PROJECTS EXAMPLES

Oikawa's activity mainly spread across three fields :
electronic sound concert, electronic guitar concert and sound installation in the natural environment.



CONCERTS
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|| Solo premiere concert / Guitar work
Fohhn IOSONO 3DLab Nürtingen Germany
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|| Production scene for 32.4ch
Fohhn IOSONO 3DLab Nürtingen Germany
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|| 3D Sound Concert for 44 laud-speakers
AKOUSMA Festival, Montreal Canada
photo:Caroline Campeau
photo Tetsu Hiraga
|| Solo premiere concert / Guitar work
HONEN-IN Kyoto, Japan

photo:Tetus Hiraga
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|| PV - Improvisation project
CD release - Internal Static, Nov.2016
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|| Concert
ZKM/Karlsruhe Germany


VOICE LANDSCAPE PROJECTS

In this project Oikawa attempted to pursue the expression of new presence beyond the border from existing life by his recorded voice.
The project was exhibited in the digital art biennale, "BAINS NUMERIQUES #8" held in France, 2014 and won the critic award.
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|| Voice Landscape
Villa du Lac Enghien les Bains France
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|| VoiceLandscape / takataka Crickets
Wertkunstzimmer, Düsseldorf Germany
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|| Voice landscape
Ministers Island/Canada

MORE INFORMATION

GUITAR EXPERIMENTS

under construction…


Photo:Michiko Isono/Installation:Hitoshi Kuriyama







GROWING VERSE PROJECTS

This project from Junya Oikawa attempts to establish sonic semantics and seeks new means of communication between people via music and gestures.
The project was premiered in the digital art biennale, "BAINS NUMERIQUES #9" held in France, 2016
and won the award for "EDIGMA Semibreve" in Portugal, 2016.
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|| GrowingVerse 1
Ecole de musique, Enghien les Bains France
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COMMISSION PROJECTS
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|| Bell Fantasia
Commissioned by City of Schwaebisch Gmuend Germany
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|| voice Landscape - Water Drops and Plastic Recollections 5 Commissioned by Art and Nature Center NB Canada
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|| Sound design/sound production
Commissioned by Nicolas Buffe / Hara Museum Japan


MASTER-CLASS / ARTIST TALK
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|| Talk with Koji Kawasaki,Hiroshi Yoshioka
Temple HONEN-IN Kyoto Japan
photo:Tetus Hiraga
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|| Talk with EMMANUEL MAHÉ
Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris / Paris France
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|| Master Class about Voice Landscape
Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal


REVIEW / INTERVIEW

|| CD review - Internal Static | Kyoka (Raster-Noton) / Nov. 2016 | (Language:Jp)

CD review - Internal Static | Kyoka

Junya Oikawaさんとの初対面は、2014年3月11日。

sub-tleさんのリリパの一環のDommune出演がきっかけでした。
ドイツ、onpa)))))という繋がりから、Tukicoさん、Junichi Akagawaさんと4人で共演させていただきました。

サウンドチェック中に、Oikawaさんからミキサーの使い方を聞かれたんですが、既にそれが衝撃でした。「どうやってここまで来たんだ…」と。他人事ながら、少しだけ心配になりました。
ですが、その後ライブ本番の出音一発目を聞いた瞬間「わ!天才だったのか!」と思いました。

シャープに透き通り硬質な音が、空間を複数に分断するようにシャープでカラフルに踊ってました。

そのDommune以来、度々交流させていただいた中で、Oikawaさんのマイペースで独自な作品の世界、そこにあるピュアな知性やセンス、人間性など、すごく信頼できると思うようになりました。

今作のInternal Static - experiment in the atelier
聴けて良かったです。
安心して理解を深めながら何度も聴ける音だと思いながら、すでに数回リピートしてます。
そもそも、安心して理解や音の存在への想像を深めていける作品に出逢えること自体、貴重だと思います。貴重だからこそ、自分の成長にも繋がる音だと思うので、今回これが聴けて本当に嬉しかったです。

最後に余談です。 一発録りでこの仕上がりだと言うこと。そして、注意書きが『本作には40Hzの超低周波が含まれています。』と『ご視聴にはサブウーハ付きのスピーカーシステム、またはヘッドホンをご使用下さい』と言う事。とってもシンパシーがわきました。






|| CD review - Internal Static | Sound and Recording Magazine / Feb. 2017 | (Language:Jp)

|| "Move and Stop" Gestures Trigger Sonic Semantics in Portugal | Semibreve festival, Braga, Portugal / Oct. 2016 | (Language:En / Jp)

"Move and Stop" Gestures Trigger Sonic Semantics in Portugal

A combination of hand and body movements and light, will be just one of the ways the crowds will be able to appreciate and explore sound at the upcoming art and music festival Semibreve, which takes place in Braga, Portugal this weekend. One of the commissioned pieces will be the sight-specific GrowingVerse - No.1 by Japanese artist Junya Oikawa, the 2016 recipient of the EDIGMA Semibreve Award. The project is part of Oikawa's digital sound explorations—he also performs and produces electroacoustic pieces—and sees the artist attempting to "establish sonic semantics" by having the audience create music through "move and stop" gestures.

For this installation, which combines music education, sound communication, and sound design, Oikawa will allow up to three people to move around under pools of LED spotlights in a dark room. This in turn will allow them to stop and start Oikawa's custom compositions. Sensors will detect their movements and then software will program these into steric acoustic effects and phrases.

Because the gestures will be random and arbitrary from the audience, Oikawa's musical compositions have to be able to react appropriately without sounding discordant. To do this he decided to do away with beginnings: "I tried not to fix the beginning of the music, and my focus was how to create communication between the musical environment and the audience in real time," the artist tells The Creators Project. "When we think about the definition of 'music' in general, there are fixed beginnings and ends of the sound, which you don’t see in my piece. The first note—the beginning of music—would differ for each person according to individual gestures, allowing free expression using sound phrases to create their original sound filling the space."

Also key to the experience is the concept of motion and stillness, which is not only how the audience will engage with the installation, but also references the Japanese word Ma.

"It can be translated as 'pause,' 'interval,' or 'space' between two things which is more related to the idea of human imagination and environment—functioning as a meditation tool in the dark room, while people can also enjoy the interaction between the movements of hand and sound as some sort of physical expression," explains Oikawa. "My purpose is focusing on how to inspire the human consciousness for communication. Through 'stop and motion' the work encourages us to experience the sound with 'attention and concentration,' and it would be my pleasure if it allows people to get the joy of creating music in interaction with others."

Text:Kevin Holmes//The Creators Project - UK
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/en_uk/blog/stopping-starting-gestures-sonic-semantics-portugal


「静と動」のジェスチャーによって引き出される、音の意味 - ポルトガル / 2016年10月
テキスト : Kevin Holmes / The Creators Project - イギリス

手と身体の動き、そして光のコンビネーション。これは今週末にポルトガル、ブラガで開催される芸術と音楽の祭典、Semibreveでの音の鑑賞方法の一つである。
フェスティバルの委託作品の一つが、日本人アーティスト・及川潤耶のサイトスペシフィックな作品で、2016年度のEDIGMA Semibreve Awardを受賞した「Growing Verse - No.1」だ。本作は、電子音響作品の演奏と制作も手がける及川のデジタルサウンドを追究するプロジェクトの一部であり、「動きと静止」の動作で観客が「音楽」を作り出す事によって、「音の意味」を確立する試みである。

音楽教育、サウンド・コミュニケーション、サウンドデザインの要素を組み合わせたこのインスタレーションは暗室に設置され、一度に三人の観客がLEDのスポットライトの下で自由に動く事が可能だ。そして観客達は、及川独自の音楽構造を再生・停止する事が出来る。鑑賞者の動きをセンサーが感知し、ソフトウェアのプログラムによってその動きが立体音響、そしてフレーズとなって立ち現れる。鑑賞者のジェスチャーはランダムで不作為なものである。

従って、及川の音楽構造は不協和音を生み出さぬよう、適切に反応する必要がある。それを実現する為に、及川は「始まり」の概念を排除した。「今回、音楽の[始り]を固定せず、音楽環境と観客のリアルタイムなコミュニケーションをどのように創り出すかに焦点をあてました。[音楽]の一般的な定義を考えたとき、そこには必ず音の始まりと終わりが定められています。しかし今回の私の作品にはそれがありません。最初の音、つまり音楽の始まりは、個々のジェスチャーによってそれぞれ異なり、音のフレーズ(節)を使って独自の音楽を創り出す事で、この音響空間内で自由に表現することができるんです」と、及川は語る。

本作の体験におけるもう一つの鍵となるのは、「動きと静止」の概念である。それは単にインスタレーションに対する観客の振る舞いを指すだけではなく、日本語の「間」という言葉に繋がっている。

及川はこう説明する。「[間]は、二つのものの間の[pause](休止)や[interval](間隔)と解釈される言葉で。人間の想像や空間に結びつく言葉です。[間]は暗室での瞑想ツールであると同時に、手の動きと音のインタラクションによるある種の身体表現を促すものです。僕がテーマとしているのは、コミュニケーションのために人間の意識をどう誘発するか、ということです。[動きと静止]によって、鑑賞者はより意識的に、集中して音を体験することができます。他者とのインタラクションを通して、音楽を作る行為を楽しんでもらいたいと思っています。」
抜粋元 (英語) “the creators project” http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/en_uk/blog/stopping-starting-gestures-sonic-semantics-portugal


|| KERNMACHEREI 6 - Junya Oikawa (solo concert) | Theater am Ring, Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany / Sep. 2016 | (Language:German)

Bei Glockengeläut mitten im virtuellen Turm

Auf dem Kirchturm bei vollem Geläut inmitten der Glocken sitzen? Der akustische Eindruck dürfte den Besuchern des ersten Konzerts der neuen Kernmacherei-Saison im Villinger Theater am Ring im Gedächtnis bleiben. Zu Gast war der Komponist für neue elektronische Musik Junya Oikawa.

