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present

METAMACHINE

a collaborative project at the border of visual art and electronic music

Aepiel, Atsushi Koyama, Dawn Before Silence, Doyeq, Echoton, Lenta, Macoto Murayama, Pachyderme

2014 May 31 – July 27

Yeo Workshop at Gillman Barracks, Singapore

as a part of “New Sensibilities in Sculpture and Painting” Exhibition

2014 July 4 – October 26

Metal in Liverpool, Edge Hill Station, Liverpool, Great Britain

as a part of “Botech Compositions: New works by Macoto Murayama” Exhibition
-special project during Liverpool Biennial-

2014 September – November

Frantic Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

The Berlin based music label ABANDONED AUDIO, a newly established sub-label of 31337 RECORDS, and FRANTIC GALLERY from Tokyo join forces to present METAMACHINE, a series of audio/visual works and their research into the collaborative possibilities between electronic music and contemporary art. International musicians working with a vast range of techniques from field recordings to algorithmically programmed sound textures meet Japanese artists active in the field of oil painting and digital art. The results of this collaboration are 6 video works that will be presented online as well as showcased in art exhibitions taking place in Singapore, Berlin and Tokyo during 2014.

The aim and triggering point of this project derives from the urge to understand the possibilities of the collaboration between fine arts and (contemporary / electronic) music. The idea behind METAMACHINE is not only to create audio/visual pieces, but also research different ways of combining sound and images influenced by two different artistic fields and cultures.

What exactly is METAMACHINE? The metaphor comes from the artistic path of Atsushi Koyama, one of the participating visual artists. While emphasising the aesthetic qualities of machines and mechanical drawings in oil paintings, Koyama merges the human body with mechanisms, creating a man-machine (similar to the notorious Tetsuo, but in a more sublimated way). As if to incorporate the beauty of the human body, Koyama’s mechanisms break away from their earthly nature. They take us to another reality, beyond utilitarian usage or function itself. Koyama’s machines act more like ‘mechanical’ (‘mecha-aesthetical’) keys to another dimension, existing outside of the physical reality and its laws.

At the same time, Macoto Murayama combines his knowledge of architecture, computer graphics and botany to reveal the mechanical structures of organic forms in his digital gardens of inorganic flora. For instance flowers, the sexual organ of a plant and object of admiration across all cultures and epochs, presented as a machine! His images appear like ‘blueprints’, seemingly stolen from the sketches that Mother Nature uses to create the organic beauty of a flower. Ultimately, Murayama’s METAMACHINEs provide us with an imaginary link to something beyond organic substance or mechanical structure.

The concept of METAMACHINEs can also be found in electronic music. This genre originally emerged from the relationship between human beings and machines, where the machine acts as a valid and independent participant to a certain degree. The result of this ‘post-human entity’ is the key to the frontiers beyond the dimension where musician and machine are present as material objects (comparable to the aforementioned visual artists). This unit itself is METAMACHINE, serving as a portal towards an immaterial field of fantasy. At this point, all of the artists come together in their intentions and here is where METAMACHINE is activated…

Presented Art Works


‘Sunflower’ - single channel video, 8'07'', 2014

Video by Macoto Murayama
Music by Echoton

Macoto Murayama 村山誠

Macoto Murayama creates computer generated botanical drawings, bringing the ancient tradition of flower illustration into the digital age. Pre-modern visuality meets cutting-edge technology; natural forms intertwine with scientific sharpness and descriptive precision. Murayama starts as a true botanist: he collects flowers, carries out vivisections and observations, draws and photographs. However, his own flower is born with the help of 3dsMax software for three-dimensional graphics, while compositions and symbolic indications are created with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop applications. The full body of works is called ‘Inorganic Flora’. It has three major branches. ‘Botanical Diagrams’ are large drawings of a particular flower with the scientific name, part indications, measurements, scale and other descriptive elements. ‘Biotech Art’ is vivid manifestations of synthesized ‘Botanical Art’ and ‘Technical Art’, in which organic forms disclose their mechanical elements while the architectonics of the plant reveal its gentle, lively and even sexual nature. Finally, “Botech Compositions” are vast accumulation of digital flowers in carpet like images that offer hallucinogenic effects and infinite trips into Murayama’s digital gardens.
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Echoton (Alexander Fuß, Michael Fuß)

