"re/ports" consists of environmental sounds recorded by Yoichi Kamimura in countries including Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan and Japan, combined with electronic sounds created by Hideki Umezawa using analog instruments such as modular synthesizers. We also included acoustic echoes from the architectural structure "Therme Vals," designed by Peter Zumtho. re/ports was completed after a two-year creation process.
Kamimura is interested in natural phenomena as clues for thinking about relationships between humans and the non-human environment. He has approached various environments through the field recording method. These include the sounds of spring tide on full moon and new moon days around the world, underwater sounds in a harbor on Taiwan's Orchid Island where nuclear waste is still stored, and environmental sounds gathered through research on landscape painting during an Artist In Residence program at Aomori Contemporary Art Center. Umezawa has also continuously carried out fieldwork at an ice lake, after participating in an Artist In Residence program at Arts Maebashi. In these works you can hear the sounds of the bottom of a lake with high radiodensity.
Environmental sound recorded at a resolution exceeding the human perception threshold reveals the state of the non-anthropocentric world of ecosystems. In fact, rhythms which sound artificial may come from natural phenomena, and sounds resembling birdcall may come from electronic noise. The boundary between natural things and artificial things is obscure, and some situations are difficult to distinguish at first hearing. We hope this work will provide hints for thinking about our relationship with nature through the primitive question "What is the sound we are listening to now?"
Hideki Umezawa + Yoichi Kamimura
Umezawa and Kamimura have been collaborating since 2016. They organize the project "0 °C," which gathers sounds and documents related to ice and snow from artists throughout the world. They also develop sound installations/performances in Japan and overseas which combine natural objects, environmental sounds, and electronic equipment. They have given sound performances at Aomori Contemporary Art Center and events at various museums in Japan, and appeared at World Listening Day. In 2017 they carried out a tour of Taiwan.
A brave experimental record from the Cecilia Lopez & Ingrid Laubrock running darting sax lines through dense electronics & processing. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 10, 2023
