Martin Riches
Born 1942, Isle of Wight, UK
1960 - 68 studied architecture
1965 began working as an architect
1969 moved to Berlin,
1973 first one-man show,
Since 1978 he has worked exclusively as an artist.
Numerous exhibitions and concerts in Germany and elsewhere.
Martin Riches belongs to that category of sound artists who do not use loudspeakers.
He is best known for his electro-mechanical sound installations, automatic musical instruments and machines that talk and sing in the same way as a human being - with air and resonant cavities. Other interests include CNC, crystal set radio, cryptography, clocks, hang gliders and kites.

Collaborations

He often works closely with musicians and composers. He worked for many years with the late Eberhard Blum and has collaborated with Roland Pfrengle, Schaun Tozer, Tom Johnson, Adam Boome, Aleksander Kolkowski, Natalia Pschnitschnikowa, Masahiro Miwa, Mia Zabelka, Jost Muxfeldt, Ute Wassermann, Tomomi Adachi, Makiko Nishikaze, Suguru Goto and Jei Man.

Electronics

Although he usually designs and builds electronic circuits and programs microprocessors and computers himself, some projects would have been impossible without electronic design and production by real experts: Roland Pfrengle, Dipl.Ing.Manfred Fox, Dipl.Ing.Gottfried Müller, Sukandar Kartadinata, Jost Muxfeldt, Yuichi Matsumoto, Yu Takahashi, johnsmith and Torsten Jähring. The playing mechanisms and many of the instruments, he designs and makes himself.

Support

Curators, reporters and promoters, some not mentioned elsewhere, include Anselm Dreher, Jasia Reichardt, Rene Block, Rolf Langebartels, Susken Rosenthal and Benoit Maubrey, Carsten Seiffarth, Markus Steffens, Rene van Peer, Andreas Oldörp, Dr. Andrea Jahn, Ferdinand Mesarosch, Klaus Hoffmann, Mikolaj Polinski, Hannah Bosma, John Driscoll, Maria and Vadim Zakharow, Veronika Witte ... and others, who prefer to remain anonymous.

Biography

The following list of events gets added to as the events occur and they have not yet been sorted out into separate categories like one-person shows, group shows, concerts, broadcasts or publications.
If you scroll down there are pictures and more information.

