For the second year in a row, Seattle is graced with this literally exceptional, three day mini-festival (two nights of performances, an afternoon panel discussion and lecture and a third day field recording workshop and hike) of precisely curated sounds by Rafael Anton Irisarri. Sounds spanning from the 'heavy' end (the 'Sub' in question) of the ambient, neoclassical, immersive-avant spectrum, in an intimate setting of the Chapel Performance Space with a explicit audience in attendance (no loud rock bar, and hangers-on here) and a dedicated sound engineer. Exactly as a festival of these sounds, with the corresponding audience and venue should be curated, hosted and assembled. The festival also bringing together associated aesthetics and theory in a booklet published featuring essays by Irisarri, Tomas Bóden, Lawrence English and others. Along with complimentary visual art and photography by Phil Petrocelli, Julie Calbert, Gregory Euclide and Christina Vantzou. Check that lineup: Tim Hecker - Scanner - Pan•American - Lawrence English - Loscil - Daniel Menche - Widesky - Anticipating that this year's festival will be as memorable as the last!
From the Substrata site: "Substrata 1.2 is the 2nd edition of Seattle’s intimate sound & visual art weekend happening August 3rd - 5th. At its nucleus: an all-ages live performance program, workshop, lecture & field recording trip within the beautiful Puget Sound region. The idea behind Substrata is to explore varying perspectives of scale though the use of sound, composition and visuals. It features two live performance showcases featuring accomplished and internationally renowned artists working within the cutting edge where structural abstraction meets physical dynamics. The performance program focuses on live electronic music: applying technology to a concert setting while incorporating traditional & non-traditional instruments. The workshop/lecture explores dilemmas within the sound arts community; the field trip engages participants and performing artists in deep listening exercises and mobile recording on site. Our goal is to create an immersive weekend experience that engages the audience in a dialog with the artists that goes beyond the constrains of traditional performer/ listener interactions. Each showcase is curated to distinctly portrait different takes of the potency of minimalism, varying between weighty combinations of tonalities used to sculpt out atmospheric ambiance, or powerful dynamic structures made up of the subtlest filigree of sonic building materials. By creating compositional spaces dealing with a sense of mass, along with openness of structure, the perspective of scale and the listener’s place in relation is shifted to allow for greater a sense of place beyond the environ of the performance in the interplay of the moment and physics of the larger world. In all, Substrata is an event that fosters appreciation for our natural surroundings and creates meaningful interaction between artists/participants while exploring a new locality. As the name substrata implies, it is about subtle aesthetics that go beneath the surface and into deeper aural territories." Photo design/credit: Petrocelli Designs LLC
