Cine-Concert Refraction
A live cine-concert
“Refraction” is a musical concert in combination with cinema screening. The selected cinematic works represent an experimental/abstract approach to motion pictures and visual story-telling from the 1920s, which correlates well with the sound artists' musical practices. Handpicked with a view to highlighting each artist's favored sonic landscapes and also in consideration of Manzi Art Space's architectural sphere, these films open new horizons, thus entertain endless possibilities of audiovisual improbability, where no room is given to common rationale, and everything is left to imagination.Unlike the polished and highly acclaimed frames from then-veteran directors, the selected works are fabricated by juvenile filmmakers in their mid-20s, enchanted by Paris's liberating atmosphere and cavalierism during the Lost Generation. Their lively vigor manifests in their ‘out-of-orbit' audiovisual celebration, and vivid imagination that ignited the surrealism movement in both cinema and art alike. This concert thus aims to enliven the essence of these nostalgic yet revitalizing motion pictures through evocative sonic storytelling, taking the audience on a surrealistic journey through the window sills and beyond the limit of space.
Programme
A. Solo sets
a. Lý Trang (7’) : Germaine Dulac - The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928)
b. Trâm Anh (9’)
+ Channel 1: Franciszka & Stefan Themerson - The Eye and the Ear (Oko i Ucho) (1945)
+ Channel 2: Germaine Dulac - Étude Cinégraphique sur une Arabesque (1929)
c. Nhung Nguyễn (8’)
+ Channel 1: Fernand Léger - Ballet Mecanique (1924)
+ Channel 2:
* Man Ray - Le Retour à la Raison (1923)
* Hans Richter - Filmstudie (1926)
* Hans Richter - Inflation (1927)
B. Group performance
- Cinq Minutes de Cinema Pur (Henri Chomette - 1926)
- Hans Richter - Rhythmus 21
- Hans Richter - Rhythmus 23
This event is part of Manzi's cine concert programme in 2020 which combines silent film screenings and live music performance.
Manzi's art programme is supported by Goethe Institut.
Communications partner Hanoi Grapevine
ABOUT ARTISTS
Ho Tram Anh
Ho Tram Anh is a Hanoi-based independent singer-songwriter, pianist, and composer with various projects under her belt. She performs solo as herself, and under her other aliases MonA and Anaiis. She was previously active as the bassist/vocalist of the shoegaze/dreampop band The Veranda (now on hiatus). Tram Anh has also collaborated with various other artists in dark ambient/experimental projects, most notably with the sound artist/sound designer Nhung Nguyen (Sound Awakener) as a duo titled Oblivia. Her works explore a range of acoustic and electronic music, including lyrically oriented piano pieces with dark, pensive themes as a result of her classical training background, and elements of spatial, dreamy drones, synthesizers and field recordings. Tram Anh’s works have been featured in releases by Rusted Tone Recordings, a UK independent label specialized in experimental and ambient music. Her notable works are collaborations with sound artists Gallery Six, Sound Awakener and James Armstrong in the LP “These Cyan Fantasies”, and singles “Anomaly” and “Into the White Walls”. Tram Anh has also recently played in experimental live shows, notably the live show “Mutant Onions” jointly organized and curated by The Onion Cellar and Mutant Lounge in June 2020.
Trang Ly
Trang Ly is a sound designer and composer whose work explores artistic versatility and alternative approaches to creativity. She creates sounds by taking advantage of technology – in tandem with instruments and field recordings of traditional music and nature, which are rich in textures, progress and singularity. Wildly inventive and philosophically intuitive, Trang’s work opens a door to illusion of images and colors, originated from imaginary visualizations that she finds as cultural substratum. Trang has worked extensively with sound/visual artists and independent filmmakers in Vietnam and internationally is a sound designer and composer whose work explores artistic versatility and alternative approaches to creativity. She creates sounds by taking advantage of technology – in tandem with instruments and field recordings of traditional music and nature, which are rich in textures, progress and singularity. Wildly inventive and philosophically intuitive, Trang’s work opens a door to illusion of images and colors, originated from imaginary visualizations that she finds as cultural substratum. Trang has worked extensively with sound/visual artists and independent filmmakers in Vietnam and internationally
Nhung Nguyen
Nhung Nguyen is an emerging Vietnamese sound artist currently based in Hanoi, experimenting across a range of left-field aesthetics and expressions – ambient drone, electro acoustic, noise music, musique concrete, amongst others.
Since 2014 Nhung has been making works under the moniker Sound Awakener – and under her real name, for the more cinematic, piano-driven projects. She has worked with international labels such as Time Released Sound (US), Unknown Tones Records (US), Soft (France), Flaming Pines (UK), Fluid Audio (UK), Syrphe (Germany).
In addition to her solo work, Nhung has collaborated with artists from various other disciplines, often adding audio elements to visual experiences. Nhung’s music and sounds have appeared in exhibitions such as Le Giang’s D'eau et de verdure (2020, Hanoi), Vo Tran Chau’s 'Leaf Picking in the Ancient Forest' (HCMC, 2020), Phan Thao Nguyen’s Poetic Amnesia (HCMC and Hanoi, 2017), the public-art initiatives Into Thin Air (2016) and Into Thin Air 2 (2018) – both in Hanoi, Richard Streimatter-Tran’s Departures (Hong Kong, 2017), amongst others. As a composer for moving image, Nhung has also worked on music compositions for short films (e.g. Sala – dir. Funk Brothers, Long Departure – dir. David Ellis, Lucidity – dir. Jeff Zorrilla).