1973 Objekte, Texte, Kompositionen, Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin,
            with Eberhard Blum, flutes: Roland Pfrengle, electronics: Helmuth Krauss, voice.
1978 Machines, Galerie Andre, Berlin.
1980 Écoutez par les Yeux, Musée de la Ville de Paris.
         Theobald Boehm, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, with Eberhard Blum and others
1981 Music-, Percussion- and Time Machines, Galerie Andre, Berlin.
1982 Workshop: Mit Klang, Installation, Flute Playing Machine, Galerie Giannozzo, Berlin
1983 Music Machines, Institute of Contemporary Art, London,
            with Eberhard Blum and Roland Pfrengle.
         Klangaktion Museum Ludwig, Köln, with Eberhard Blum
         Concerto Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Kulturhuset, Stockholm;
            Stedlijke Museum, Amsterdam; Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
            with Eberhard Blum and Roland Pfrengle.
1984 Sprachen der Künste, Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
         Sound, Museum für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Basel
1985 Inventionen, Berlin, 3 Installationen mit Klangobjekte.
         Klangskulptur, Frankfurt, Bonn und Würzburg.
         Visuele Musiek Zesdaagse, Shaffy Theater, Amsterdam
         A Noise in Your Eye!, an international exhibition of sound sculpture
            Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol; Mapin Gallery, Sheffield; Huddersfield City Art Gallery
         Piece for Four Radios, Sprengel Museum, Hannover
         Concert with Music Machines with Tom Johnson, Ballhaus Naunenstrasse / RIAS
1986 A Noise in Your Eye! Cornerhouse, Manchester; Barbican Centre, London.
         Machine Dance, installation for the Production Technology Center,
            Frauenhofer Gesellschaft (PTZ), Technical University, Berlin
         Bericht '85. Staatliche Kunsthalle, Berlin.
         A Salute to Helga Retzer, DAAD Galerie, Berlin.
         Station Berlin, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin.
         Experimentelle Musik, im Loft, München,
1987 Echo Festival, The Images of Sound, Het Apollohuis, Eindhoven.
         Concert with Music Machines, Stichtung Logos, Ghent
1988 Wolfram Erber, Martin Riches. Kutscherhaus, Berlin.
1989 Musik und Raum, Institut für Neue Musik, Orangerie, Darmstadt
         Kinetische Kunst, Europäische Patentamt, München.
         Stationen der Musikalische Moderne Berlinische Galerie
1990 Spring Works, New York Hall of Science.
         Muzika, Akademie der Künste, Hauptstadt der DDR
         Berliner Kunststücke, Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig.
         Die Neue Berliner Galerie, Berlin Hauptstadt der DDR.
         Biennale, Museum of Modern Art, Nagoya, Japan.
1991 Mit Anderen Ohren, Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin.
         Muzyka bez granic, Warszawa
         Berlin! und Berlin Sound Works Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.
         Concert, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover
1992 Man & Machines at the End of the 20th Century,
            Art and Robotics at Nagashima Onsen, Japan.  500,000 visitors in 4 months
         Radio and Tape Installation, Brecht Zentrum, Berlin.
         Experimentelle Musik, TU Mensa, München
1993 Interface 2, Computergestüzte Visionen, Hamburg.
         Die Zukunft des Hörens, Berlinische Galerie.
         The New York School, Hebbel Theater, Berlin.
         Maschinen! Musik!, Museum der Bildende Künste, Leipzig.
         Multiple Arts, Maastricht.
         Logische Musik, Podewil, Berlin.
         Mediale, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg.
         Atelier de Creation Radiophonique, Paris, theme music: Tom Johnson
         Kopfhören, Radio DRS, Bern, theme music: Tom Johnson
1994 Klingende Dinge, Schloss Ottenstein, Österreich.
         Lento, Kunsthaus Essen.
         Pfeifen in Walde, Podewil, Berlin; 1997 in Luzern.
         Musica Mechanica, Musiktage, Donaueschingen.
         Linear Percussion, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, music by Tom Johnson.
         A Talk about Talking, text: Martin Riches, music: Tom Johnson. Radio ORF
1995 Time Machine, British Museum, London; Museo Egizio, Torino.
         The Machines, electrum museum, Hamburg.
1996 MotorMouth, Freunde Gute Musik, Berlin.
         Baitz mit Klang, Sound Art Festival in the Mark Brandenburg.
         Installation, Sender Freies Berlin in Sonambiente, Festival for Eyes and Ears.
         Martin Riches: The Machines: Hanns Zischler, Radio SFB3 / DeutschlandRadio
1997 Lange Nacht der Museen, Berlinische Galerie Postführamt
         In Medias Res, Photography and other Media Art from Berlin, Istanbul.
         In Medias Res, Cuba-Cultur, Munster.(no connection with the above!)
         Schall und Rauch, Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
1999 Interactive Art, InterCommunication Center, (NTT) Tokyo.
         AREALE, Japanese Ladies Light Orchestra, Brück / Linte, Mark Brandenburg
         20 Jahre Berlinische Galerie, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin
           with Natalia Pschnitschnikowa, flute.
2000 Zeitreise, Audio Surfer, Akademie der Künste, Berlin. with Jost Muxfeldt.
         Outoäly >> Alien Intelligence, Kiasma, Museum of Art, Helsinki.
         Hello, can you hear me? for a school for visually handicapped children in Berlin
         Do It Yourself, singuhr galerie, Parochialkirche, Berlin: music by Tom Johnson.
2001 Orgel.+, Technische Universiteit, Eindhoven.
         Les Chants Mécaniques - musiques à voir L'Hospice Comtesse, Lille.
         Maschinen Theater, Städtische Museen Heilbronn.
2002 Installationen, Wittener Tage / WDR 3.
2003 Resonanzen II, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken.
         Art Cologne, sound art, WDR / Museum in Glaskasten, Marl.
2004 Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder stage set, Landestheater Linz
         Maerzmusik: Mechanical Landscape with Bird, Sophiensaele, Berlin
            with Aleksander Kolkowski, the Kairos Quartett, 24 canaries and their
            trainer, Helmut Moßmann
         Maskinerne / The Machines Kunsthallen Brandts Kleiderfabrik, Odense, DK
2006 Concert with Roland Pfrengle and Steve Roden, Tesla, Berlin.