Nicht mittels banalem Stereosound, sondern durch eine weitaus aufwändigere Raumklang-Technik realisiert der japanische Akustik-Künstler ein solches auditives "Beamen". Würde es ihm jedoch nur um eine möglichst realistische Wiedergabe gehen, verflöge der spektakuläre Reiz bald – zwei Stunden im virtuellen Surround-Sound-Glockturm hielte kaum jemand aus. Junya Oikawa spielt jedoch mit sehr vielen Einheiten der akustischen Wahrnehmung. So sind Stille und sich daraus erhebende leiseste Töne genauso ein Element wie Takte, räumliche Zuordnung, natürliche wie auch künstliche Klänge.


Zu Beginn seines Konzerts im Hinterbühnenraum des Theaters am Ring quoll beispielsweise ein Rauschen niederer bis mittlerer Lautstärke aus den sechs rund um das Publikum aufgebauten Lautsprechern. "Zwei Stunden lang schlechte Technik", mag sich manch Zuhörer wohl gedacht haben, "das kann ja heiter werden". Doch der Preisträger vieler internationaler Musikwettbewerbe und derzeitige Gastkünstler am Zentrum für Kunst und Medien (ZKM) in Karlsruhe nutzt auch das Rauschen als Stilmittel. Irgendwann wurde das eher negativ besetzte Geräusch abgelöst von eindrücklich stillem Meeresrauschen, munterem Bachplätschern oder wilden, akustisch den Zuhörer umkreisenden Klängen mal ähnlich einem Hubschrauber, mal eher jenen von Wasserturbinen oder auch jener Klospülung.

Wie sehr sich der bescheiden auftretende Künstler während des Konzerts emotional tief in sein Werk hinein begibt, war im Halbdunkel der Bühne gut zu erkennen: Auch an Computertasten, Touchpad und angeschlossenem Steuergerät mit analogen Dreh- und Schiebereglern lassen sich gefühlvoll-formende Bewegungen ähnlich denen eines Pianisten vollführen. Oikawa schafft es hervorragend, bekannte natürliche Geräusche virtuos zu verfremden und mit synthetischen Klängen in neue Kontexte zu bringen.

Sicherlich einer der Höhepunkte stellte das, von Kernmacherei-Macher Jürgen Palmtag vorweg angekündigte Adagio für E-Gitarre und Computer dar. Der 1983 im japanischen Sendai geborene Künstler nutzte das sonst meist laut und bisweilen auch aggressiv gespielte Instrument in völlig neuer Weise. Die ­erzeugten Gitarrenklänge werden vom Computer analysiert und in gänzlich andere Töne übertragen. Subjektiv assoziiert, klingt die E-Gitarre dann mal eher wie Kirchenorgel oder mal wie ein Cello – das transformierte Spiel schuf zum Ende eine das Publikum faszinierende, ins Meditative fast bis in die Trance hinein reichende Klangwelt.

Text:Wolfgang Trendle
http://www.schwarzwaelder-bote.de/inhalt.villingen-schwenningen-bei-glockengelaeut-mitten-im-virtuellen-turm.2999f4a3-8b5c-4a30-aa11-73b82c5d2e9b.html



|| Festival AKOUSMA | Montreal,Canada, Oct. 2015 | (Fr/En/Jp)

Patience et fulgurances surnaturelles

AKOUSMA XII ./* Soirée “Cristaux bruités” avec Junya Oikawa (Japon) + Jesse Osborne-Lanthier (Québec) + John Chantler (Australie) + Dominic Thibault (Québec)
Une soirée pleine de dextérité et de découvertes que ce 29 octobre à L’Usine C pour AKOUSMA XII, en compagnie de Junya Oikawa du Japon, John Chantler, australien d’origine ayant migré vers l’Europe, Jesse Osborne-Lanthier et Dominic Thibault d’ici. Chacun dansait discrètement à sa façon en caressant la console, dont s’est extraite à plusieurs reprises une réelle magie sonore.

Junya Oikawa paraît avoir quinze ans, il est d’une fraîche trentaine, et son travail fort abouti a déjà été accueilli dans une quinzaine de pays. Il y a deux ans il était entre autres couronné du prix Qwartz Expérimentation/Recherche en France. Son approche est d’une rigueur et d’une subtilité renversantes. Une illustration parfaite du thème Cristaux bruités de cette soirée, il présentait la pièce 6 créée cette année d’une série entamée il y a dix ans, ses Plastic Recollections. Il s’agit d’une recherche épurée et presque obsessive puisque chaque composition du cycle est élaborée à partir des éléments sonores d’une unique surface ou matière, par exemple du styrofoam ou du ciment. Ce sixième mouvement place une caisse claire à l’honneur, dont l’artiste a sorti une ribambelle de rebonds accélérés, aussi nets que ceux d’une balle de ping-pong. Il joue de ces minuscules effets mitraillettes en chaîne, les fait se chevaucher sur différents tons et se déplacer extrêmement vite dans l’espace ceint des haut-parleurs.

Plastic Recollections 6 naît ainsi de très peu, comme elle peut furtivement devenir cacophonique et insupportable pour s’évanouir aussi vite. Voir les mains à plat du compositeur à peine effleurer les commandes, comme un prestidigitateur qui agirait par influence thermique, est tout à fait spectaculaire. D’autant que son corps entier livre une chorégraphie silencieuse, pour ainsi dire sinueuse. Sa musique de flashs et de fulgurances n’est ni coupante ni maléfique, elle emprunte une magie très lumineuse et ludique, curieuse du potentiel de tout objet et de l’infinité de possibilités du détail. Au milieu de la fascination qui s’impose, la partition d’une courte demi-heure connait toutefois un infléchissement étrange, tandis que cette enfilade de ponctuations rapprochées quitte le mystère de son code pour devenir uniquement excessive, obsédante, exaspérante presque. Les oreilles bourdonnent et la vue se trouble avant même que l’étourdissement survienne. Comme un enfant pousserait à bout de ses pourquoi sans fin ou agacerait en répétant une action déconseillée. Ce flirt soudain à la frontière de l’impatience n’a pas besoin de s’étendre, il ne fait que se payer une petite visite au seuil des tympans pour que le spectateur garde ensuite en tête que l’anodin du jeu et son inoffensivité apparente pourrait facilement basculer dans quelque chose de moins enfantin. Du titillement à la torture du chatouillis. La simplicité de la composition permet une attention particulière à la modulation spatiale, et AKOUSMA s’avère ici un excitant contexte expérimental pour prolonger l’exploration in situ.
excerpt from the "artfactstories"
https://artfactstories.wordpress.com/2015/10/


超自然的な忍耐と閃光

第12回 AKOUSMA「ノイズを紡ぐクリスタル」(Cristaux bruités) ナイト
出演者はJunya Oikawa(日本)+ Jesse OsborneLanthier(ケベック)+ John Chantler(オーストラリア) + Dominic Thibault (ケベック)
"L'Usine C"で、さる10月29日に行われた「第12回ACOUSMA」は新しい発見と卓越した技術に満ちたものだった。日本からは Junya Oikawa、オーストラリ ア出身でヨーロッパに移住したJohn Chantler、そして地元からは Jesse Osborne-LanthierとDominic Thibaultが参加。音の魔術を繰り出すコンソールを操りながら、各々が静かに身体を揺らした。

