KISS2019 - Kyma International Sound Symposium in Busan, South Korea Announced

The press release follows:

Kimchi and Kyma — KISS2019: Resonance

Sound designers, electronic musicians and researchers to meet in Busan South Korea 29 August through 1 September 2019 for the KISS2019 international symposium and music festival

Busan, South Korea (12 May 2019) — Sound designers, musicians, researchers and students of sound will meet in the coastal city of Busan, South Korea from 29 August – 1 September 2019 for the 11th annual Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS2019) — four days and nights of hands-on workshops, live electronic music performances, and research presentations on the theme: Resonance (공명).

“Resonance”, from the Latin words resonare (re-sound) and resonantia (echo), can be the result of an actual physical reflection, of an electronic feedback loop (as in an analog filter), or even the result of “bouncing” ideas off each other during a collaboration. When we say that an idea “resonates”, it suggests that we may even think of our minds as physical systems that can vibrate in sympathy to familiar concepts or ideas.

At KISS2019, the concept of resonance will be explored through an opening concert dedicated to “ecosystemic” electronics (live performances in which all sounds are derived from the natural resonances of the concert hall interacting with the electronic resonances of speaker-microphone loops), through paper sessions dedicated to modal synthesis and the implementation of virtual analog filters in Kyma, through live music performances based on gravity waves, sympathetic brain waves, the resonances of found objects, the resonance of the Earth excited by an earthquake, and in a final rooftop concert for massive corrugaphone orchestra processed through Kyma, where the entire audience will get to perform together by swinging resonant tubes around their heads to experience collective resonance.

Sounds of Busan — two hands-on workshops open to all participants — focus on the sounds and datasets of the host city: Busan, South Korea. In part one, participants will take time series data from Busan Metropolitan City (for example, barometric pressure and sea level changes) and map those data into sound in order to answer the question: can we use our ears (as well as our eyes) to help discover patterns in data? In part two, participants will learn how to record, process, and manipulate 3d audio field recordings of Busan for virtual and augmented reality applications.

Several live performances also focus on the host city: a piece celebrating the impact of shipping containers on the international economy and on the port city of Busan; a piece inspired by Samul nori, traditional Korean folk music, in which four performers will play a large gong fitted with contact mics to create feedback loops; and a live performance of variations on the Korean folk song: Milyang Arirang, using hidden Markov models.

Program highlights
KISS2019 participants will experience several world premieres of music and immersive sounds presented by an international line-up of electronic musicians: (https://kiss2019.symbolicsound.com/program-overview/). A few highlights include:

• Led Zeppelin bassist and composer John Paul Jones (johnpauljones.com) in a live performance with virtuoso new music cellist and composer Ainnsi Kartunen (http://www.karttunen.org/home.html/home.html) as “Sons of Chipotle” on piano and cello processed through two Kyma systems

• Greg Hunter (The Orb, Dubsahara, Alien Soap Opera and more) presenting a sneak preview from his new book on the art of audio engineering in a keynote address titled “The Duality of Order and Chaos”

• Italian DJ/producer Lucretio (https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/lucretio/biography) performing live generative music and graphics along with the audience (who play their cellphones) in "Resonating Kyma through the Web with Node.js”

• Carla Scaletti and Kurt Hebel, the inventors of Kyma, will be in Busan to present talks, teach workshops and answer participants' questions

• A rooftop finale concert and dinner featuring Osaka-based guitarist, Yasuski, and his multichannel Audio Hologram (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtcjFh6gSdb-NJui4mdFtUQ) and Alan Jackson/Tom Daley’s “Maelstrom” for massive corrugaphone orchestra (where the entire audience gets to perform together and experience collective resonance).

Hands-on Workshops
In addition to a daily program of technical presentations and nightly concerts (https://kiss2019.symbolicsound.com/program-overview/), afternoons at KISS2019 are devoted to palindromic concerts (where composer/performers share technical tips immediately following the performance) and hands-on workshops open to all participants, including:

• Sounds of Busan I: DATA SONIFICATION
What do the past 10 years of meteorological data sound like? In this hands-on session, we will take time series data related to the city of Busan and map the data to sound. Can we hear patterns in data that we might not otherwise detect?

• The Shape Atlas: MATHS FOR CONTROLLING SOUND
How can you control the way sound parameters evolve over time? Participants will work together to compile a dictionary associating control signal shapes with mathematical functions of time for controlling sound parameters.

• Sounds of Busan II: 3D SOUND TECHNIQUES
Starting with a collection of 3D ambisonic recordings from various locations in and around Busan, we will learn how to process, spatialize, mix down for interactive binaural presentation for games and VR.

Networking Opportunities
Participants can engage with presenters and fellow symposiasts during informal discussions after presentations, workshops, and concerts over coffee, tea, lunches and dinners (all included with registration). After the symposium, participants can join their new-found professional contacts and friends on a tour of Busan (as a special benefit for people who register before July 1)."

https://kiss2019.symbolicsound.com