2007

• O-O-O-O-O Installation at the Brückenmusik festival, Cologne.
• Soundwaves, Kinetika Museum, group exhibition, London.
• Visuelle Music, sound art exhibition and concert, Philharmonie, Luxembourg.
• Klangräume Sibiu, Installation at the Art Laboratory Sibiu, Romania.
• Wolfgang von Kempelen group exhibition at the Palace of Art / Műcsarnok, Budapest and ZKM Karlsruhe.
• Wien Modern exhibition with Roland Pfrengle's SprachMusik (2006/08) with Natalia Psenitsnikova, alto flute & voice, Talking Machine and computer, in Vienna and also in Spannungsfelder, Darmstadt 2008.
• Musica ex Machina, one man show with additional historical documents, at the Komaba Museum of the University of Tokyo. It broke the attendance record for this venerable museum: over 10,000 visitors in two months.

2008

• Installation in Open Space, ICC / NTT, Tokyo, 12 months to March 2009.
• Guest speaker at the seminar Aesthetik der Geistlosigkeit, Leipzig.
• Novembermusik Roland Pfrengle's SprachMusik (2006/08) with Lesley Olson, alto flute & voice, Talking Machine and computer, Essen.
• Honourable mention from Prix Ars Electronica for the Thinking Machine in collaboration with the composer Masahiro Miwa.
• Prize for the design of urban spaces around the Katherinenkirche in Hamburg in collaboration with Büro Regina Poly, landscape architects.

2009

• Museumsnacht: 2 concerts with Aleks Kolkowski's Automatic Ensemble at the Leonhardskirche in Basel; and another concert at the Museum für Musikautomaten in Seewen, near Basel.
• Klangmaschinen ... a radio programme produced by Nina Polschegg for SWR2, 12.2.09
• Automatenliebe ... a radio programme produced by Björn Gottstein for Bayern2, 15.2.09
• MaerzMusik: Reduction, Structure, Deconstruction. The 24 Piece Percussion Installation with Eight Pieces by Tom Johnson. Berliner Festspiele
• Klangburg, Burg Eisenhardt, Belzig, Mark Brandenburg
• Apparatus, Lydgalleriet, Bergen, Norway, with Erwin Stache
• All Change a flute duet by Schaun Tozer with Natalia Psenitsnikova and the Flute Playing Machine to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Berlinische Galerie in its own building.
• Thinking Machine at the Komaba Museum, University of Tokyo
• building a CNC milling machine
• Visit to Jour par Jour at La Courbière, Estervayer-le-Lac, CH.

2010

• Arte Sonoro, Casa Encendida. I went to Madrid to set up the Thinking Machine. My fight was cancelled due to the Eyjafjallajökull eruption so I was frerried non-stop by two drivers from Berlin to Madrid, pausing only to pick up another artist in Paris.


• My Manna Machine model was featured in the TV programme
  The Evidence / Chlorella as Modern Manna / The History Channel (USA).
  

In 1910 somebody - not me - uploaded this fine video to YouTube and I added this link. After 1 year, 5.7K views and 37 👍 likes it was blocked by A+E Networks "on copyright grounds". Perhaps they are the pay-TV distributors of this material in Germany?

