filmwerkplaats[@]worm[.]org

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Improv sessions are very special nights of audio-visual improvisations in which a musician and performer at WORM is combined with a 16mm visual live improvisation by members of the FWP as part of the ongoing SPECTRAL project.

PROJECTS OVERVIEW

Here is some documentation of our first IMPROV session with Thiago Nassif Trio feat BELLA and the members of the Filmwerkplaats
Video documentation recording by Silvia Ulloa Marquez and Raluca Croitoru, editing by Raluca Croitoru.

Thiago Nassif is a Brazilian musician, composer and producer based in Rio de Janeiro, whose impactful mélange of pop, jarring no-wave, and edgy Tropicália has slowly been turning heads the world over. Thiago’s fourth album Mente was released in July 2020 via Gearbox Records. The album’s title is a Portuguese homonym meaning “mind” and “to lie”, and represents Thiago’s attitude towards what he calls the “post-truth” state of Brazil’s political regime. The music goes deep into no-wave, electronic music, Tropicalismo, jazz and rock, moving between funk carioca to dystopian, distorted bossa nova. Thiago plays with a trio including BELLA, a sound-visual artist and electronic instrument builder who investigates the physical and magical possibilities of matter-sound as well as of light.

A very special night of audio-visual improvisations! WORM welcomes Alex Zhang Hungtai, known for his influential project, Dirty Beaches. Dirty Beaches was best known for foreward-thinking forays into no wave, electronic music, jazz and ambient music. More recently, Alex has focused on explorations of improvised music, Free Jazz, and his new role as a composer. Zhang currently works as a composer for film soundtracks, along with acting in independent films. In May 2022, Alex Zhang Hungtai has been featured on Cannes Film Festival 2022 for his work on the soundtrack of the Icelandic movie “Godland”.
On the night Alex will work together with Filmwerkplaats as part of the ongoing Spectral project.

Here is some documentation of the second IMROV session with Alex Zhang Hungtai and the members of the Filmwerkplaats
Video documentation recording by Silvia Ulloa Marquez and Raluca Croitoru, editing by Raluca Croitoru.

Improvised analogue audio-visual performance evening by three collectives in a web of unpredictable processes. With BMB con. (Justin Bennett & Roelf Toxopeus) Filmwerkplaats and Sound Studios represented by Albert Jongstra, Lukas Simonis en Mariette Groot.

BMB con. perform with all sorts of things (mirrors, microphones, trees, fire, ice) in all sorts of places (museums, forests, boats, concert halls, water tanks).

BMB con……
• "…are the most secretive sound and performance collective that can be found in the Netherlands."
• “…make guerrilla theater with hi- and lo-tech.”
• "……guarantees productions in which music, theater and film enter into a chemical marriage."
• “…are never quite in control of the mounting chaos..”
• "…manage to convince time and time again through the inventiveness with which advanced sound experiments are visualized."
• "…unpredictability, disruption and confusion."

BMB con. was founded by Justin Bennett, Roelf Toxopeus and Wikke ‘t Hooft in 1989. Since 2006 BMB con. consists of a core duo working together with a changing group of invited artists / performers. BMB con. incorporate electronic and acoustic music, film, video and physical theatre in their performances and installations. As well as these fleeting, sometimes unique actions, BMB con. make and publish audio CD’s, cassettes, videos and photography.

WORM SOUND STUDIOS and the WAVEFORM RESEARCH CENTRE are internationally celebrated production spaces, part of a wider alternative network in the fields of radio art and underground music. The studio’s organisation has a wealth of DIY experience and facilities that are used by young programme makers, well-known musicians, sound artists and radio artists.

This evening of expanded cinema performances is part of the EU-supported SPECTRAL project and a (semi) improvised collaboration with BmB con. and WORM Studio.


Here is some video documentation of the third IMROV session: video recording by Silvia Ulloa Marquez and Raluca Croitoru, editing by Cristina Lavosi.