Federated States of Micronesia - short excerpts

Federated States of Micronesia (17'05" - 2010)
This piece mixing field recordings with electroacoustics was partly prepared through a series of chance operations. The name of geographic coordinates, for instance, were picked at random to generate the haunting litany of scattered places. Premiered at the [sonor] Festival 2010 (Lieu Unique, Nantes, FR), part of the sound was recorded and treated on location before the semi-improvised performance. 


Federated States of Micronesia (1min exerpt)

Get Rid of these rubber noises (13'34" - 2008)
In 2008, OttoannA decided to create a series of tracks using sketchbooks as scores. Over a few months they wrote down and drew whatever came across their daily routine that was linked to a sonic experience. This particular piece/title came from a scene directly witnessed by the duo: A young artist was playing one of his works in progress to an older composer, asking for advice. With the authority of his experience and status, the latter took the reins of the artistic directions The main demand was to “get rid of these rubber noises”. Feeling sorry for the young composer and the dismissed sounds, OttoannA decided to dedicate a piece to both of them. During the premiere of the piece at the Simultania Gallery (Strasbourg, FR), snapshots of the sketchbooks/scores were projected behind the performers.

Get Rid of These Rubber Noises (1min exerpt)

Golstrasse (11'56' - 2005)
This is an early OttoannA piece, primarily based on an old Chinese proverb stating that "memory paints with a golden brush”. In 2005, the duo was invited by the MU Collective to run a workshop with the people of la Goutte d’Or district in Paris(Gold Drop in French, hence the dual reference). The recordings were conducted through a collective performance. Participants were set up in a DIY trance inducing device and instructed to remember and narrate a familiar itinerary from their past, trying to be as factual as possible. The process resulted in an eerie static journey as the drowsy narrators’ voices float upon a drony background (composed afterwards). 

Goldtrasse (1min excerpt)

How Am I Going to Close (1min exerpt)

OttoannA

Sound Performance duo (Rodolphe Alexis and Valérie Vivancos) based in Paris and active since 2004. Their semi-improvised sets merge multiple genres such as field recordings, sound collages, fragmented narratives, electroacoustics and electronic synthesis to create an unfolding mindscape. Interested in processes, over the years, they have experimented with compositional protocols and devices including a software isolating the poetic phrases of TV news, recording volunteers under semi-hypnosis, doing personalised one-to-one DJsets, composing around the tale of a man struck by lightening, transporting street sounds with ghetto-blasters from the streets of Paris to those of New York, playing hardly audible sets hidden in a cupboard... Besides, through their publishing and curating activities (under the Double-Entendre umbrella), their ear has become attuned to the possibilities and limitations of fixed aesthetic genres. The individual practices of the two protagonists (field recordings for Alexis and writing protocols for Vivancos) have equally enriched the duo’s audio signature. 

Since 2004, OttoannA, have performed in a wide range of events, venues and festivals in France and abroad including the Bridge Festival (BG), Leroy Neiman Gallery, Columbia (NYC), International Exhibitionist (London), Citysonics (Mons), Camberwell College of Arts (Londres), Territoires Electroniques (Aix en Provence), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), CNEAI/Point FMR (Paris), ElectroCNAM (Paris), La Force de l’Art - Grand Palais (Paris), Kontakt Sonores (Chalon), Planétarium - Lieu Multiple (Poitiers), Stimultania (Strasbourg), Sonor - Le lieu Unique (Nantes), La Générale (Paris), Apo 33 (Nantes), Ballades Sonores, La Gaité Lyrique (Paris), MUDAM (Luxembourg), Présences Electronique (paris).

Rodolphe Alexis
(French b1975) – His work is based on field recording, electroacoustic composition, radio pieces and site-specific installations or performances. From 2008 onwards he began developing a personal approach towards bioacoustics and phonography. His interest in anthropology and biodiversity has increasingly led him to question how human activity impacts our environment. As a sound recordist and sound designer he is currently working for motion design productions, corporate videos, TV documentaries, institutional structures and Museums. He has released 2 records on Gruenrekorder.

