Distant Pairs: Viola Yip and Laetitia Sonami – PineApple on a Lonely Island

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

Wednesday, July 14th, ISSUE Project Room & Harvestworks are pleased to stream PineApple on a Lonely Island, the debut collaboration between experimental composer, improviser, sound artist, and instrument builder Viola Yip and sound artist, performer and instrument builder Laetitia Sonami. The duo’s debut work will stream on ISSUE’s site.

Communicating between Berlin and Oakland, Yip and Sonami—both who have long standing and parallel approaches to instrument building—explore collaboration through the creation of a virtual electronic instrument. Yip has previously created self-built instruments such as “Bulbble” (an electro-mechanical instrument with lightbulbs and relays) as well as „Lazy Studies“ (a hacked turntable for audio feedback) while Sonami is known for her performances with self-built instruments such as the Spring Spyre (based on the application of neural networks to real-time audio synthesis) and the lady’s glove.

This is the sixth year in an ongoing program collaboration between ISSUE Project Room and Harvestworks, two organizations that are committed to supporting the creation and presentation of experimental performance practices while sharing resources.

During the Summer 2021, ISSUE is commissioning artists to produce collaborative work at a time when the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted their ability to travel and perform, and altered the nature of collective work and performance. Pairing artists in disparate locations who cannot work together in “traditional” ways, the Distant Pairs series examines the collaborative process, methods of working, and partnership amidst these constrained conditions.