• I designed and built the model in 1975 for George Sassoon, based on his book The Manna Machine (George Sassoon and Rodney Dale, 1976), for which I also designed and drew the illustrations.
• Ogaki Media Festival / IAMAS, Japan, Thinking Machine
• Motorenwerke II, group exhibition at oqbo galerie, Berlin, O-O-O-O-O
• Singing Machine prototype with Yuichi Matsumoto & Yu Takahashi at IAMAS, Japan.
• Artists' Perspectives on the Human Voice by Ingo Kottkamp and Inke Arns for DeutschlandRadio: Talking Machine, Singing Machine.

2011

• SoundART exhibition, Cologne, German Sound Art prize nominees.
• I built a second version of the Singing Machine and started on the third version.
• Stelzenfestspiele, Stelzen bei Reuth, Wirtshaus zum Löwen,
with a demonstration of the Talking Machine

2012

• SuperBodies Hasselt, Belgium, Walking Machines with video
• SoundSeeing Kloster Gravenhorst, Ein Ton and the Talking Machine
• Elektroakustische Musik Hoeren a talk, with videos and recordings,
  at the Technical University Berlin, with Roland Pfrengle.
• building StringThing
• Verspielte Musik: Concert with Automatic Instruments at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. including StringThing with works by Roland Pfrengle and Makiko Nishikaze. Organised by Münchner Gesellschaft für Neue Musik

2013

• Internet & Society, 34th Kirchentag of the German Evangelical Church at the
  CHH Congress Centre, Hamburg. The Singing Machine sang Ut Queant Laxis,
  followed by a demonstration of acoustic speech synthesis techniques.
• The Inauthenticity and Uncanniness of Speaking, a radio programme produced by Ingo Kottkamp and Inke Arns for DeutschlandRadio Kultur. Artists' perspectives on the human voice. I demonstrated the Talking Machine and the Singing Machine.

• A two-day installation: StringThing with the duet Things for Things by Makiko Nishikaze at the
  Galeria Naprzeciw, University of the Arts, Posnań



The two StringThing instruments looking out at the courtyard in Poznań
The two instruments were sited in two adjacent but separate spaces overlooking a courtyard next to a park at the Arts University so that the music blended with ambient sounds, bird song, etc. We had perfect weather and both Makiko's music and my installation were very well received.
The exhibition was organised and set up by Mikolaj Polinski.


The Thinking Machine in Gifu, Japan, with two of Masahiro's Matarisama Dolls.

• 10th - 14th October
  The Thinking Machine was shown as the central feature of the exhibiton about Masahiro Miwa's Reverse Simulation Music at the Gifu Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan

• 26th October
Hybrid Music   Now! Festival   Philharmonie Essen ... also 2014 in Japan.
The 24 Piece Percussion Installation, Flute Playing Machine, Singing Machine,
Talking Machine, StringThing, etc. with the Chamber Ensemble for New Music (KNM, soloists and conductor Titus Engel with computers, live electronics,
and video projection.
Works by Roland Pfrengle,Tom Johnson, Schaun Tozer, Dirk Reith, Günter Steinke,
Thomas Neuhaus and Masahiro Miwa.

A good audience ... they loved it!

• Now we are getting ready for two concerts in Japan early next year.

2014

• 4th February
  While preparing for the concerts I set up and demonstrated some of the machines in the foyer of the Aichi Arts Center and also gave a lecture about my work, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture :-)


• 9th February
Hybrid Music in Japan
  at the Aichi Arts Center, Nagoya, sold out.


• 11th February
Hybrid Music  Asahi Hall, Tokyo, sold out.

The Flamme d'Or on the roof of
Philipp Starck's Asahi Hall Tokyo

Both concerts in Japan sold out, jam-packed full - here is an online report.