15歳の容姿のJunya Oikawaは、実際には若々しい30代前半の若者で、その非常に研ぎすまされた作品は、すでに15か国ほどで迎えられ、フランスのQuartz Expérimatation 賞などの受賞歴がある。彼のアプローチは驚くべき厳格さと繊細さを併せ持ち、今回のテーマ「ノイズを紡ぐクリスタル」(Cristaux bruités)をまさに体現している。演奏したのは、今年制作された作品で、これは10年前から取りかかっているシリーズの6作目である。それは、執拗とも言えるほどの純粋な探求で構築されていると言える。というのもこの過程の各素材は、一つの面もしくは物質、例えば発泡スチロールやセメント、から成る音素材から入念に作り上げられているからである。この6作目はスネアドラムを中心に、そこからは多数の加速された音のリバウンドが、ピンポン球のそれよりもクリアに出現する。Oikawaは、その機関銃のような微小な効果を巧みに操り、その音はさまざまなトーンに重なり合い、スピーカーに囲まれた空間をものすごい速さで移動していく。

Plastic Recollection 6はこのように極わずかなものから生まれたのだが、気づかぬうちに現れてはすぐに消える堪え難いカコフォニーになり得る。彼のうねるような静かな動きに加え、その作曲家の手が機器をかすめるかかすめないかのような動きは、まるで魔術師が自身の体温だけでものを動かすようであり、圧巻である。強烈で閃光を放つ彼の音楽は鋭利でも、邪悪でもなく、それは 強く光り輝く、遊び心に溢れた魔術をまとっている。それは、あらゆるオブジェの潜在性、そしてディテールの無限の可能性に対する好奇心である。
30分という短い時間の中に起こる、避けがたい幻惑の最中に、我々は音の不思議な衰退を体験する。それは近接した短い音の連なりが神秘的な領域を離れ、行き過ぎたしつこい、腹立たしいものになったときだ。陶酔の状態がやってくる前に、視界が霞み、耳鳴りがし始める。子供が際限なく「なぜ」と聞いたり、だめと言ったことを何度も繰り返すのに似ている。 だが、それは忍耐の限界の境界を超えることはなく、外見上は無害でとるにたらないものが、容易に危険なものになり得るということを観客が頭に入れておけば十分である。それはくすぐりが我慢できなくなる一歩手前の状態に似ている。 構成に無駄がないゆえに、我々は空間内の抑揚に注意を向けることができる。そしてAKOUSMAは、実験音楽に向いた場所であるということを如実に表しているのである。
抜粋元"artfactstories"
(Translated by Mayumi Bezault Nakamura)



“AKOUSMA XII” Soirée “Cristaux bruités” / Supernatural Patience and Flash light

“AKOUSMA XII” held on October 29 at “L'Usine C” was the night filled with dexterity and new discovery, along with Junya Oikawa from Japan, John Chantler, Australian origin who moved to Europe, Jesse Osborne-Lanthier and Dominic Thibault from Canada. Each of them danced quietly, stroking the console to extract real magic of sound.

Junya Oikawa looks about 15 years old, but is a young thirties, and his works that represent his unusual, finely honed sensibility have already been presented in fifteen countries. Two years ago, he received Grand Prize for Quartz Experimental / Research in France. His approach was stunningly rigor, subtle and exact, and was a perfect illustration of the theme of the evening of “Noisy Crystals (Cristaux bruités)”. He played his fresh work created in this year (2015), which is one of the series of “Plastic Recollections” he began ten years ago.

One can tell it was composed with a pure, almost obsessive exploration of sound, as it was meticulously created from sound elements of a single surface or material, such as styrofoam and cement. This 6th work of Plastic Recollections developed sound of a snare drum, and the artist released a string of accelerated rebounds as sharp as those of a ping-pong. He played these chains of tiny effects like machine guns that overlapped in various tones and moved extremely fast in space surrounded by speakers.

“Plastic Recollections 6” was born of very small details, but it can stealthily become an unbearable cacophonous sound that vanished so quickly. Hand movement of the composer that barely touched controls acted as if a conjurer moving things only with his thermal influence, which was quite spectacular, in addition to his whole body performing silent choreography.His music with dazzling flashes was neither sharp nor evil, it borrows a very bright and playful magic, representing his curiosity about potential of every object and limitless possibilities of details.

Amidst the inevitable dazzlement that occurred in the short half hour, we experienced a strange shift of sound, while the row of sound punctuation left the mystery of its code to become excessive, obsessive, almost maddening. The ears started ringing and the view became hazy before the ecstasy occurred, which is like a child who endlessly asks “why” or keeps repeating deprecated actions. But this sudden flirting on the border of our impatience did not transcend; it only brushed our eardrums at the beginning and allowed us to keep in mind that it was apparently harmless that could easily turn into something aggressive; like the titillation in the torture of tickling. The simplicity of the composition allowed us to pay particular attention to the modulation within the space, and AKOUSMA proved to be an exciting experimental context to extend exploration in situ.
Excerpt from the "artfactstories"
(Translated by Penguin translation)



|| Composer for the 3D Audio | VDT Magazin 3/2015 - 3D Audio Produktion

About the IOSONO 3D system for Oikawa's Solo premiere concert at the IOSONO-3D lab at the Fohhn Audio, April 2015
Interview by Verband Deutscher Tonmeister e.V.


1 Why did you write a special composition for the IOSONO system?
The concert held on 27th April was realized with the support of the Fohhn-Audio and Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg. I have been working with the organization since 2012 when I was selected as the first awardee for their newly established category "Neue Musikformen". I've studied composition for digital audio art, contemporary art and environmental art in Tokyo University of the Art, and then moved to ZKM as a guest artist to work on stereophonic composition using KlangDom (43.1ch), thus this project was closely-matched with my activity.

2 What type of composition is concerned? What sounds were heard?
I am using recorded sounds for the art work.
"Plastic Recollections 6" is a new piece for the project I started in 2004 with the purpose of extracting various textures from processed sounds from a single object, and construct their time structure. I have been using shaking sounds of MD(mini disc), noises of a piano, frictional noise of a concrete block, melting sounds of polystyrene foam. This time I use the sounds from the snare drum and compose sound textures as a 17-minutes work for the 3D space.

3 What's so special about this composition?
Usually I use my recorded voice as a composition material for sound installation, but this project "Plastic Recollections" I got an idea from daily noises produced by inorganic objects, such as the sound of MD disk, polystyrene foam, etc. When I work in 2 channel stereo environment, I'm always conscious of extensibility of space created by contrast between vertical motion of sound and density of space. I was able to realize those acoustic images accurately using meticulously controlled IOSONO system and speakers, and it was amazing experience for me.

4 What fascinates you about the new technology?
It’s function to create sound field is so precise and perfect. By switching diffusion method of sound source, I could develop various expressions, like expanding sweet spots while creating spot expression in a space using same sound material. Also, it's tracking function to create ambient allows me to produce rich sound field. From this point, it enables us to extend our range of expression developing sound layers and a sense of sound distance in a space, as if to draw acoustic texture like a sketch in a space.
Its user interface is excellent in particular, that provide you a creative environment without stress. I was able to control software just like creating surround sound for 2D, and composed 5 works for 3D system including a new work (70 minutes in total) just within 24 hours.

5 What is innovative about this technique?
Arranging sounds in all directions in a space is not new method employed in music. I think that this approach to spatial acoustics is different from others. For example, technique using WFS successfully got rid of fixed listening point / specific sweet spot that has been inseparable from existing surround expression, while simulating a sense of distance in a space.
Technology for ambient-specific effects allows me create many sound layers in sound field surrounded by speakers. Those features make it possible to produce organic and tactile "acoustic texture" in an associated environment / space, keeping speakers unnoticeable, and I think these technologies will also have interesting effect for sound installation presented outside the studio (public space or natural environment).

6 How does the technology on their composition?
For composition, it enables me to investigate physicality of human being in the context of musical performance, and to pursue possibility of acoustic expression such as sound reverberation of a hall that is independent of physical and material constraint.

7 Will they realize another project?
I will be participating the Festival for Bremer Lautsprecher Orchester “Rapid Ear Movement” in Bremen. BLO (Acousmonium) is a system for contemporary electro-acoustic music, placing 20 or more speakers symmetrically on both sides of the space, assigning stereo audio source (L/R) information using fader on the mixer to control sound volume. This method is based on the idea of "playing acoustic space", which allows audience to have unique experience that is different from that of multi-channel surround system. Also I am going to have an open-air exhibition of my sound installation work using ambisonic by Max/MSP.

