A series of artist curated events.

October 9th - “When You Speak I Will Listen” Site specific work for AltaSea 2021 Blue Hour: Ocean of Inclusion at the Korean Bell of Friendship, San Pedro by Richard Bugg

The sound of the Korean Bell of Friendship symbolizes the connection of two peoples and their desire to share a bond of friendship and cooperation.

When struck, the sound expands and envelopes us as we hear the shifting modal vibrations fade in and out. It was crafted to produce tones to support contemplation and reflection on our relationship with each other and our place in the universe.

Our ears listen to sound traveling through the air, but sound also travels through water. This composition uses the sound of the bell as a starting point and echos back a translation of how it would sound underwater. It is then manipulated in time and intensity mirroring the diffractions that would occur encountering the currents that run throughout the ocean.

Listen to these new sounds from the bell and contemplate how we can bond with the ocean in cooperation and friendship for the betterment of all.

Local, nonprofit organization, AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles, is holding their annual fundraiser on Oct 9th. AltaSea is focused on ocean sustainability and education for current and future generations. This year they are honoring Philippe Cousteau and other ocean visionaries. The night will end with a special ringing of the Bell and piece by local artist, Richard Bugg. Sounds like a nice night out!

October 14th - "Untitled Conversations in Darkness" by Andrew Mandinach & Farrah Emami

"Untitled Conversations in Darkness is the culmination of a series of three videos that started with my "Earmagination," The Lessons I Carry with Me. When I applied for soundpedro 2021, I proposed creating new work building upon what I showed in soundpedro 2020 (http://www.soundpedro.org/earmaginations-2020) After being accepted, and offered the opportunity to present my own individual show, I wanted to expand beyond the silent film and add my voice. What developed was a series of conversations between Farrah and I about family history, spatio-temporal dynamics of relationships, dreams, grief, and how we carry all of this with us in our daily lives.

During our conversations about the fluid nature of relationships, specifically as they shift in death, I realized that this work was actually a long time in the making, beginning with an installation from 2014, Monsters Never Create Themselves, which explored loss of life and love and the process of trying to reconstruct a new normal in the aftermath. As Farrah and I shared about different experiences, I remembered a number of videos I had recorded from the installation. I invited viewers to respond to prompts inquiring about the intersection of family, love, loss, and sadness. For the first time, these voices will be heard, and are part of our Untitled Conversations in Darkness.

If you'd like to watch the first two videos in the series you can find them, here: http://www.soundpedro.org/earmaginations-2021, and here: https://www.andrewmandinach.com/projects#/silentprayer.

Thank you for watching." ~ Andrew and Farrah

October 24th - "Noisy Letters 2013-2020" by Heather Williamson

"I‘ve been in a constant state of expansion, disrupting and dissolving the construction of myself. This project cultivates selfishness that invites not separates. Desired impact for sharing? Removing the fear from people's hearts.

We must address the systems within ourselves for liberation. I'll show by starting with me first via "Noisy Letters." The methods are simple. I record and film on my phone. When I push the record button, I discover and find out. When I know more about myself, I learn more about you. When I feel satisfied, I push stop.

I started in 2009, placing visuals originated in 2015.
They allow me to feel whole when incomplete. Some are hard to listen to, but if we don't hear ourselves, then who? Noisy Letters reveal without judgment. They offer a way for me to get through. Once I do, I leave it all behind. Including the one talking. The war is over, for now.

I'm not interested in influencing others, but in providing ways you can influence yourself. I do these not for pity but to relieve myself from the bondage of being me or something, that’s why I do anything. I share my Noisy Letters with you because I want you to imagine a life without pain, even if it means suffering along the way. I want to show you how I get close to myself. Maybe you'll get close to you? I dare you.

One more thing, it’s wise not to share all your secrets. Keep some for yourself so you can listen to them later. And treasure the good times as much as the “bad”. I don’t always record myself of hardships.
I think my future can and does change my past." ~ Heather Williamson

October 22nd - 30th - "Caught in a Wormhole" a collaborative installation by VavNet

This event is taking place at Flux Art Space
410 Termino Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90814
Flux Art Space: instagram / Facebook

Opening reception Friday, October 22, 7 - 9 pm (outdoors)
This installation is visible 24/7 through the window (entry to the space is limited)
Video projections and sound during evening hours only, 10/22, 10/24, 10/29, 10/30, 7 - 9pm
Note: When opportunities arise to enter the gallery, masks are required while in the space and a maximum of 5 people can be indoors at any one time. We appreciate your kindness and cooperation.

Caught in a Wormhole is the most recent collaborative installation by artist duo VavNet. This work combines elements of video and sonic projections with hand woven sculpture that interacts with its surroundings and architecture. The woven sculpture is created from silver cotton and stripped space blankets. By using the space blankets, the piece evokes conversations of climate change, the border wall and space travel. The space blanket encompasses the need for protection and human resourcefulness. The piece is translucent but also reflective so the viewer can simultaneously see themselves and past themselves. In this installation at Flux, several variations of video will be projected to play upon the weaving, while the harmonics of the droning sound will play about the modified space and the fluttering and rustling weaving.

