Nothing aiming is a splinter
[performance]
taikos: Stephanie Pan
live electronics, programming: Stelios Manousakis
Center no Distractor is an explosion of movement, physicality and gritty, thumping beats, for taiko and live electronics. Performances are simultaneously a concert, an exploration of sound and body, a visual spectacle; it is dance for the ears, the body, the eyes and the mind.
A truly contemporary collaboration, Center no Distractor re-contextualizes the taiko in a digital environment while retaining the essence of its aesthetic, athletic and musical qualities. This meld creates a visceral, industrial, post-primal/post-digital experience – an immersive and intense performance full of evolving soundscapes and fine detail, throbbing percussion, gut-moving bass, and turbulent oceans of sound.
The Reciprocal /
Visceral Body
Center no Distractor’s physicality, for both the performers and viewers alike, reflects a need to feel our bodies in a concrete and visceral way, in a world where physical labor, physical pain, is sublimated and outsourced. The performers and public share together a completely non-verbal, primal experience, through the physicality of thumping, heavy soundwaves, witnessing intense physical effort, and the resulting exchange of energy and feedback.
BIOS
Stephanie Pan and Stelios Manousakis have been collaborating together since 2005. Projects include: a duo for voice and live electronics; Computer Aided Breathing, a live improv trio for voice, organ and live electronics with organist Kirstin Gramlich; co-composers for film, including experimental documentary film Reformation by Jeanette Groenendaal; Center no Distractor, a new duo for taiko and live electronics; and their newest project, as founders and curators of the Modern Body Festival.
Stephanie Pan (US/NL) is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, performance artist and maker based in The Hague. A mutating combination of theater / performance art / experimental/pop/classical music / improvisation / controlled chaos, her work is visceral, passionate and intense, often exploring the limits of body and voice. She performs throughout the US and Europe, presenting work in theatres, musea, venues and festivals. Ms. Pan received her Masters in Theatre from DasArts: Advanced Studies in the Performing Arts (AHK), and holds a BA from UC Berkeley in Music and Applied Mathematics, and a First Phase Diploma, with distinction, in Classical Singing from The Royal Conservatory, The Hague.
www.stephaniepan.com
Stelios Manousakis (GR/NL) is a composer, performer, researcher and sound artist. Stelios operates in the convergence zones between art and science, composition, performance and installation, Western art music and ‘digital folk’ idioms. He applies complexity science, cybernetic and biology-inspired models to generate novel musical systems and sound synthesis methods, often merging algorithmic finesse with the expressivity of improvisation or the immediacy of audience participation. His work has been shown in various venues & festivals in Europe and the Americas. He received his Masters from the Institute of Sonology in The Hague and is currently finishing a PhD at the Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) in Seattle, USA.
www.modularbrains.net