About the IOSONO 3D system for Oikawa's Solo premiere concert at the IOSONO-3D lab at the Fohhn Audio | April 2015(抜粋)
1) IOSONOシステムの為に特別に作曲をされたのにはどういう理由・きっかけがあったのですか?
4月27日に行われたコンサートはFohhn-Audio社とバーデン=ヴュルテンベルク芸術財団の協力によって実現しました。 2012年に私はこの芸術財団に新設された「新しい音楽の形態」部門の初代受賞者に選出された事もあって、今回の機会を得ました。 もともと私は電子音響音楽の作曲や現代アート、環境芸術を日本で学び、その後ZKMの客員芸術家としてKlangDom(43.1ch)を扱った立体音響の作曲も行ってきましたので、このプロジェクトは私の活動にとって、非常にマッチした提案でした。

2)どういったタイプの作曲を意識したのでしょうか。また、どんな音を使っていますか。
録音した音を扱った芸術作品になります。今回作曲した「Plastic Recollections 6」は2004年からおこなっているプロジェクトの新作で、単一の物音を加工してその物質から様々な音のテクスチャーを引き出す事、同様にそれらの時間を構成する事を目的に始めました。これまでにMDを振る音やピアノのノイズ、コンクリートブロックの摩擦音、発泡スチロールの溶解音などと続けてきて、今回はスネアドラムの音のみから作られたテクスチャーを3D空間の為にコンポジションした17分の作品になりました。

3)この作品で他と異なることはなんでしょうか。
通常私は録音した自分の声を作品の素材として扱っていますが、今回は有機的な素材ではない日常の物音から発想を得ています。それは、MDのディスクの音であったり発泡スチロールなどになります。 また、私は2chのステレオで作業しているとき、音の上下の動きや空間の密度のコントラストから成る空間の伸縮性を意識しながら作曲をしています。この立体音響システムを通じてそのような頭の中を巡る音響のイメージを正確にIOSONOシステムとFohhn社の精密に管理されたスピーカーと空間で実現出来た事はとても素晴らしい事でした。

4)この新しいテクノロジーのどこに魅力を感じますか?
音場を作る機能やその精密さはすばらしく、音源のディフージョンの方法を切り替えることで、同じ音素材でも空間に対して点的な表現や、スイートスポットを広げた表現が出来ました。またアンビエントを作るトラックの機能も非常に豊かな音場を作る事が出来ます。このようなことから、音のカーテンのように空間に層を作り、音の距離感を表現する事など、音響の芸術を表現する上でイメージと表現の幅を拡張する事ができるため、音響のテクスチャーを絵画を書くに様に空間に描く事が出来ます。
また、音の制作作業にストレスを感じないユーザーインターフェイスは特記すべき点です。通常の1層の為のサラウンドを制作する事と変わりなくソフトウェアを操作する事が出来ましたので、とてもストレスがかからず、おおよそ24時間の制作時間で新作を含める5作品(計70分)を3D音響の為に構成する事が出来ました。

5)このテクニックのどういったところが革新的(新しい)のでしょうか?
四方八方に音を配置することはとりわけ新しい技術ではありませんが、空間音響に対するアプローチが異なっている様に思います。例えば、WFSを扱った技術は従来のサラウンド表現における固定されたリスニングポイントを無くす事に成功していますし、そして空間に対して音の距離感をシュミレーションできる点や、音の空気感を立体的に作り出すアンビエントに特化したエフェクト等の技術などは、スピーカーに囲まれた音場に幾つもの音のレイヤーを作り出す事ができますし、この事はあたかもそれらのスピーカーの存在を"点"として感じさせず、空間に有機的な音響の触覚性を作り出すことが可能になります。そして、このようなテクノロジーはスタジオの外(公共空間や自然環境など)で発表することによりさらに面白い効果を持つと思います。

6)作品にこのテクノロジーはどういった影響をもたらしていますか?
コンサートピースということにおいては、“演奏”という生身の人間が持つ身体性や、ホールの残響といった物理的/物質的な制約に依存しない音響表現の可能性を追究できます。

7)他のプロジェクトの実現に関しては何か予定はありますか?
ブレーメンで行われるアクースモニウムのフェスティバル”Rapid Ear Movement”に出演します。これは、電子音響音楽のコンサートで使われる音響システムで、空間のいたるところに左右シンメトリーに並べた20個以上のスピーカーにステレオ音源(L/R)の情報をミキサーのフェーダーをアサインし、その音量をリアルタイムにコントロールするものです。音響空間を”演奏”するというこの方法は、マルチチャンネルのシステムとは異なるLIVEを体験する面白さがあります。 また今後アンビソニックを扱った野外(自然環境)でのサウンドインスタレーションも予定されています。
(Translated by penguin translation)


|| Digital art Biennale - Bains numeriques 8 | France, July 2014) | (En/Jp)

ABOUT JUNYA OIKAWA'S WORK - VOICE LANDSCAPE | Reviewer : Bernard Szajner

As a member of the Jury of "Les bains numeriques", the most important digital Art festival in France, in Enghien les Bains, I have been extremely impressed by the work presented by Junya Oikawa !

This work presented in form of installations reflecting his desire to be "part" of the nature was extremely impressive as it was simultaneously highly technical and sophisticated and yet very simple and very humble in spirit... In fact it was perceived as a very sensitive and poetic approach in a "high tech" world... the contrast between the poetic approach and the the harsh world where man tends to forget that he is "part of nature" was very strong and colorful and the jury perceived precisely this dimension...

I was personally very sensitive to Junya's work precisely for these reasons but also for his method, his approach of the "technical aspects" i.e. his patient and scientific study of the way insects and animals produce sounds whilst producing sounds from his own recorded voice to use these sounds as a "material" is definitely a mark of commitment to "working hard" and sparing no effort during the creation...

In fact the work was exquisite and relatively unexpected in the festival ! Also a clear statement to Japanese tradition and culture...


Bernard Szajner - July 2014


ABOUT JUNYA OIKAWA'S WORK - VOICE LANDSCAPE

フランスで最も重要なEnghien les Bainのデジタルアートフェス « Les bains numériques »の審査員として、私はJUNYA OIKAWAの展示作品に強烈な感銘を受けた!
この、インスタレーション形式で展示された作品は、自然の「一部」であることへの想いが反映されており、非常に印象深いと同時に、高度かつ洗練され、それでいて簡潔で慎ましい精神性を表現している...
事実、この作品は「ハイテク」の世界において、非常に繊細で詩的なもので、人間がついつい「自然の一部」である事を忘れがちな厳しい世界と詩的なアプローチのコントラストは強烈かつ鮮明な側面を審査員に突きつけ、我々もそれを正しく認めざるをえなかった。
上記の理由から私は個人的にJUNYAの作品に強い興味を持ったのだが、それに加えて、作家の手法、「技術的側面」に対するアプローチ、つまり、虫や動物の声などに対する忍耐的で科学的な分析を行いながら、彼自身の録音した声から発する音を素材として用いる試みは、創作における膨大な作業量と彼のたゆまぬ努力を示している。

実際、作品はフェスティバルに置いて非常に優れたものであるとともに、日本の伝統文化に対する明瞭な思想が加わって、相対的に予想外の作品であったのだから!

Bernard Szajner – July 2014
(Translated by penguin translation)



|| Junya Oikawa Voice Landscape - Ta ka Ta ka Crickets | HONEN-IN Temple, Kyoto 22. May 2015 | (Jp)

HAPS PRESS: http://haps-kyoto.com/haps-press/exhibition_review/05_2015/

|| ANA MEETS ARTS Junya Oikawa | All Nippon Airways - flight magazine, Japan. August,2011 | (En/Jp)


Supervised by Yuko Hasegawa, article written by Shohei Kawasaki

The sound extensity reflected in the famous old Haiku, "Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto" (read by famous Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, expressing the scene when the frog leaps in the old pond with waternote.), has the meaningful implication that remind us of the attitude to meet the sound.

What was Basyo's first reaction? Perhaps, he would have listened, to the small splash of water. Since the faint note of water droplet that broke the silence is considered as the main origin of this Haiku, he would have then placed the character (frog) and depicted the the backdrop of the story (old pond). I cannot suggest it for sure as a fact, though I believe this is how the phrase came in line, thinking that there was an old pond and one frog and so the splash is too predictable image of sound. Needless to say, it has no point if human senses function with subjective awareness. It is too late to determine to see before recognizing color of traffic light. Ambulance siren should reach our ears before we prepare ourselves for listening; otherwise siren would have meant nothing. Not only human ability to process information instantaneously and unconsciously brings our basis for human life, but sound action that comes from outside of the conscious sometimes evokes images and leads thinking: with this direction I think the possibility of discovery is more interesting and attractive. Basho must have drawn his images when the sound came and reached him, not that he has “listened in” to the sound.

I was pondering like this when I have seen Junya Oikawa’s work at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Art museum in general should be the place to “watch”, that is, the space for visitors to watch and listen with good deal of awareness, so it seems rather unnatural that human senses react unconsciously.
However, it is certain that work by Junya Oikawa has the structure with its sound that “can be heard” unconsciously. What is impressive about his work is that his manipulation of time and installation to notice those sounds is quite successful. Of course, being in a museum, I knew there should be some art works and was prepared to see them accordingly; however, his work easily warded off my awareness, letting myself found that I was completely caught up in the world of his work, with the air and the sounds of his work slowly penetrated and soaked into the space. If this sequence of structure is intended one, then there seems to be more efficacy than of mere installation using sound. We cannot ignore the implication of the structure for recognizing the possibility of sound, not with sound followed by listening but with a growing sense of hearing. Junya Oikawa’s work has the attraction of sound heard unconsciously that generates a new thinking.