• 15th March
  
I got a nice email from Linz to tell me that I had been nominated for the Golden Nica for Visionary Pioneers of Media Art, a new award at Prix Ars Electronica. Very flattering, but to put things in perspective, emails also went out to 150 other nominees.

Later: Roy Ascott (UK) got it! - a "pioneer of telematic art and a visionary thinker"


• 8th November
  
Suntory Foundation for the Arts TRANSMUSIC 2014
featuring Masahiro Miwa as the theme composer.
Izumi Hall, Osaka
My Singing Machine and Ein Ton sound installation again performed the work
hitonokiesari (people vanish), - the recital of a poem by Sadakazu Fujii with the Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka Ensemble.


• The programme also included Im Januar am Nil (1984) by Clarence Barlow (#6) whom I last met in 2007. Photo: a drink-up after the concert with composers, soloists and friends.


• 8th - 12th December

Prof. Andreas Oldörp invited me to give a talk and a workshop in his department for Sound Art at the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst (HBKsaar) in Saarbrücken. A most enjoyable visit!

2015

• 6th May
  
The Automatic Viola had its first outing at the salon of Alexander Ochs in Berlin accompanying Jon Rose (violin): Hollis Taylor (violin): Shasta Ellenborgen (viola): Nora Krahl (cello): Meinrad Kneer (double bass).
Photo of a prototype bowing mechanism. It has similarities to my StringThing but has improved electronics designed and built by Sukandar Kartadinata to provide a softer movement of the fingers and a more sensitive pressure on the bow-wheels.
• May 2015
I am now starting on Four Singing Voices in the range tenor to bass. Based on experience gained with my Singing Machine ... but there are some other ideas I want to try, like quieter blowers.

• Also, (in between times and just for fun) a long wheel-base recumbent bicycle with underseat steering.

This is generally considered an outmoded configuration because of its large turning circle, but I like the laid-back look. Not something I want to ride in heavy traffic.

2016

• 11th to 13th May



I took part in The Art of Voice Synthesis conference and a concert at Het Orgelpark organised by the University of Amsterdam. Vocalist Ute Wassermann performed her work pneuma with my Talking Machine and the Singing Machine performed the last three (solo) verses of hitonokiesari. The accompanying drone was supplied by one of the several Orgelpark organs, instead of my Ein Ton pipes. The concert was attended by an enthusiastic audience; a mix of members of the public and experts from the conference. In the interval the audience came onto the stage and I gave close-up demonstrations of my instruments, including MotorMouth,(left), on loan from the Berlinische Galerie.



• 16th September to 8th January 2017



Stadtgalerie - the municipal gallery in Saarbrücken, Germany. The gallery has a 25-year history of presenting Sound Art and this is the second time I have shown there. This time I was invited to take part at the suggestion of Prof. Andreas Oldörp. I spent long periods at the gallery programming a new work and demonstrating other works to visitors. They responded by telling their friends - a popular and successful exhibition. I shared it with my friend and colleague Max Eastley who showed three sound installations. We are now preparing a joint bi-lingual catalogue to be published by Kerber Verlag. Collectively, our exhibitions were entitled Two Measures of Time



• 4th to 12th November 2016



StringThing was shown at Daniel Löwenbrück's Rumpsti Pumpsti gallery Berlin where It played things for things by Makiko Nishikaze

2017

• 24th June 2017



My Singing Machine was featured in a concert by the Ensemble KNM Berlin and friends Die Welt nach Tiepolo: ASIEN (The World According to Tiepolo: ASIA) at Radialsystem Berlin. Masahiro Miwa: hitonokiesari Introduction and Recital of a poem by Sadakazu Fujii for Singing Machine, Ein Ton and nine players.



• 29th September to 1st November



I demonstrated my Four Voices and Singing Machine in KONTAKTE '17 Biennial for Electroacoustic Music & Sound Art at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin in collaboration with Singuhr, Berlin. The Four Voices sang a chant specially composed for them by Masahiro Miwa; this was their first performance in public. "Tongues and tuners running up and down; lips opening and closing; vibrating vocal chords - an amazing analogue of human song: all accomplished without loudspeakers and without any form of recording."