Valérie Vivancos
Born in France in the 70s, Valérie Vivancos sailed the Anglo-Saxon artistic and musical currents for 11 years. She graduated from Chelsea School of Art whilst regularly DJaying adventurous music. She has since created conceptual sonic projects such as a Psychocosmetic experience in San Francisco, a participative performance on silence in Rio, a Sleep in Opera in a bunker of Copenhagen, a soundtrack for an underwater bus journey in Liverpool, red-light-district sounds for the Palais de Tokyo’s answering machine and a voice-based electrocacoustic trilogy featured on the French national radio.... Her span at the Ina-GRM offered further training with renowned acousmatic composers and expanded her technical approach of sound. Applying contemporary art concepts to experimental music, she creates composition protocols that interweave life and fiction.  


A selection of OttoannA's past events :

2014 - Live performance at  Presences Electronique - 104, Paris
2014 - Release of debut album “Federated States of Micronesia
2013 - Live performance at MUDAM, Museum of Modern Art, Luxembourg
2012 - Live performance at APO 33, Nantes
2010 - Track on ESSMAA - Sampler, Paris 
2010 - Live performance at Paris SonicFestival - Jardins d’Alice - Paris
2010 - Live performance at Micro Clima Festival - Lieu Multiple – Poitiers
2010 - Live performance at Sonor  Festival- Lieu Unique - Nantes
2009 - Live performance at Salon Light 6 CNEAI - Point FMR - Paris
2009- Live performance at “A la recherches des ondes Pérdues” - Popsonics - Mains d’Oeuvres - Saint Ouen
2009 - Live performance at Festival Kontact Sonores - Chalon sur Saône
2008 - Live performance at  Electrocnam Festival - CNAM – Paris
2008 - Track on Citysonics #6 sampler – Mons, BE
2008 - Live performance at Promenades Audoniennes Festival - Saint Ouen
2008 - Live performance at Bridge Festival - Roussé (Ruse) - BG
2008 - Live performance at Citysonics Festival - Mons - BE
2008 - Live performance at  Stimultania - Strasbourg.
2007 - Live performance at Mediathèque Blaise Cendrars - Conflans-Sainte-Honorine
2007 - Track diffusion "Correspondances" curated by François Martig - Recycl'art Bruxelles, BE
2007 - Live performance at Sweet sixteen - Palais de Tokyo - Paris
2007 - Live performance at - Espace Mendès France – Poitiers
2007 - Live performance at Soirées HEAVEN - OPA - Paris
2006 - Live performance at  5 ans Project 101 Festival, Paris
2006 - Live performance at “Des Monts de la Lune” - Collectif MU /Sound drop (Paris, Nuit Blanche)
2006 - Track diffusion - “New York radio Scan” - Music for bats in Night of the arts, Cable Factory - Helsinki, Finland 
2006 - Live performance - Formalités, curated by Julia Varga, La Générale, Paris
2006 - Installation  - “Mended Soliloquy” - Royal Wedding Expanded, Console, Paris
2006 - Live performance - Vibrö Day - Trioletto - Montpellier
2006 - Commission “New York radio Scan” Music for homepage - Centre D’art Virtuel, Synesthésie, Paris
2006 - Live performance - “Blue - Red Sound Travels” - Leroy Neiman Gallery - Columbia University - NYC, US
2005 - Live performance at Project 101, Paris
2005 - Live performance at  Nuits Malaval - Palais de Tokyo - Paris
2005 - Live performance at International Exhibitionist event - Curzon Soho - London, UK
2005 - Live performance - Le Placard - Glassbox, Paris
2005 - Live performance at Territoires electroniques 05, Cité du Livre, Aix-en-Provence
2005 - Photographic fiction “Missing Pavel” by Véronique Hubert, Paris
2004 - Live performance - HERE - Curated by Claudia Wegener - Camberwell College of Arts - London, UK
2004 - Live performance - Hong-Kong Vu de la mer -Console, Paris
2004 - Live performance - Tohu-Bohu1 - Console, Paris