Publication launch and performance evening

At the end of last year, De Player approached Varia to develop a web-publication for their Pushing Scores project archive. The project investigated the state of the arts of composing scores in a contemporary environment and spanned over 2-3 years.

Varia contributed by developing an archival web publication where the vernacular vocabulary of De Player creates the possibilities of text-based navigation across the collection of items. The material is embodied by a dynamic, accessible and therefore active archive, which creates new relations, new perspectives and, at its best, new concepts for the production and/or processes of making scores. Navigating within the data structure of the archive becomes an act of score notation.

To test this De Player and Varia asked several artists to work with the tool and use the result as a starting point for a performance.

Julie Boschat Thorez and Cristina Cochior will give a brief introduction to the tool, followed by Niek Hilkmann, Christine Cornwell and Robert Kroos's score interpretations.

The performances will be ongoing throughout the night, you are welcome to join in at any moment.

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Niek Hilkmann is a Rotterdam based artist, musician and researcher with a background in art history, media design and musicology. He has a particular interest in the abstruse technological condition we are living in and the insufficient intellectual methodologies that seek to justify, or explain it. During the presentation of Pushing Scores he will utilize the spatial dimensions of Varia and recontextualize the scores created by the archive. In an ongoing performance unexpected correlations will be produced between the items in the archive and the physical surroundings in which they are represented.

Christine Cornwell is a composer and violinist working between NL/UK with projects involving improvisation and collaborative work often combined with visual artists, dancers, opera companies or experimental TV. She is currently completing a Composition MA at Codarts with Hans Koolmees/René Uijlenhoet and her freelance work includes presenting new works for violin, collaborative residencies, workshop leading and producing/curating events in this field. From her first experiments, such as 2011’s interdisciplinary collaboration with visual artist Eddie Peake/LuckyPDF TV at London’s Barbican to 2019's experimental event 'Invitation (x)', collective creation practises are a vital meeting point which can be traced through all of her creative work between performance, production and management.

Robert Kroos (aka Duckfood) is a Rotterdam based musician, sound-artist and DJ working on all kinds of sound- and music related projects. For this special event he will be using the guzheng and electronics as instruments of choice.

Date: Friday, 31 May 2019
Start: 20:00
Entrance: Free