Program:

19:00h - Screening: Modos de Transporte: Bois de Rose

19:30h - Seminar (in English): A New Pinocchio Story: Contemporary and Historical Approaches to the Daxophone by Daniel Fishkin

20:00h - Concert: Daxophone and electronics by Daniel Fishkin and Julio César Palacio

Program notes:

This event takes the form of a lecture and concert by Daniel Fishkin and Julio César Palacio (Bio DATA-X), accompanied by a screening of Modos de Transporte: Bois de Rose, a film by Catalina Alvarez and Daniel Fishkin. The lecture presents the historical, technical, and musical contexts of the daxophone, while the concert offers a live presentation of the instrument in collaborative practice.

The daxophone is a carved strip of hardwood played with a bow. The instrument’s sound, somewhere between a cello and a badger, ranges from furtive gurgles to delicate whistles to wild screams. Daniel Fishkin has been building daxophones for 20 years. He is the only luthier who learned the art of building daxophones directly from the inventor, Hans Reichel. In this lecture, Fishkin will guide participants through a series of musical approaches to the daxophone, discussing basic technique, as well as its history, and musical applications throughout the ages. The evening will culminate in a collaboration between Julio Cesar Palacio (AKA Bio DATA-X) and Fishkin, longtime collaborators, fusing the daxophone and synthesizer.

The evening is accompanied by a screening of Modos de Transporte: Bois de Rose. Modos de Transporte (in-progress) is a multilingual travel-series. In the episode “Bois de Rose,” the host takes a high speed rail train from Paris to Bordeaux and there discovers the studio of Jose Le Piez, builder of “abrassons,” a type of friction drum sculpted from trees that sings with the simple caress of a hand. This instrument has a sonic ancestor called the livika, which comes from the island of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea, though there are no remaining indigenous elders trained to play it. As if possessed by these tree sounds, the travelogue dissolves into an abstract film of long takes and slow sounds.

Biographies of the artists.
Daniel Fishkin’s ears are ringing. Composer of musical instruments. Daniel studied with composer Maryanne Amacher and with multi-instrumentalist Mark Stewart. He has performed as a soloist on modular synthesizer with the American Symphony Orchestra, developed sound installations in abandoned concert halls, and played innumerable basement punk shows. Daniel’s lifework investigating the aesthetics of hearing damage has received international press (Nature Journal, 2014); as an ally in the search for a cure, he has been awarded the title of “tinnitus ambassador” by the Deutsche Tinnitus-Stiftung. He is the only luthier that studied directly with the daxophone’s inventor, Hans Reichel; Daniel’s instruments have traveled the world, including Canada, California, Norway, Germany, France, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Australia. Daniel received his MA in Music Composition from Wesleyan University, and earned his PhD in Composition and Computer Music at the University of Virginia. He has taught courses on instrument design, electronic music, and creative coding at many universities, including most recently at Ramapo College of New Jersey, where he is Assistant Professor of Music Production.
https://dfiction.com/

Catalina Alvarez makes choreographed films and experimental musicals. Her films have screened at festivals including Slamdance, Fantastic Fest, New Orleans and Palm Springs, and venues such as the ICA Philadelphia, the San Diego Art Institute, and the Museum of the Moving Image. She is a recipient of fellowships and residencies from the Flaherty Seminar, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Rooftop Films, Flux Factory, and the Wexner Center for the Arts. Catalina grew up in a bilingual (Spanish and English) household. She teaches in the Visual Arts program at Fordham University, where she is head of Art & Engagement.
https://www.catalinaalvarez.com/

Julio César Palacio is a Barcelona-based sound artist, composer, researcher, and sonic explorer whose work moves between experimental sound, bioacoustics, field recording, and live spatial performance.
Through his project Bio DATA-X, he investigates acoustic phenomena, infrasonic vibration, sound ecology, and the hidden frequencies of natural and urban environments, transforming environmental DATA into immersive sonic experiences. His practice combines organic exploration, expanded listening, and spatial sound composition to challenge human auditory perception and rethink our relationship with territory, technology, and the living world.
https://suncolor.info 

Supported by: