technology. The composer says that he is interested in using the musical device as a means to interpret scores. The result can ultimately be realized in different mediums such as LP's and books. By using a synth, Vida is able to create organic patterns and shapes. The two also discuss Vida's numerous collaborative projects and his upcoming performances with other composers. This includes the video piece that Vida is working on at the Clocktower. The piece involves other performers interpreting an original score, provided by the composer. Several tracks from Vida's previous LP's, including his 2012 album "Esstends Esstends Esstends", are played during the interview.