With the focus on deep electronic music two sound addicted brothers established the Echoton project in 2007. Initially playing deepest house around Berlin in the early 3rd millennium as a DJ-team, the fascination for music production evoked and led to a deeper cosmos of electronic music. The passion of collecting vinyls turned into a sweet sickness in collecting hardware and software instruments. Further developing sounds into a more elaboratesounding techno/house direction, Echoton today is mainly known for their intelligent, organic and a bit understated vibe somewhere in between crunchy dub-techno, deephouse and experimental electroacoustic music. Their search for the balance between established methods and pleasant unexpected surprises keeps them rolling. In addition to their studio and label work they definitely love to perform, either as a DJ-Team or nowadays playing live together. This is an exchange of two equal individualists who understand each other implicitly and complement one another blindly, since they came from the same gen-pool. If they aren't lost in deep forests looking for field recordings they are occasionally playing at venues like the Fusion or doing light/sound installations e.g. at the Mystique Art Festival.
→ Soundcloud
→ Discogs


‘Japanese Lily’ - single channel video, 8'13'', 2014

Video by Macoto Murayama
Music by Dawn Before Silence

Dawn Before Silence (Stefan Klaas)

Dawn Before Silence has been created by Stefan Klaas to differentiate his experimental sound design from his more club oriented 0x7f works. The main concept and idea behind this project is to explore unconventional ambient soundscapes. The tracks sometimes only consist of melodic pads or textures surrounded by heavily abstracted field recordings and percussive elements. Slow hypnotic compositions typically between 100-110 bpm, where synthesizers and orchestral instruments merge in a field of reverb and delays.
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‘Sweet Pea’ - single channel video, 5'35'', 2014

Video by Macoto Murayama
Music by Doyeq

Doyeq (Sergey Kulikov, Vitaliy Bragin)

Doyeq is a two-man live-project consisting of Sergey Kulikov and Vitaliy Bragin. Due to their extensive knowledge and practical experience in electronic music from 1997, in 2009 the musicians started their minimal and deep techno project. Much of their knowledge came through continual sound experiments and research. All that shaped Doyeq’s unique sound, built on deep and powerful grooves with a dubby atmosphere.
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‘Botech Composition-1’ - single channel video, 7'47'', 2014

Video by Macoto Murayama
Music by Lenta

Lenta (Rasul Gatarov)

Lenta makes music for the body and the mind. Born in the depths of central Russia, an environment that is somewhat segregated from typical electronic cultures, provided him with a fertile soil for the conception of distinctive values, unique sound, style and profile. Lenta's penchant for collisions of ambient experimentation and wayward rhythms is something that he has been funnelling to the live arenas. His rare appearances at Arma17 or at special events with Sharingtones and Shahr Farang got indisputable critical acclaim.
→ Soundcloud
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‘Undefined 6’ - single channel video, 11'4'', 2014

Video by Atsushi Koyama
Music by Aepiel

Atsushi Koyama 小山篤

A machine – the simplest of rotating devices of a mechanical nature – comes apart and expands on the black background of Koyama’s canvases while parts of a human body gently and carefully hold, elevate or support the running parts. The Mechanism unfolds in human hands, overcoming its utilitarian or even material nature while generating a sense of aesthetic strength that goes beyond the material. As a particular visualisation of METAMACHINE, Koyama’s devices transform and regenerate themselves into media with access to a supernatural dimension, as a mega-key to a parallel world where machines have the same rights to beauty and the sublime as the human body does in ours.
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Aepiel (Antony Felton)

Aepiel is Antony Felton, an emerging dub, ambient & experimental music producer from Birmingham, UK. Using analog equipment, samples, field recordings, layered drum patterns and deep textures, whilst drawing inspiration from the European Dub scene and 80's electronica and synth pop, the goal of the project is to create emotional digital soundscapes with a cinematic style.
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‘Undefined 7’ - single channel video, 12'10'', 2014

Video by Atsushi Koyama
Music by Pachyderme

Pachyderme (Franco Bellavita)

Franco Bellavita aka Pachyderme was born in the city of Córdoba, Argentina in 1990. His musical career began at the age of 14 playing the bass in different jam sessions, strongly influenced by genres such as, Free Jazz, Funk and Soul. In 2006 he started to devote his time to creatively experiment in the field of electronic music with his friends. His subtle and elegant soundscapes are deep, delicate, hypnotic and long, like colourful stories full of surprises. To create his music, he uses a wide range of techniques such as DIY sound generators, analog hardware, field recordings, instruments and digital sound processing. His work is enriched by his recent experimentation with visual arts (photography, video art, collage).
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