MATA Interval 2.1
Music of the Dublin collective Grúpat
Performed by Object Collection and curator Jennifer Walshe
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Doors Open at 8PM
Issue Project Room
@ The (OA) Can Factory
232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
map & travel info
For additional info, incl. audio and video, please visit the Interval blog
Brooklyn, NY - At ISSUE Project Room on September 17, MATA kicks off the second season of its bi-monthly series Interval with a program of music by the radical and enigmatic South Dublin collective Grúpat. Curated by Irish vocalist and composer Jennifer Walshe, Grúpat's greatest champion, Interval 2.1 features the collective's eclectic blend of textural and playful music, performed by Ms. Walshe and up-and-coming New York interdisciplinary group Object Collection.
Program Info
The Grúpat collective, comprised mainly of artists living in the South Dublin County Council area of Ireland, is a political and artistic group based on the ideas of the Situationists, graffiti artists, direct action networks, and others, which they called “The Avant Gardaí.” Grúpat works primarily in sound, with work ranging from strictly-notated compositions for classic ensembles to graphic scores, sonic sculptures, sound installations and interventions in both the public and private sphere. These facts sometimes make it difficult to determine exactly who or what is in Grúpat. Notable members, however, include Bulletin M, The Parks Service, Detleva Verens, Ukeoirn O’Connor, Flor Hartigan and O’Brien Industries. This sub-set of Grúpat often exhibit under the name “6by4” a reference to the Parisian composers known as “Les Six” and the postcode Dublin 24, in which they all reside.
Vocalist and composer Jennifer Walshe has been working closely with members of Grúpat as a commissioner and curator since their inception. She has commissioned a number of works for solo voice which she has premiered to critical acclaim at concerts in the Kilkenny Arts Festival (Ireland), the Museum of Arts and Design (New York), Tmu-na Theatre (Israel) and Frau Musica Nova (Germany). Grúpat members have exploited Walshe’s commitment to non-traditional musical notation by writing pieces for her voice which incorporate photographs of the landscape around Tallaght, embroidered pictures from the Tallaght Echo and diagrams of the sky over South Dublin County into their scores. These unusual notational methods have garnered much interest for Grúpat members’ work - Three Songs by Ukeoirn O’Connor, Scintillia Studies by Detleva Verens and Whives by Flor Hartigan were exhibited in the Museum of Arts and Design, New York in November 2007.
For her performance of Grúpat works during Interval 2.1, Walshe will be joined in by members of Object Collection. Founded in 2004 by multidisciplinary artist Kara Feely and composer/instrumentalist Travis Just, Object Collection is a collaborative theater-music performance group solidly rooted in the experimental tradition. Their dedication to new artistic work in hybrid forms, including the use of found sound, is perfectly suited to the work of Grúpat artists and their common aesthetic.
About MATA Interval
The September 17 program at ISSUE marks the opening of MATA Interval's second season of programs. Started during the 2007-08 season, Interval is a bi-monthly concert series dedicated to small-scale performances by emerging performers and composers based in New York City. The intimate scale encourages participants to take risks and push the limits of their work, thereby ensuring that MATA stays on the cutting edge of the new music community.
In its first season Interval debuted to great acclaim, selling out nearly every concert event. Highlights included a night of video and electronic works curated by composer Zach Layton, a performance by Flux Quartet curated by cellist Ha-Yang Kim, and a night of electro-acoustic performances by members of the performance collective Symbol, curated by composer Mario Diaz de Leon. In the 2008-2009 season MATA Interval will expand to include five concerts, each produced by a participant in the Curatorial Associate Program.
About MATA
For the past ten years, MATA has been dedicated to commissioning and presenting works by young composers from around the world. MATA's directors are motivated by a desire to create community among young musicians, especially those whose work defies definition and doesn't fit into existing institutions. By providing young composers with a professional performance of their work, access to first-rate performers and valuable connections to colleagues, MATA nurtures their entry into American musical life.
