Swiss Creative Talk Vol. 8

Once again, Switzerland’s AATB (Design Practice), Daito Manabe (Rhizomatiks) and Naohiro Ukawa (SUPER DOMMUNE) will gather at the legendary SUPER DOMMUNE streaming studio in Shibuya, Tokyo, for a talk. It will be followed by a live performance by MSCTY_Studio (Nick Luscombe & James Greer) in collaboration with Julian Sartorius (musician) from Switzerland! Please stay tuned!

Andrea Anner and Thibault Brevet, the two sides of Swiss non-industrial robotic practice AATB, are back in Japan for a large-scale, ground-breaking collaboration at Moerenuma Park’s snow storage chamber, in the framework of Sapporo International Art Festival. Elaborating on SIAF 2024 theme “Last Snow”, and in cooperation with Finnish media artist professor Jussi Ängeslevä, AATB is devising a performative work that blends robotics, melting ice and light. A robotic arm, equipped with a drill bit and a flashlight, is set to work to carve a large block of clear ice, gradually converting it to a sculptural caustic lense, refracting the flashlight illumination to an immersive 3D scene projected on to the walls. “PINNANNOUSU” (Finnish for “level elevation”) grapples with the fragility and ephemerality of individual existence under the dramatic conditions of contemporary existence in the age of climate change.

PINNANOUSOU, was initiated by Jussi Ängeslevä, further developped in the framework of the research project “A Third Hand – Creative Applications for Robotics”, conducted at ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, Switzerland by AATB, Alain Bellet and Martin Hertig. Professor Mark Pauly from EPFL’s Geometric Computing Laboratory and Rayform SA worked on the computation of the ice lens geometry.  (more info: SIAF 2024)

To discuss the shifts and drifts between natural process and human intervention, SUPER DOMMUNE and the Vitality.Swiss program invite AATB for an evening of conversation and performance in the mythical streaming studio in Shibuya, Tokyo. They will be joined by another pioneer of media art and computational performance: Daito Manabe, founder of Rhizomatiks, whose practice has constantly pushed the boundaries between human body, data, programming, computers and physical/virtual, natural/artificial phenomena. They will be joined by Naohiro Ukawa of SUPER DOMMUNE and Jonas Pulver, Head of Communications and Culture of the Swiss Embassy in Japan, for a deep-dive into the ever-melting, ever-crystallizing nature of form and contemplation.  

In the second part, the Vitality.Swiss podcast producer and DJ Nick Luscombe will be joined with James Greer as MSCTY Studio and will present a new sound work that features a blend of Swiss and Japanese field recordings focused on the vitality of the natural world! Nick Luscombe and James Greer form the core of MSCTY Studio, a “sound architecture” practice that recognizes the potential of sound and its construction for wellbeing. For this special program, they are collaborating with Swiss percussionist and producer Julian Sartorius. Vitality in Sound: Switzerland x Japan will see them forming a new live soundscape production that fuses Sartorius’ sounds with their own creative responses – with all their new input emerging from sounds recorded in Japan. Sartorius’ sounds will come from his work “Hidden Tracks: Basel – Genève,” which was composed during a 10-day hiking trip through Switzerland, and uses the natural world as an instrument and adventurous sound source for performances.

Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 20:00–22:30
Studio viewing: 50 people (Admission: Free) + Live Streaming (SUPER DOMMUNE)
Live Streaming : here

Part 1 Talk 20:00–22:00
AATB (Design Practice), Daito Manabe (Artist, Programmer, DJ), Naohiro Ukawa (SUPER DOMMUNE), Jonas Pulver (Embassy of Switzerland in Japan)
English/Japanese interpretation available

Part 2: Live Performance 22:00–22:30
MSCTY_Studio (Nick Luscombe and James Greer) × Julian Sartorius

* In collaboration with SUPER DOMMUNE, this event will be held as one of the programs to commemorate the 160th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Japan.