2018

• 15th - 18th March



Archipel 2018, Genève, Suisse festival des musiques d'aujourd'hui 15. 03 to 18. 03.18 Salle de l'Alhambra: demonstration of Four Voices 18.03.18 Salle de l'Alhambra: Masahiro Miwa: hitonokiesari Introduction and Recital of a poem by Sadakazu Fujii for Singing Machine, Ein Ton and nine members of the Kammerensemble Neue Musik, Berlin (KNM)



• 20th - 22nd April

UmbruchThese / Upheaval       Freehome - Artist to Artist - Berlin       Vadim Zakharow / fontaine b.



Artists: Lucio Fontana, Hermann Nitsch, Maya Attoum, Serge Stephan, Lindy Annis, Jacopo Rinaldi, Mariana Vassileva, Emmett Williams and Ann Noël, Arnold Dreyblatt, Elana Katz, Malcolm Green and Natalia Cerutti. I showed a clock, but during the exhibition I was in Japan. It has to be wound up once a day otherwise it stops. This would have been my Umbruch (upheaval or discontinuation). It would also show the hour when it stopped (mod12). But they managed fine.



• 29th June



My contribution to the Hearable Hackathon A hearable: a wire coat hanger, two sheets of card and some tape. Works great, costs nothing, no batteries. Frauenhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT Project manager: Peggy Sylopp hack4ears website (German)



• May - June



I had the pleasure of advising Tatiana López and Carlos Gutiérrez about jar-tilting mechanisms for their splendid Whistling Jars installation ... Ch'ipas iuuui uuuiiuiiuuui uuuiiiuuuiuuu iuuuu iuuuuiiiiiiiii iiiii uu u u u i DAAD Gallery, Berlin, 10th Aug - 9th Sept.



• 7th July - 5th August



Saarland Clock Museum I showed 8 clocks, drawings and other related material. Also my Singing Machine. The museum is run by an association of clock makers, collectors and precision engineers. This was their first show of its kind (to mark the 25th anniversary of their museum) and was thought to have been highly successful so they now plan to present similar exhibitions in the future. More about the exhibition Museum website

2019

• 8th February - 23rd March
  



Knock on Wood - a percussion installation Tom Johnson & Martin Riches Control system: Manfred Fox Circuit, centre d'art contemporain, Lausanne The first presentation of the installation; in a large, white and splendidly resonant space. More about Knock on Wood



• 19th April - 30th June
  



Post-Opera TENT, Witte de Withstraat 50, Rotterdam 19th April - 30th June Open: Tue - Sun: 11:00 - 18:00 In collaboration with the annual Rotterdam Operadagen The exhibition was curated by Kris Dittel and Jelena Novak.



• 13th May
  



KONTRAKLANG New Music Arkaoda / Berlin with Ute Wassermann Pneuma for voice and Talking Machine (2016) and Tomomi Adachi How to learn to talk 2U for Talking Machine, voice and gesture (2013) Arkaoda is a Berlin night club (named after a night club in Istanbul.)



• 18th and 19th May
  



Looking down an Ein Ton pipe

18th May: Post Opera TENT Art Centre, Rotterdam Symposium: Installing the Voice / Operadagen Rotterdam including a preview of a film about my work by Dr.Hannah Bosma (University of Amsterdam), Sergio Gridelli (camera), Armeno Alberts (sound) 19th May: Singing Machine, explanation and demonstration



• 15th - 31st August
  



Knock on Wood - a percussion installation Tom Johnson & Martin Riches. The control system is by Manfred Fox Tabakalera International centre for contemporary culture Donostia / San Sebastian 1st floor Hall A rather flattering biography on the Tabakalera website More about Knock on Wood