(in-flight magazine of All Nippon Airways, August.2011 (excerpt) - ANA MEETS ART Junya Oikawa / translation :(Penguin Translation)



|| Sonic intervention, construction, transformation of the space and body | Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo December,2010 | (En/Jp)


Article written by :Yuko Hasegawa (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, chief curator)

Sonic intervention,construction,transformation of the space and body Junya Oikawa and Fuyuki Yamakawa For uncertain, constantly changing circumstances, some artists attempt to launch devices that evoke viewer the continuous transformation. It is the reflection of artist himself, and he makes audience to be “aware” of his own transformation by generating resonance and dissonance in their bodies. Oikawa and Yamakawa have strong sense of creation in common to extend their bodies in a space with their own voices. Each of their “voices” is rediscovered in a different way of their own, transformed as “song” that fills the space. Their “song” is not just vibrating the space, but revealing -or more specifically, summoning in the depth of its lives- the “inseparable” world that is also called unconsciousness existing behind the world of information and segmentation as a structure. Auditory sense that develops before visual sense in the process of generation transmits pulses deep into the primary part of the conscious. And voice is the symbol of identity as with fingerprint.

Junya Oikawa transforms his own voices using electronic sound. His lip-noises turn into the howls of beasts, voices of women (or others), blasts of wind, and so on. Sound is first positioned and arranged in a space materially, and it moves around the acoustic field constructed with multiple audio sources (speakers) in a violent and a flexible way, bringing virtual sceneries and meteorological phenomena into sight. In the dark room, the audiences experience the feel of the body taken afar, together with the feel of air carved as a sculpture followed by the crack of the space by sound generation. Junya Oikawa remarks that his creation process of listening large amounts of invisible sound information repetitively to sense minute change of sound with images and arrange them in time axis is the structuring of the consciousness passing away every moment.
(excerpt comments from the pamphlet / translation :Penguin Translation)


|| NONAME SOUND TIMBRO E PERFORMANCE NELLA MUSICA ELETTRONICA ALLE SOGLIE DEL XXI SECOLO: IL CASO DI JEAN MICHEL JARRE / Marco MARTUCCI | UNIVERSITY OF MILAN / December,2016 | (in Italian)


Article written by :Marco MARTUCCI

NONAME_SOUND_TRACK _07 - ELECTRONICA AD ARTE

JUNYA OIKAWA

Legato a questo mondo, uno dei più interessanti artisti emergenti è Junya Oikawa, nato a Sendai, in Giappone nel 1983, e dal 2011 guest-artist presso la ZKM di Karlsruhe, in Germania. Vincitore, nel 2013, del premio Qwartz con l'opera Bell fantasia, presenta nel 2016 presso il festival parigino Bains Numeriques, la sua ultima opera, Growing Verse191, che lo stesso così descrive:

The sensor camera is to be placed in (public) space, and original music composition programmed in the system reacts to a body movement; that is, simple repetition of “move” and “stop”, to create specific pitch and sound syllable. The work is intended to let the audience “sense” the sound generated in real time as they move (part of) the body in the spotlight at the right timing, in a conscious manner. Simple sound phrases become an expression of “breathing” of the body, and the audience learns how “music” is woven. This syllable-create system using specific environmental information & movement seems quite simple, yet reveals the fundamental idea of “sound design” & “music composition”, as well as the essence of “communication” in our lives.

Oikawa si avvicina alla musica elettronica attratto dal potenziale narrativo offerto dalla musica elettroacustica. Il suo interesse si volge tutto verso l'aspetto psicologico e sulle reazioni della mente umana. Egli stesso dice:
I’m interested in psychological reactions in human mind, memory and consciousness when experiencing sound, and I’d like to pursue fundamental question of “what is acoustic experience”. As compared to longestablished Western music whose foundation is based on substantial theories, techniques and religiosities over the centuries, electroacousitc music and digital sound is a considerably young genre with only 70 years history, but I believe it becomes a seedbed to nurture new sound expression and movement that can not be interpreted from the context of precedent music, without loosing relationship with the history of music.

Dopo aver completato il master in Intermedial Art presso la University of Arts di Tokyo, riceve la proposta di inserirsi in qualità di guest-artist presso la ZKM in Germania. Parlando di bruitisme, a causa della menzione ricevuta da Rossana Maggia per il “Concours international Musique Bruitiste Luigi Russolo”, ricorda:
Music from France has a great influence on me: I used to listen and play Claude Debussy’s works when I was a child, and the country also introduced me acousmatic music. My stay in Karlsruhe has also expanded opportunities to participate festivals and talks in France.
One of the reasons I’m involved in acousmatic music, is it inspires us (both artists and audience) to confront fundamental interest and question of “what is music?”. I had come to be more attached to “sound” itself through my childhood experiences of playing with noises/sound of nature (like stones/wind/water, etc..) and creating melodies with an electric guitar. I think the encounter with acousmatic music deepened my early impulse towards “sound”, and it also was a major turning point to discover the artist within me. Experience, interpretation and expression of sound can be also applied for educational purposes as a practical subject to establish and develop acoustic sensibility of students not only in music university but in many academic fields.


Junya porta in palco il proprio iBook armato di software Max/Msp con il quale esegue le proprie opere. Con esso usa vari dispositivi MIDI: «...I'd like to use it as a “device” triggered by interactions of audience to produce certain situations, realizing my idea as a sound artist.» . L'artista inoltre spiega che il suo modo di lavorare è molto vicino a quello di chi si organizza per comporre musica per i videogame;
Both sounds interesting, but I think video game music is more in proximity to my activity, as its sound materials and expression are handled as sound effect and spatial acoustics. In 2014, I collaborated with French artist Nicolas Buffe for his solo exhibition. I produced sound for his multimedia installation piece, which was built up as a game employing AR technology. Visitor’s motion was reflected in the screen, and they were able to interact with the story as an avatar. I always try to pursue how to structure the interaction of time and memory with each acoustic material and expression or in other words, how to develop human consciousness and perception into environment / space using nonphysical media.

Oltre a ciò egli lavora con particolare interesse per il mondo del video.
I try to set a special concept when I collaborate with video work. I started to work on the “Organon Project” to allow the space to function as “sense organs” from 2005. In the secondstage of the project in 2007, I produced “reminiscence”, a collaborative work with a video artist. I defined “space” as an organic, intellectual “living body” and depicted transitional narratives recollected by “space” (body) with video/light and acoustic materials/music that inspire our visual and auditory perception respectively, and presented it as a live installation work.

Il discorso più interessante, però, Junya lo esprime quando parla delle sue radici. Per molti aspetti, la sua passione per i giardini è molto simile a quella di Toru Takemitsu, dal quale si differenzia però, poiché il grande compositore ammirava i giardini pensili.
I’m more inspired by Japanese gardens, than traditional performances. Excursion garden ( Kaiyushiki Teien in Japanese) which appeared from Edo era (1603-1863), is a garden where people can admire colorful scenery and atmosphere by walking within the area, as its name suggests. Relationship with nature and gardens, as suggested in shakkei (“borrowed scenery”), and relationship with nature and viewer always give me meditative feeling, and my current works are spiced with this experience.


LE INSTALLAZIONI
Tra tutte le opere realizzate da Junya Oikawa ce ne sono due di estremo interesse: uno è Voice Landscape, esposto a Bains Numeriques di Parigi a giugno 2014, l'altro è il già citato Growing verse, come già accennato, esposto nel medesimo festival del giugno 2016. Inerentemente alla prima opera, si legge sulla pagina di presentazione:
VOICE LANDSCAPE PROJECTS (2009- ) is the sound installation series in which recorded voice of the artist such as onomatopoeia and lip noises are electrically transformed into presence of insect and natural phenomenon on computer in concord with natural environment. In this project Oikawa attempted to pursue the expression of new presence beyond the border from existing life by recorded voice.