View/download full Press Release HERE: http://www.soundpedro.org/sites/default/files/Flux_Wormhole_PR.pdf

October 27th - "Dark Waters" Bringing together the talents of soundpedro performers: Fnord, WikiGong and phog masheeen

Dark Waters is a study of nautical superstition, presented as a series of videos of varying lengths.
Why Nautical Superstition, you may ask.
For the past soundpedro events, phog masheeen has picked performance themes that suited the physical location of the event, in a re-purposed fort built during World War Two to protect the harbor. Although there will be no physical performances this year. We chose to continue with a theme that references the sea and is perfect for the week before Halloween.

November 3rd - "CORONA in VERONA"
Presented by University of Redlands Opera and Long Beach East Village Caravanserai
(Happy Birthday Godzilla & V. Bellini !!!)

View more information: Program Notes//link to Libretto/Credits/etc. HERE

At the beginning of the last century, Italian Crepuscular poets and Futurist artists advocated (through dissolution and absorption of the human body into Nature and into Machine) for a “non-anthropocentric humanism."

No longer subject to our curricula, objects became lazy things and, we the faces on fast machines. One minute versions of Shakespeare plays abounded whilst a 45 minute version of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal sounded.

!!! Treasure <=> Trash !!!

Join the University of Redlands Opera and Long Beach East Village Caravanserai for the first of three "litterations" of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi.

After November 3rd, keep an ear out for iteration two (The Idea of Juliet) and three (The Idea of Romeo).

November 12th - "MYSTERIO" by Martin Espino

"Dedicated to “El Dia de Los Muertos” (The day of the dead). No matter where we’re from, who we are, what we do, we all will experience death. It is part of life the past from one place to the next. There is nothing bad or morbid about it. Most simply put, celebration as done in Mexico simply just acknowledges that we pass on to another phase that really know nothing about. It is a recognition of the cycle of life. That’s all, nothing scary nothing monstrous. In this same way, my composition honors the “End of being” as part of the natural order of things! In Mexico, our ancient leaders were also poets, many of them wrote poems concerning life and death and many of these poems were committed to memory and passed on to be recited as the years went on. This work, explores, via the use of ancient Mexican melodic and noise generating instruments with electronics, the different kinds of deaths that there are: obviously the physical, but even acknowledging mental and spiritual death, even emotional death, like the end of a love relationship.

So the mystery is, where do we go when it’s all over, how do we go I know we have beliefs, but where do we really go since the physical being deteriorates in the electromagnetic waves go on or do they get integrated and recycled into the universe. Like I said we have beliefs and all that but no one‘s really been there and come back and that is the “mystery!”

…and like many of those ancient poems, the intention of this work is the same. Mysterious and strange sounds are representative of the unknown landscape that we enter once we pass on. I tried to make my mysterious and strange sounds representative of the unknown landscape that we enter once we pass on, no matter what kind of death we experience. MYSTERIO ends with the optimism that we live this present life now but we not able to remain here forever. Like the ancient poets express, I invite you to “Live your life now because it is short”. I’m not talking about partying, I’m talking about educating yourself, making yourself the best person, waking up and being aware of who you are and actualizing what your potential is, and, as our ancient king, Nezahualcoyotl once said, “We are here to sing, to make our hearts divine and to speak real words of truth”.

This is what my compositions‘ intention is. As Nezahualcoyotl said “May your heart find its way”… I would also like to add my philosophy every minute you don’t spend together with love, peace, understanding and talking to each other is a waste of every precious second you’re alive." ~ Martin Espino

November 19th - Mechanism for Actualizing Speculative Soundscapes (MASS) - Live NatureSound Experiments
Presented by Alex Braidwood, Board Member, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology
Event took place on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/alexbraidwood

This live performance uses the popular platform of the party DJ to explore nature sound in a new context within live events and streaming media culture. Using various synthesis and composition techniques, the overall arch of the performance is modeled after the vocalization energy and activity of a dawn chorus from the time of day before first-light to after sunrise is complete. Nature sound specifically, and listening in general, is largely under-appreciated in our culture that prioritizes nature as a resource to be extracted and time as something to be filled in the celebration of busy as a marker of success. Using the language of the party-DJ-as-shamanistic guide, MASS encourages people to slow down, to relax, to listen, to set aside worry, to melt into the moment, to be present, and to appreciate the interrelationships between nature, sound, texture, and in-the-moment inner selves. Drawing from field recordings, sample-based synthesis, self-improvement hypnosis records, spoken word poetry, and hi-fi test tones, this performance asks listeners to slow down and reflect on what's important about nature, CULTure, and each other.

November 22nd - "Unsuspecting Trees" by Severin Behnen and Hunter Ochs

Unsuspecting Trees is a performance by a small ensemble that employs an interactive animated score. It is our aspiration to signify in the score a wide range of possible actions by the performers in terms of specificity. To this end, we are developing musical notations that employ “universal” symbols (non-specific) as well as traditional western-style notations (specific) to represent sounds. Rather than using a static score to convey a fixed intent, this work involves a computer-assisted system that enables the conductor to communicate in real time with performers, moving quickly and effortlessly in a virtual 3D environment to various parts of the score during live performance. The images are projected so that the audience, as well as the performers, can observe the score.

Score Creation: Severin Behnen and Hunter Ochs | Music: Severin Behnen
Performed by The Tangled Yarn Ensemble - Severin Behnen: Piano, Keyboard, Accordion; Josel Cruz: Bass, Keyboard, Percussion; Hunter Ochs: Accordion; Sam Robles: Saxophones and Flute; Michael Saucier: Bass; Jersey Vazquez: Guitar and Conductor


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