Matthew Ostrowski (US)
Electronic Music Without Loudspeakers
It's axiomatic that a computer is able to create any sound that a loudspeaker can make. But what about making computer music with acoustic sound sources?
What is the relationship between an algorithm and a sound-producing object, theoretically, aesthetically, and culturally? Ostrowski explores these questions in the context of some of his recent work, which use arrays of quotidian objects in generative composition/installations.
A New York City native, Matthew Ostrowski is a composer, improviser and installation artist. Using digital tools and formalist techniques to engage with quotidian materials -- sonic, physical, and cultural -- Ostrowski explores the liminal space between the virtual and phenomenological worlds. Engaged with tropes of interruption and flux, his works function as environments in a constant state of change, exploring the process of consciousness in its constant state of collision with the world.
His work includes live digital solo and ensemble improvisation, multichannel fixed-media electronic compositions, and algorithmically-generated installation pieces for video, multichannel sound, and robotically-controlled objects.
Ostrowski's productions have been seen on six continents, including the Wien Modern Festival, Transmediale and Maerz Musik in Berlin,the Kraków Audio Art Festival, Sonic Acts in Amsterdam, PS 1 and The Kitchen in New York, the Rencontres Internationales video festival in Madrid, Unyazi in Johannesburg, and Yokohama's dis_locate festival.