In quest'opera Oikawa immette tutto il valore delle tradizioni e della natura tradizionale del suo popolo, al fine di far ricongiungere la natura presente fuori dall'individuo con quella presente nell'individuo stesso, al fine di ricercare un rapporto di stabilità tra suono e silenzio, che nella tradizione giapponese prende il nome di ma, che possiamo tradurre come suono di natura ben definita (Takemitsu lo definisce “Strong Sound”):
I once heard a shakuhachi master talking about how to end a note, and he said, “This note should end as a samurai's sword would cut.” In other words,this note must really end. So the quality of ma after that sword cut must be incredibly different from the quality of ma when a shakuhachi note tapers into almost-silence, and then has a little drop-off, and then comes the ma.
Voice Landscape: Altoparlanti posti all'interno dell'ambiente

Per la musica tradizionale giapponese il suono ed il silenzio hanno lo stesso peso, poiché ad una indefinita qualità, di silenzio può seguire od alternarsi una indefinita qualità del suono. Takemitsu procede con:
… the unique idea of ma – the unsounded part of this experience – has at the same time a deep, powerful, and rich resonance that can stand up to the sound. In short, this ma this powerful silence, is that which gives life to the sound and removes it from its position of primacy. So it is that sound, confronting the silence of ma, yields supremacy in the final expression.

Dunque silenzio e suono sono come buio e luce non possono stare separati. Altresì la sua significanza è basata sulla sua lunghezza, a sua volta basata sull'istinto del performer che ne detta le regole in armonia con la natura che lo circonda o che vive all'interno di sè.

Bernard Szajner, uno dei membri della giuria dell'edizione 2014 di Les Bains Numeriques, a proposito di quest'opera, dichiara:
This work presented in form of installations reflecting his desire to be "part" of the nature was extremely impressive as it was simultaneously highly technical and sophisticated and yet very simple and very humble in spirit... In fact it was perceived as a very sensitive and poetic approach in a "high tech" world... the contrast between the poetic approach and the the harsh world where man tends to forget that he is "part of nature" was very strong and colorful and the jury perceived precisely this dimension... I was personally very sensitive to Junya's work precisely for these reasons but also for his method, his approach of the "technical aspects" i.e. his patient and scientific study of the way insects and animals produce sounds whilst producing sounds from his own recorded voice to use these sounds as a "material" is definitely a mark of commitment to "working hard" and sparing no effort during the creation... In fact the work was exquisite and relatively unexpected in the festival ! Also a clear statement to Japanese tradition and culture…

Voice Landscape è divisa in 7 tipologie d'installazioni, Ta ka ta ka Crickets ver.4, Labile lip - insect ver.1, Labile lip - water whisper ver.1/2, Water Drops ver.1, Aerial whisper ver.1, Electro birds ver.1, Transcription of whisper (ver. a i u e o). Se tutto ciò che contiene la parola “lip” è la registrazione ottenuta dal rumore prodotto dalle labbra dell'artista, se il suono dell'acqua è la variazione del suono “pa” filtrato da opportune routine in Max e se sensori sensibili all'aria ed altoparlanti sono sparsi in tutto il giardino, luogo deputato per la messa in forma dell'opera stessa, una particolare menzione va al “Ta ka ta ka crickets”:

This work is created only by onomatopoeia ”ta ka ta ka” processed from recorded voice of the artist. In Japan, onomatopoeia is representing the movement and action of creatures (such as, wiggling, little and swift movements of some creatures moving around and hiding behind bushes) and by installing them into the space, it would create poetic fantasy in concord with the exhibition site. Transform the above onomatopoeia into the sounds of crickets and install them in the space: Crickets have three ways of singing: single singing (trolling), threatening (territory), and flirting (courtship). With thorough research of physical properties (frequency, cycle and magnitude of sounds) of trolling, sound composition is created to produce new perspective of an organic nature in a specific environment, in order to let audience to perceive that the work that is created by physical data of a human being turns into part of nature.

Il sentirsi parte della natura procede con l'opera successiva, Growing verse, di cui lo stesso essere umano, immerso in essa, rappresenta la voce crescente degli elementi naturali posti attorno a lui. Nella presentazione dell'autore, possiamo leggere:
This work is made up of organic combination of acoustic phenomenon structure, which consists of a number of parts triggered by composer’s voice. Sound and words (voice materials), acoustic motion in space and images generated from it have something in common with imagining spatial balance of character gap, fragmented segments and sentence syntax in the context of character arrays in “contemporary poetry”

Il motore che costituisce l'avanzare dell'installazione è un sensore di movimento costituito da una videocamera che, a seconda di determinati segnali dati dal corpo del performer, decide di far avanzare (play) o fermare (stop) le tracce musicali. L'idea di un sensore che percepisca una figura in movimento, ed in base a questa generi suoni, ma anche immagini e/o colori, non è insolita; già Camurri, con il suo progetto EyesWeb.
[…] develop a modular system for the real-time analysis of body movement and gesture. Such information can be used to control and generate sound, music, and visual media, and to control actuators (e.g., robots). Another goal of the project is to explore and de- velop models of interaction by extending music language toward gesture and visual languages, with a particular focus on the understanding of affect and expressive content in gesture. For example, we attempt to distinguish the expressive content from two instances of the same movement pattern, e.g., two performances of the same dance fragment.

EyesWeb, tra le tante opere, è stata utilizzata per Cronaca del Luogo, di Luciano Berio, che ha aperto il Festival di Salisburgo del 1999:
Uno dei personaggi principali, interpretato da David Moss, tramite sensori cuciti nel costume, telecamere (invisibili, poste sulle americane sopra il palcoscenico) e il sistema EyesWeb, aveva la possibilità di controllare, con il proprio gesto, in tempo reale l'elaborazione della propria voce, di attivare/disattivare la sua registrazione e sovrapporla successivamente stratificandola e deformandola, di attivare suoni di sintesi o campionatoti.

Il risultato, è un opera pilotata in Max/Msp, intrisa di materiale auto-generante, come se fosse un vero e proprio ecosistema, vivo e vigile, che ad ogni movimento dell'autore-installatore, ma anche di qualsiasi partecipante si voglia cimentare in essa, fa avanzare tutta una serie di suoni progettati appositamente, tenendo come riferimento i lavori generati da figure come: Henri Chopin, Isidore Isou, Brion Gysin, Trevor Wishart «...and is developed in many ways in the field of music / performance-art today, such as storytelling in radio play, recitation of text as randomized prose, body performances pursuing the voice generation meaningless as a language, and so on.»

Inerentemente alla poetica dell'opera, Oikawa aggiunge:
In this work acoustic texture and movement are represented graphically as acoustic scenes, creating whole view of the world very original. As if sounds constantly transform themselves and emerge as series of images in the space as words, phrase, punctuation and interval. And haptic, literary abstract sensation that can be experienced with their transformation will construct prosody with acoustic texture and compose new language and phrases (poetry song). And all Voices heard in the work (including voice of creatures) are recorded voice of the composer. The process of manipulating voice and deleting its personal identity and using them as organic sound material is to integrate eloquent acoustic expression that belongs to no one into the electronic sound structure as a message having no specific meaning.

Molto interessante si rivela il progetto compositivo aperto in daw, dove le dinamiche dei suoni, precedentemente fissati dall'autore per regolare l'impatto sonoro della composizione, sono parte di un sistema di materiali acquisiti in maniera eterogenea, che si riversano in un'amalgama sonora piacevole e ben bilanciata nel rapporto movimento-esecuzione-diffusione. La timeline «...is arranged in tandem show that sound files are arranged and structured. In the boxes there are written instructions to operate sound volume, movement of sounds and so on to control various sound features»

In quest'opera potremmo definire che è racchiusa la attuale essenza artistica del compositore, cioè tutto il percorso che porta a definire che cosa possa essere, oggi, un'intensa esperienza musicale:
“What is a music experience?” is the biggest theme I’ve been pursuing, so it is not easy to put a clear definition on “music”, to be honest. Music and sound representation experience is definitely “something” that controls our consciousness without using words or visual elements, and I think it “affordance” for us. I’m sure that Western music continues to exist as a solid field for reference. On the other hand, I believe that sound expression dealing with recording and digital technology will expand its crossdisciplinary approach, exploiting characteristic in sound; that is, free from physical restriction. Having the respect for traditional Western music, I would say that digital sound expression might release physical features (such as music instruments, spaces, notations and performers) that are (or at least, regarded as) essential for music, and it prompts reinterpretation of the time & space experience using music and acoustic features.


Dunque, nella nostra realtà, sarà sempre più l'interazione a creare nuove vie musicali. Poco importa se essa sia donata da un Arcade Game come il DDR MAX Two, da una console dotata di WiiMote, dall'imitare i passi di danza di un videoclip, o dal semplice accostarsi a suonare un buon strumento classico. L'importante sarà far interagire sempre più media fra loro, un po' come Richard Wagner sottolineava nella sua teorizzazione dell'opera d'arte totale.

