As the second gig of the series Sound Friction, The Zen Ensemble will be the most noiseless and tranquil sound performance of this year.

Inspired by the concept of emptiness in Zen Buddhism, the dynamic Japanese multi-disciplinary group mAtter, together with selected Hong Kong sound artists, will bring us ‘The Zen Ensemble’ – a conceptual group that explores the composition and performance of silence.

For this special performance, a set of rules is composed to guide the artists to play ‘silence’ rather than making sound. In Zen Buddhism (an adaptation of Chinese Buddhism), it is said that our existence can only be found in the silence of the mind (or in fact, no-mind). The Zen Ensemble will be the first and only sound performance in Hong Kong that invites you to experience the absence of sound.

Together with stunning live visuals, this quiet sound revolution of The Zen Ensemble at Videotage is definitely a must-go for electronics and sound art lovers.

mAtter is a Japanese design group and independent music label that combines talents from various disciplines, including the acclaimed designer and sound composer Yukitomo Hamasaki, in which he draws his inspirations through nature elements such as light and space. Together the group blends sound and produce projects that integrate architecture, image-making and design. The tranquil sound quality contains layered waves of irregular clicks, pops, beeps and breaks, which brings the noise listening experience and sound art to a new level. For example the high frequency sound used in the album “d+p”, some listeners claimed that it has an effect to distort their perspective on surrounding environmental noise.

Jointly presented by Videotage and Re-records, the Sound Friction series take sonic art as the anchor point and develop a creative performance platform for cross-cultural, cross-media, cross-disciplinary and cross-genres collaboration between artists.

Artists:
mAtter from Tokyo, featuring Yukitomo Hamasaki + shotahirama (Electronics),
Go Koyashiki (Electronics), Toshikazu Goto (Electronics) + Fumiko Ikeda (Voice) + Ken Hirama (Live Visuals)
& Alok (Electronics), KWC (Electronics), Sin:Ned (Silence, Live Visuals) From Hong Kong

About the Artists

mAtter
mAtter is a sound & design project, with works centering around Yukitomo Hamasaki. The label takes approaches from various media such as sound design, architecture, and product design, in which the members interpret and restructures these concepts in different ways based on their own perspection, and try to achieve the goal of constructing dense space. The members of mAtter are not fixed, they collaborate depend on the projects. Its members consist of musicians, architects, video artists, and writers. Current members include:
Yukitomo Hamasaki: www.myspace.com/nothingsclear
Go Koyashiki: www.myspace.com/gokoyashiki
Junji Koyanagi: celescape.org/koyanagi
shotahirama: www.signaldada.com
Ken Hirama: www.kenhirama.com
www.matter.jp

Sin:Ned
Sin:Ned is an idiosyncratic audio experimentalist, writer and live visualist. He is also a member of No One Pulse and the co-founder of the experimental imprint Re-Records.
sin-ned.blogspot.com

KWC
While not designing, KWC spends time cutting loops and recording with his non-standard portable devices, he’s 1/2 of the electro-acoustic improvisation duo No One Pulse. While not making sounds, KWC spends time designing under the alias of Sleepatwork and occasionally curating art projects as well.
www.myspace.com/anytonekwc

Alok
Sound artist, guitarist and bassist. In 2002, he set up his own record label Lona Records, and started working as a producer. From the end of 2002 to 2009, he released 5 albums and 5 cd singles. He has played and participated in more than 100 shows and experimental events / projects in Hong Kong and China.
www.myspace.com/alokhk

Date: 17 December 2010 (Friday)
Time: 9:15 – 11 pm
Venue: Videotage
Address: Unit 13, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, To Kwa Wan, Kln. HK