• 13th - 29th September



Structure and Sound - Kyoto Seika University - Gallery Fleur Curator: Yukari Fujimoto with Minoru Sato, Atsushi Nishijima and Akitsugu Maebayashi I showed the Singing Machine, the Thinking Machine and a clock (left). Sponsors: Komaba Museum (Thinking Machine) The Kao Foundation for Arts and Sciences Japan Arts Council Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Kyoto City Tourism Association. Open: 11:00-18:00

• 16th September
  



SOTO Gallery, Kyoto I gave a demonstration of the Singing Machine and vowel pipes from the Talking Machine. Simultaneous translation by Yumiko Urae.

• 19th October - 21st December
  



At the suggestion of Prof. Suguru Goto I was invited as Guest Professor at Geidai / Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Music, Senju Campus to work on the Singing Machine A detailed description here!

• 14th and 16th December
  



I showed the results during a production and research exhibition: Senju Art Path 2019 at Geidai Senju Campus. I also showed the Thinking Machine on loan from the collection of Komaba Museum, Todai / Tokyo University - my thanks to Orimo-san and to Prof. Hermann Gottschewski ! The exhibition was attended by students, by members of the public, and by many friends, both old and new. - residency, as above - exhibition and photos

2020

• 10th - 27th September



		Interactive Field (1999) at Acud Kunst Haus Veteranenstr 21, 10119 Berlin-Mitte ... and, at the same time, a short walk away ...
		at Meinblau Projektraum, Pfefferberg Haus 5, Christinenstr 18-19, 10119 Berlin-Mitte Knock on Wood (2019) with music by Tom Johnson and a control system by Dipl. Ing. Manfred Fox Both were organised by singuhr projekte

2021

• 6th July



An Orrery to conduct musicians A project with composer Annesley Black and percussionist / instrument maker Thomas Meixner. Orrery Singer Kunst Kultur Kirche Allerheiligen Thüringer Str. 35 Frankfurt am Maine Delphine Roche, flute Robin Hoffmann, guitar Annesley Black & Jeró Caballero orrery Musikfonds Federal Commissioner for Culture & Media

• 23rd September



Orrery Singer by Annesley Black This time at the Ultima Festival in Oslo with the Ensemble asamisimasa

• 6th - 21st November



		Sound Sculpture Exhibition 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo organised by the Creative Arts Executive. featuring the Thinking Machine on loan from the Komaba Museum, University of Tokyo There were 2572 visitors.and favorable reviews Curator: Aki Hirokawa Below: Prof. Masahiro Miwa explaining the Thinking Machine

• 18th November - 18th December 2021



The Singing Machine (2013) in a group exhibition about the voice: Le Voile du Palais Hôtel Pasteur - a new cultural venue 2 Place Pasteur, 35000 Rennes The voice as a technology of the body Recording as a technology of the voice Curator: Damien Simon Le Bon Accueil, Reverb Lieu d'arts sonores. Rennes

2022

• 19th January - 5th February



NOHE NOSHE Eleni Poulou & Petr Step Kišur A recording "Where Are You?" based on a phrase by the Singing Machine at the Collective Alienation - CTM 2022 Exhibition Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin

• 9th May



La voce artificiale ISBN: 979-12-5976-278-8 In 2020 I had a long exchange of emails with Domenico Napolitano on the subject of artificial voice during his research for his doctoral thesis. His thesis has now been published as a book and I am honoured and delighted to see the initial sketch of my MotorMouth project on the cover.