Excerpt from "NONAME SOUND TIMBRO E PERFORMANCE NELLA MUSICA ELETTRONICA ALLE SOGLIE DEL XXI SECOLO: IL CASO DI JEAN MICHEL JARRE" / Marco MARTUCCI



|| ART IN CONTEXT 2009 | Tokyo University of the Arts - Department of Intermedia Art,2009 | (Jp)


小エッセイ (冊子 - ART IN CONTEXT 2009 より抜粋)

・これまで
私は、鉱石や自然現象に興味を持った時期があり、その時の好奇心は現在の電子音楽で表現している感覚とさほど変わりがない。
結晶の標本を作るように音を録音する。顕微鏡で物質を観察するようにコンピューターで物音を観察する。瞬間的な衝動を持続させるように時空間を変容する。
目に見えない膨大な音の情報を繰り返し聞き、些細な音響の変化をイメージにして時間軸上に配置することは、常に過ぎ去って行く瞬間の意識を構造化して行く事に他ならない。

・開かれた声
"ことば"は音であり時を表現することに近い。
思考を瞬時にイメージとして捉え、そのイメージの連なりを言語で表象し音声にする。それは、頭で楽譜(単語、文節、文章)を作り、身体(咽)でそれを鳴らす事と似ている。パラ言語やオノマトペに代表される様に情動に動かされた言葉の背景には、"音"によるプリミティブなコミュニケションを成り立たせる可能性がある。人の感情から表出される"ことば"は、原始的な"うた"と変わらない。

・コミュニケーションの媒体
声は身体の延長線にあるものと考えている。
自身の体が届かない距離に存在する相手に対して、自分の意志を声で伝達するように、声というのは身体の拡張した見えない器官(触手)だと考えている。
見えない何かを物質的に捉える感覚。この感覚を実感したのは、09年の夏、山梨の白州で行われた田中民さんのワークショップであった。
2人ペアで数mの長さの糸を張って持ち、片方が目隠しをして相手の動きに合わせて糸の角度を水平に保つ身体感覚のエクササイズ。体の感覚器官が一本の糸によって拡張されていた。コトバを使わずに糸の向こうに存在する相手の意識を感じとる事は、相手の心に透明な自分が入り込むように感じた。
見えない対象に向かう意識が身体を動かし、見えない体が意識の皮膚となり空間を漂う。

2009-2010 及川潤耶


|| Artist interview - tepito-002 reminiscence(DVD/CD) | te-pito records, 2013 | (Jp)


http://www.te-pito-records.com/002interview.html




SOUND SAMPLES


|| Plastic Recollections Series (2005- )

no.4 - styrofoam (14:00/2013)
Commissioned by Magazin4, Bregenz, Austria
no.6 - snare drum (21:00/2015)
Commissioned by Kunststiftung BW, Stuttgart, Germany

Plastic Recollections series
is the sound project Junya Oikawa has started since 2004, to find various "sound world" produced from the noises of a single object, and structure them organically in the space. He has presented several compositions made with clattering sound of MD, noises of a piano, friction of a cement block, melting sound of polystyrene foams and so on.

Plastic Recollections 1 was made only from the sound that Mini Disc (MD) created when it was shaken. This structures organically develops relation of the parts(micro) to the whole (macro) by repetition, in the context of sound texture and time-axis of the work, to create complex plasticity.

Plastic Recollections 3 and 4 is commissioned work for the Sound-Exhibition of "six memos for the next... vol.4" organized by MAGAZIN4-Bregenzer Kunstverein. Materials of this work is all created from the recorded sounds of polystyrene foam. Using sounds coming from this inorganic and plastic object, Oikawa have thought of creating organic world by those sounds transformed into other objects and phenomenon of natural imaginary.

Plastic Recollections 6 was created for his solo-concert at the Fohhn IOSONO LAB with its 3D system, commissioned by Kunststiftung Baden-Wuerttemberg in April 2015. It is composed by the sound of a snare drum. Sound texture produced by the attack of this snare drum repeats both static and dynamic transformation instantaneously as if sound cells are split up in the space. It is an attempt to redefine the relationship between the fragments of sound and development of the work as an organic structure to create spatial punctuation and paragraph in the form of sound.




|| Phonological Composition Series (2003- )


Phonological-Composition
deals with the question of how recorded sounds and recorded voices in acoustic structures can be mapped and how concrete and synthetic sounds can be integrated by phonological effects.

Sound and words (voice materials), acoustic motion in space and images generated from it have something in common with imagining spatial balance of character gap, fragmented segments and sentence syntax in the context of character arrays in “contemporary poetry”.

Sound and text expression derived from activities by Henri Chopin(1922-2008), IsidoreIsou(1925-2007), Brion Gysin(1916-1986), Joseph Beuys(1921-1986), Trevor Wishart(1946- ) and is developed in many ways in the field of music / performance-art today, such as storytelling in radio play, recitation of text as randomized prose, body and mouth performances pursuing the voice generation meaningless as a language, and so on.

In this work acoustic texture and movement are represented graphically as acoustic scenes, creating whole view of the world very original. As if sounds constantly transform themselves and emerge as series of images in the space as words, phrase, punctuation and interval. And haptic, literary abstract sensation that can be experienced with their transformation will construct prosody with acoustic texture and compose new language and phrases (poetry song).

The process of manipulating voice and deleting its personal identity and using them as organic sound material is to integrate eloquent acoustic expression that belongs to no one into the electronic sound structure as a message having no specific meaning.




|| Electronic guitar series (2014- )


AcousticSketch2 (17:00/2015)Commissioned by Kunststiftung BW, Stuttgart, Germany
AcousticSketch3 (18:00/2015)
Commissioned by Koji Kawasaki,Kyoto,Japan | Supported by Nomura Foundation and Asahi Foundation




|| Bell Fantasia - acoustic scenery of the Schwaebisch Gmuend (2012)


Bell Fantasia
is commissioned for the opening ceremony of Festival European Church Music 2012 organized by Schwaebisch Gmuend in Germany with the theme of "Home and Abroad". Through the field work, Oikawa recorded sounds of bells of 11 churches that surrounding the town of Schwaebisch Gmuend, voice of choirs and sound scape of the town.

Bell Strata work series is the main pieces of this work and constructed symbols that representing the specific area as the spiritual experience by processing recorded sounds to develop them into the time axis: Daily Scenery is the records of symbolical environmental / daily sounds of the town; Tweeting Bell's Night is the fantasy made of only recorded sounds of bells; Wind Melody is created from the sounds of Japanese traditional instrument (KOTO), and He tried to search for the origin Eastern and Western sounds from the sounds of Japanese instrument and its mode white is just sounds like the composition played by harp; Bell Strata2 marks the culmination of this series, and various layers of harmony and scenery was created by sounds of the bells and the town. In addition, using roar of waves recorded in his hometown and sounds of Eastern bell made from sounds of Western bell, He has produced the image that prayers represented by "bells" and "home" that present deep inside us are all sublimed as the digital music expression.


|| reminiscence - Organon project ver.2 (2007)


- - - - - - - - - - reminiscence / Junya Oikawa+Takaharu Saito (CD/DVD) | Te pito records, Tokyo, Japan (2010) - - - - - - - - - -



Artist Interview / Conception
te pito Records (October.2012) / English translation: Penguin translation
*In japanese, http://www.te-pito-records.com/002interview.html

Junya Oikawa is the sound artist who is developing his wide range of activities such as participating internationally famous art festivals, presentation of commissioned works and so on, based in the ZKM in Germany.We have been trying to make an interview with him to ask about electro acoustic sound video titled “reminiscence”.

Q1: Please let us know about your current activities and the past music production including your encounter with music.
A1: I had been partly influenced by my parents, who are the music teachers, and I started playing classic-piano from a very young age, and played a guitar in a rock band when I was in my teens. Then I have studied theories and aesthetics of music in Senzoku Gakuen University of Music and started to pursue sound composition using recording technologies and digital tools. After the graduation, I had the opportunity to work together with contemporary artists in places like local area or the place close daily life, and “reminiscence” was produced at that time. I have entered graduate school of arts in Tokyo University of the Arts to develop my sound expression and after finishing my study, I moved to Germany in 2011 to start my artist activities in Europe.

Q2: The concept of the album is, “the poem with acoustic images writing about the memories of fictional person”. Tell us more about what make you to reach its concept and production.
A2: From around 2005, I have started to seek for the expression using sounds and other media technologies that let the space to be able to function as sensory organ.
“Reminiscence” was the installation work as the part of this project collaborating with my friend Takaharu Saito, and was first exhibited at Café Mozart Atelier in Sendai city in 2007. In this work, we defined the space as the organic “living body” and by producing its sense of memories with each media (sound and video) we extended and developed the transition of recollected narrative as complex spatial representation.
So this album can be said as the catalogue of our installation works, but series of narrative and its timeline are included without any change.

Q3: There are some keywords such as space and memory in the concept of the works,and how they are expressed in your sounds / music?
A3: Multiple of scenes appear in this story line: they are acoustic scenes expressed with melodies and harmonies that evoke the fragments of prologue and episodes, and sometimes, they are like recurred memories of sceneries from his journey. These express so-called auditory organs, which is, the function of the sound media to sense (musical) imagery space, real space (with acoustic scenery), and unreality (with abstract noises) in the exhibition space. For example, there is the scene where no image is reflected in the screen but acoustic scenery is reprised in the space, and this permits the exhibition space having the function to imagine the visual (reality) through auditory sense.

