Apophenia by Robin Meier Wiratunga
A neuroscientist, a dancer, a pigeon fancier and a string trio weave neuronal patterns in the brain with patterns of bird flocks, dance, music and language. Neuromancer meets Ornithomancer.
Composition: Robin Meier Wiratunga
String Trio:
Anouck Genthon, Violin
Anna-Kaisa Meklin, Viola da Gamba
Brice Catherin, 5-stringed Cello
Choreography: Stephen Thompson
Curation: Laurence Wagner
Neuroscientist: Emma Ducos
Pigeon keeper: Marius Stritt
Artwork by Varundo in Kolkata, India
http://robinmeier.net/?p=24238
huhuhu.bancamp.com
hu085
Tracklist
| 1. | Apophenia | 37:31 |
Credits
released March 19, 2025
Apophenia is a sound composition derived from an eponymous performance presented at the Belluard Bollwerk Festival in 2021. The piece begins with sounds generated from the artist's brain activity, captured as he attempts to imagine a melodic chord played in a specific tuning. This introspective opening gives way to the main body of the work, characterised by slow, layered drones from strings, synthesizers, granular textures of sand, and the crackle of radio static. The composition concludes with the recording of live pigeons, carrying small flutes, taking flight. Their movements produce a multilayered harmonic texture, again accompanied by the string trio and sounds from around the farm.
"For the last decade or so, artist and composer Robin Meier Wiratunga has been working with different animal intelligences and presences, choreographing and orchestrating ravens, fireflies, insects and musicians in his unexpected and inspiring sound work.
A project by Trajal Harrell led to an encounter with artist and performer Stephen Thompson. Apophenia – Meaningful Connections between Unrelated Things is born of this friendship. It is a locus for generating new constellations of sound and movement and a means of experimenting with our understanding of the world through the prism of neuroscience and bird flight.
Could their patterns of flight be the neuronal pathways of the thinking universe? Apophenia is a performance for a scientist, a dancer, musicians and carrier pigeons."
Laurence Wagner, Director Belluard Bollwerk Festival
Bio:
Artist composer, Robin Meier Wiratunga tries to understand thought in humans, insects, swarms and machines. With a bag of tricks from sound and science he composes thinking tools he never quite manages to master. In multi-year collaborations he reveals the songs of mosquitoes, choreographs ants and lets pigeons play the flute.
Referred to as “Artist of the future” (le Monde), “Maestro of the swarm” (Nature) or simply “pathetic” (Vimeo) his investigations have been show at Palais de Tokyo, Centre Pompidou, Shanghai Biennale and Colomboscope Sri Lanka amongst others.
As a musician and producer Meier Wiratunga has collaborated with Björk, Pierre Huyghe, Deena Abdelwahed and many others. He works with IRCAM Centre Pompidou in Paris since many years and teaches Sound Arts at the HKB University of the Arts in Bern. He is a fellow of the Instituto Svizzero in Rome and a resident of Arts at CERN.
Apophenia is a sound composition derived from an eponymous performance presented at the Belluard Bollwerk Festival in 2021. The piece begins with sounds generated from the artist's brain activity, captured as he attempts to imagine a melodic chord played in a specific tuning. This introspective opening gives way to the main body of the work, characterised by slow, layered drones from strings, synthesizers, granular textures of sand, and the crackle of radio static. The composition concludes with the recording of live pigeons, carrying small flutes, taking flight. Their movements produce a multilayered harmonic texture, again accompanied by the string trio and sounds from around the farm.
"For the last decade or so, artist and composer Robin Meier Wiratunga has been working with different animal intelligences and presences, choreographing and orchestrating ravens, fireflies, insects and musicians in his unexpected and inspiring sound work.
A project by Trajal Harrell led to an encounter with artist and performer Stephen Thompson. Apophenia – Meaningful Connections between Unrelated Things is born of this friendship. It is a locus for generating new constellations of sound and movement and a means of experimenting with our understanding of the world through the prism of neuroscience and bird flight.
Could their patterns of flight be the neuronal pathways of the thinking universe? Apophenia is a performance for a scientist, a dancer, musicians and carrier pigeons."
Laurence Wagner, Director Belluard Bollwerk Festival
Bio:
Artist composer, Robin Meier Wiratunga tries to understand thought in humans, insects, swarms and machines. With a bag of tricks from sound and science he composes thinking tools he never quite manages to master. In multi-year collaborations he reveals the songs of mosquitoes, choreographs ants and lets pigeons play the flute.
Referred to as “Artist of the future” (le Monde), “Maestro of the swarm” (Nature) or simply “pathetic” (Vimeo) his investigations have been show at Palais de Tokyo, Centre Pompidou, Shanghai Biennale and Colomboscope Sri Lanka amongst others.
As a musician and producer Meier Wiratunga has collaborated with Björk, Pierre Huyghe, Deena Abdelwahed and many others. He works with IRCAM Centre Pompidou in Paris since many years and teaches Sound Arts at the HKB University of the Arts in Bern. He is a fellow of the Instituto Svizzero in Rome and a resident of Arts at CERN.
License
All rights reserved.