• 31 July - 24th August



		Field Kitchen Academy Theme: Voice as Object, Object (h)as Voice For a couple of days I served as a member of the academy. I gave a talk about the history of speech synthesis, starting from the 18th century. My Four Voices performed a couple of demonstrations and a chant written for them by Masahiro Miwa Curator: Ece Pazabaşı
Gutshaus Wüsten Buchholz Perleberg, Mark Brandenburg

2023

• 8th April - 4th June



Resonating Views Japanese-European Dialogues Contemporary Art Museum Ise, Honshu, Japan 16 artists working in interaction between Europe and Japan Masahiro Miwa and I showed our Thinking Machine on loan from the Komaba Museum University of Tokyo - with thanks to Katsuya Orimo sensei and Prof. Hermann Gottschewski Curator: Mikolaj Polinski. We had a simultaneous-translation inter-continental-Zoom-Session answering exhibition visitors' questions

• 23rd April



Another performance of ... Orrery Singing (2021) by Annesley Black: for ensemble, with my Orrery Singer this time at Festpielhaus Hellerau. Dresdener Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik Ensemble courage: Georg Wettin Bassklarinette Torsten Reitz Synthesizer

• 16th June - 19 August



VOICE:over VII     Galerie Nord - Kunstverein Tiergarten,     Berlin

Carlfriedrich Claus (realized by Vito Willems), Valie Export, Ioana Vreme Moser,
Martin Riches, Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag

Curator: Carsten Seiffarth         Director and co-curator: Veronika Witte
and Torsten Jähring - who kept things running for me ...

• 19th July



VOICE:over VII Exhibition tour with explanations by the artists

• 9th August



VOICE:over VII Extracts from the film Four Voices directed by Dr. Hannah Bosma camera Sergio Gridelli sound Armeno Alberts followed by a talk with Dr. Hannah Bosma

• 23rd - 27th August



The Thinking Machine performed in an installation by Masahiro Miwa in the Summer Festival at Japan's premier concert venue, Suntory Hall, Tokyo. Yuichi Matsumoto installed 3 gamelan instruments and their resonators in place of the ←3 tubular bells.

• 23rd September



Another performance of ... Orrery Song (2021) by Annesley Black and percussionist / instrument maker Thomas Meixner. with our Orrery Singer Oslo Contemporary Music Festival at the Tøyen Church. Inventions, Transgressions and the Music of the Spheres The Ensemble asamisimasa Ellen Ugelvik, piano Tanja Orning, cello Morten Barrikmo, clarinet Håkon Stene, pre-recorded samples Anders Førisdal, guitar

• 26th October - 28th January



Centro José Guerrero, Granada in collaboration with Contemporánea. A documentation of the work of composer Tom Johnson, including our installation Knock on Wood. Curator: Eduardo Escoffet Knock on Wood was set up by the artist Domingo Zorrilla to whom my grateful thanks! Many thanks also to Dumia Medina of Contemporánea and to Raquel Lopez of the Centro José Guerrero!

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grants, awards, residencies

1982 -89 -93	grants from the Senator for Cultural Affairs, Berlin
1986	Realisation of the project Machine Dance for the
	Production Technology Centre (PTZ) of the Technical University /
	Frauenhofer Gesellschaft, Berlin
1989	Residency at the New York Hall of Science with the project
	Pattern and Chaos.
1999	Interactive Art prize winner, InterCommunication Center (ICC/NTT) Tokyo
2000	Realisation of the project Hello, can you hear me? for a school for visually
	handicapped children in Berlin.
2001	Residency at the Hochschule für Media in Cologne awarded by the
	German Sound Art Prize competition.
2006	Guest at La Courbière, Estervayer-le-Lac, Switzerland.
	Residency with Roland Pfrengle and the Talking Machine at Tesla, Berlin.
2009	Residency at Burg Eisenhardt, Belzig, Mark Brandenburg.
2010	Residency at IAMAS, Institute for Advanced Media Arts & Sciences,
	Ogaki, Japan.
2011-14	Grant for Hybrid Music for Humans and Machines from the
	German Federal Cultural Foundation - Kulturstiftung des Bundes
2016	I was a guest at the Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken during the exhibition
	Two Measures of Time ...
2018	and again during the exhibition at the Saarland Clock Museum
2019	Residency at Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Music.
2021	Grant from the Giesecke + Devrient Foundation.