Q4: In your work, recorded real sounds (environmental sound, your own voices and so on) appear that are electrically processed in strict manners, and acoustic sounds (piano, harp) also appear, together they construct distinguishing and transparent organic world. In what point do you care about these “sound sources” and “composition”? And tell us the main feature of the work.
A4: The sounds that appear in this work are sorted into 5 categories (electro acoustic including instrumental sounds, footsteps, voices, abstract noises, soundscape), and these have the function to express “mobility” of the three spaces that I have talked about in the previous question. For example, footsteps represent the movement and presence of the body that is heading to the specific space, and “poem” that has no linguistic meaning transit each scene as narratives. Also, organic constitution of each sound and visual media deepens the functionality of each space by superficial structural experience.
So I would like the audience to experience the phenomenon in which distance perspective (tactile sense) of the steric consciousness formed from the shift of spaces develops as one big flow of narrative, memory, and fluent sensory journey.

Q5: You also deal with the spatial sound expression with sound installation. Tell us the ideal presentation form / style of the work.
A5: The work was created for the space of Café Mozart, so the best is to exhibit it in that place, but there are also other choices, and the presentation at the specific place like a church, abandoned building is also interesting for me, since it would create new interaction between the work and the place. For the presentation, it is the best to place a number of speakers and designate the performance duration. It also can be presented at the hall, and in that case the performer of the acousmonium would stay at the backyard, so he won’t become part of the work. This is to clarify the relationship between the concept of the works and each media, so to express phenomenon rising in the space.

|| All works list (*under construction)


Concert Piece (Name of the works/ Duration / Year )
0 ・Semi-improvisation - electronic sea for e.guitar + computer / imprivisation / 26min / 2016
1 ・Semi-improvisation - Internal Static for e.guitar + computer / improvisation / 28min / 2016 / (Edition 150 CDs)
2 ・Plastic Recollections 6 / 21min / 2015
3 ・Acoustic sketch 3 - for e.guitar with takataka-Crickets-Sound Installation / 18min / 2015
4 ・Acoustic sketch 2 - for e.guitar / 17min / 2015
5 ・Plastic Recollections 5 / 9min / 2014
6 ・Acoustic sketch 1 - lontano for el.guitar / 10:00 / 2014
7 ・Plastic Recollection 3 / Total Time 28:45 / November, 2013
8 ・tr.1 Gravitation of the Styrofoam / 14:20
9 ・tr.2 Whispers of the Styrofoam / 14:25
10 ・Bell Fantasia - acoustic scenery of the Schwäbisch Gmünd / Total Time 22min / July,2012
11・tr.1 Bell Strata / Time 4:40min
12・tr.2 Daily Scenery of the Schwaebisch Gmünd1 / Time 2:40min
13・tr.3 Tweeting Bell's Night / Time 3:30min
14・tr.4 Daily Scenery of the Schwaebisch Gmünd2 / Time 0:32min
15・tr.5 Wind Melody / Time 3:00min
16・tr.6 Bell Strata 2 / Time 6:30min
17・tr.7 Daily Scenery of the Schwaebisch Gmünd3 / Time 1:00
18 ・Growing Verse / Total Time 4:20 / June, 2012
19 ・Grau Traum / Total Time 7:00 / Mai, 2011
20 ・untitled for piano / Total Time 5:00 / Mai, 2011
21 ・voice spell concert ver. / Total Time 6:00 / 2009
22 ・thi th--i thi.. a.a. a..a....aa u e - - - - - -o / Total Time 3:30 / 2009
23 ・inner light / Total Time 10:00 / 2009
24 ・Blanc distance / Total Time 5:00 / 2008
25 ・reminiscence (acousmatic ver.) / Total Time 35:00 / 2007 | Released by Te pito Records (CD/DVD) / 2010
26 ・Wooe uoe e / Total Time 6:00 / 2007
27 ・Labile lip / Total Time 4:30 / 2007 | Released by Monochrome Vision / "XXXII Concorso Internationale Luigi Russolo" (CD) / 2010
28 ・Plastic Edges / Total time 3 min/ 2007-
29 ・tr.1 No1/ 60sec
30 ・tr.2 No2/ 60sec | Released by Taukay Edizioni Musicali / "FrammentAzioni"(DVD) / 2008
31 ・tr.3 No3/ 60sec
32 ・Plastic Recollections 2 / Total Time 11:00 / 2007
33 ・Flat sky (acousmatic ver.) / Total Time 16:40 / 2007
34 ・internal pulses / Total Time 13:25 / 2007
35 ・Fairy of white / Total Time 4:40 / 2007
36 ・Parhelion~ice-crystal and light / Total Time 7:00 / 2006
37 ・Eclipse / Total Time 8:00 / 2006 | Released by Musiques & Recherches / "Metamorphoses 2006"(CD) / 2007
38 ・Plastic Recollections1 / Total Time 11:00 / 2005
39 ・Spice / Total Time 3:00 / 2005
40 ・Pleiades / Total time 1:20 / 2004
41 ・Arc / Total Time 2:30 / 2003

Sound Installation (Name of the works/ Duration/ year/ material/ place)
1 ・Link to Landscape - No.1 / Time variable / Acoustic object type1 / surround system / 2017 -
2 ・Voice Landscape - Water Drops / Time variable / 2-channel surround system / 2014
3 ・Voice Landscape - Labile Lip - Insect / Time variable / multi-channel surround system / 2013
4 ・Voice Landscape - Labiel Lip - Water Whisper / Time variable / 1ch sound system / 2013
5 ・Voice Landscape - ta ka ta ka Crickets / Time variable / multi-channel surround system / 2013
6 ・Voice Landscape - Aerial Whisper / Time variable / 1ch sound system / 2013
7 ・Voice Landscape - Transcription of the Whispers / Time variable / multi-channel surround system / 2013
8 ・Voice Landscape - electro bird/ Time variable / multi-channel surround system / 2012 - 2013
9 ・Nuit composition / Total Time 2:00 / 5ch surround system / 2011
10 ・Transform my voice / Total Time 4:00 / 6.1ch surround system / 2010
11・Passing wind across the light / Total Time 2:00 / stereo sound system / 2009

Organon Project (Name of the works/ Duration/ year/):
1 ・ORGANON | performer + sound (composition/direction:Junya Oikawa, Parformer:Tatsuya Nakamura / 30min / 2006)
2 ・Reminiscence | movie + sound (composition/direction:Junya Oikawa, Movie:Takaharu Saito / 30min / 2007) | Released by Te pito Records (CD/DVD) / 2010
3 ・Flat sky | movie + sound (composition/direction:Junya Oikawa, Movie:Takaharu Saito / 17min / 2006)
4 ・Lost body | performer + sound (Composition/Performer: Junya Oikawa / 14min / 2009)

Community Art / Multimedia installation (Name of the works/ Duration/ year/)
1 ・Locus Terribilis with Nicolas Buffe and LM3LABS (Direction and Art Design: Nicolas Buffe / Programing: LM3LABS / Sound Design, Composition: Junya Oikawa / 2014)
2 ・Aquarium Resonance (Variable time / Direction, Art Design Programing: Digi Craft / 3D Sound Design, Automatic-Composition-Program:Junya Oikawa / 2007)
3 ・minimini Illuminations (Direction JUKA, Sound Design and sound composition: Junya Oikawa / 2009)

Interaction system for a musical communication
1 ・Growing Verse no.1 (Variable time / Original object / surround system / 2007~ / premiere:2016 )

Other works (as a guitarist / arranger )
1 ・Popular music | CD "Life" (Singer: NoBoRu / Musical arrange and programing / Released by iTune / Tr.1, Tr.7, Tr.11 / 2012 )
2 ・Contemporary | CD "VIRTUAL RESONANCE" (composer: Asako Miyaki / electronic Guitar:Junya Oikawa | Released by te pito records / CD tr1 and tr5, DVD tr4 / 2009)
3 ・Study | for String Quartet (Composition:Oikawa, Srtings : TOHO GAKUEN SCHOOL OF MUSIC / 2006)
4 ・Rock band | Compilation CD "CANNONBALL vol 1" - Destiny (Music: ze零ro, arrange of piano and programing | Released by Nippon Crown / CD Tr.2 / 2004)
5 ・Rock band | CD "闇と月" (Music: Luinspear / arrange of lead-guitar as support guitarist | Released by independent (Only 2000 copies), CD Tr2. Tr.3 / 2001)
6 ・Rock band | tera (Composition, Arrange / el.guitar / piano: Junya Oikawa / 1999 )


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