HENRIK HELLSTENIUS

Research  Pavilion: Utopia of Access  Sala del Camino, Venice

Asamisimasa with Johannes Kreidler, Matthew Shlomowitz and Henrik Hellstenius: Music with the Real

Clarinet – Kristine Tjøgersen, guitar – Anders Førisdal, percussion – Håkon Stene,  piano – Ellen Ugelvik, cello – Tanja Orning.

The Artistic Research Project departs from a current critical debate that “Klangrecherche” – the search for new musical sounds – is over. There has been a growing fatigue in the field of New Music, due to strong focus on musical material, not its context. Music with the Real consists of a group of composers and one performer that have a renewed interest in dealing with “reality” and the new ways it presents itself for us through digitalisation and new technology. The composers and musicians aim at shifting focus from pure abstract sound design towards engaging in a dialogue with familiar surroundings, engaging in the prosaic, the political and the concrete elements of our everyday culture. The outcome of the project aims to develop compositional and performance-related practices through cross-media works integrating audio and visual samples.

The pavilion hosts three international exhibitions and nearly 50 cross-artistic Camino Events by artists from European art universities. Under the title The Utopia of Access, the Research Pavilion wants to give room for a variety of artistic interpretations and viewpoints involving access-oriented thought, in particular by connecting it with aesthetic, scientific and political perspectives.