Halas.am : HolonArtLabAudioService AM

"No Regrets For Our Youth is a nine track album of individual pieces, beautifully created with acoustic, electronic, modern and old sound. Each track varies from simple to intricately developed music. The record is one work, in that each piece connects to the others, yet they are all unique. The first track of predominantly electronic sounds defines a heavy yet childlike melody with strong rhythm in seven time. The accents are unusual, as are the sounds, but with time this 'Dance' as it is titled, becomes less awkward. The mood changes significantly with track three. 'The Manners of Speech' holds us in a warm embrace of acoustic guitars and familiar chords with oodles of anticipation. The variety of sound is refreshing and incredibly beautiful. Then 'Fronts' jolts us to attention. It starts with a strikingly simple rhythm. High-hat and electric guitar initiate the dialogue, soon joined by voice, distorted guitar and organ to form an unusual but effective ensemble. Other tracks include a tense string quartet, an improvisatory harpsichord combined with electronic instruments and sounds to create unlikely unions. The final track brings us full circle and sounds from the opener are heard again. This time the melody is a little slower, as if a long journey has been accomplished. 'No Regrets for Our Youth' is a record of familiar sounds given new life with poignant anticipation and utterly heartbreaking tension. It is modern music with its own identity. Little information can be found about No Regrets For Our Youth maybe because the music speaks for itself" -- anna johnston.

Out of a desire to catalyze the discourse on the influences of digital technologies on contemporary culture in
general and Israeli society in particular, and out of a recognition of the need to create a platform for
communication between artists, activists, media tacticians, film makers, and the general public, during 2004 -
2005, the center oversaw three projects under the theme "Hilchot Shchenim."  The Code of Law for Neighbours
references the laws of division of property and boundaries codified by the Rambam in the Mishna Torah, a
commentary on the Torah.  The exhibition series (accompanied by workshops and lectures), acts as a laboratory
for ideas about art, media, the marketplace and exchange, and examines the manner in which social, cultural and
technological changes influence artistic production.  These issues are addressed in the local-Israeli context by
establishing a connection with additional peripheries in which similar conflicts exist.

Hilchot Shchenim Chapter A (06.12.2003 – 28.02.2004)
The first chapter focuses on the mapping of independent artists' organizations without relocating them to the
center, or without being “directed from above.”  It features projects jointly run by art centers and artists in
outlying areas and that reflect the effects of the globalization movement.

Hilchot Shchenim Chapter B (24.04.2004 – 24.06.2004)
The second chapter focuses on tactics and strategies used by artists, artist groups and NGOs to create cultural
networks and intercultural/artistic cooperative projects. The participating artists adopt tactics and strategies
typical of war, finance, commerce, advertising and mass distribution. Hilchot Shchenim Chapter B emphasizes
the ways in which war, capitalism and the globalization movement shape the media, and in which artists are
using tactical media to respond.

Hilchot Shchenim Chapter C (16.04.2005 – 16.07.2005)
The third chapter in the Hilchot Shchenim trilogy brings to conclusion the project 's two main goals. The first
is the attempt to establish a regional cultural network as a platform for artists and art centers in the Middle
East, the Mediterranean Basin, and in such wider circles as the former East European bloc and the Balkans
and to overcome the limitations on communication that are dictated by political and national conditions. The
second goal is to facilitate the discussion on the influence of new technologies on society and artistic practice,
from the standpoint of a society that is flooded by and intensively absorbed in new technologies while at the
same time being culturally isolated from its geographical surroundings.

Participating artists include: Dina Shenhav & Doron Solomons, Hadas Ofrat, Aya Ben Ron, Shirley Shor, Kemal
Aratan, 2/5 BZ, ZeN, Nermin Er, Extrastruggle, Buumllent Angar, Aydan Murtezaolu, Katie Bush, Fikret Atay,
Eduard Balaz & Violeta Vojvodic, Jody Zellen, Mark Napier, Erational, Birgit Glatzel, Haim Ben Shitrit, Liraz Pank,
Gebhard Sengmuller and Effie & Amir, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Emanuel Danesch/ David Rych, BIT: Bureau of
Inverse Technology, Bureau d'Études, Ligna, Zhou Hongxiang, YOMANGO, Meena Park and Sasa, Dirk
Fleischmann, SALA-MANCA Group, Marcus Coates, Gregg Smith, Sener Ozmen, Nira Pereg, Berat Isik, Nurit
Sharett, Agricola de Cologne, Dragan Espenschied and Alvar Freude, The Yes Men, Romy Achituv, Lionello Borean
and Chiara Grandesso, Esra Ersen, Molleindustria, and George Dupin.

+Hilchot Shchenim is supported by Haaretz, IBM, Israel Foreign Ministry, Institut Francais, Austrian Cultural
Forum, the Delegation of the European Commission to the State of Israel.

HaPzura (diaspora in Hebrew) is a bi-annual event initiated in 2005 focused on the production and presentation
of experimental music and sound projects in Israel.  Local artists are accompanied by international artists in the
production of performances, workshops and public actions. Each year’s programming is unique and HaPzura III,
2007, included a number of new components: A performance / concert series which took place both on and off-
site, both in Holon and neighboring Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; an exhibition at the Center for Digital Art; and a
series of sound-based public interventions in Holon.

The Center for Digital Art
Curriculum Vitae

The Center for Digital Art is a dynamic platform for thinking, researching, producing, presenting, and analyzing contemporary art, as well as providing a meeting point for exchange between contemporary artists, curators, critics and the public.

Since it was established in 2001 in an abandoned school building in the industrial area of Holon, the Center has grown quite rapidly from a one-room gallery eight years ago.  It functions as a non-profit organization supported by the city of Holon.  As a public art space it consistently questions the place of art and art institutions within their society.  This brings to the front political and social issues we believe art should not be ignoring.  By expressing views that do not correlate in many cases with policies of the state, the definition of an art institute and a publicly
financed art space are examined and put into test.

In an effort to stimulate discourse in Israeli society, the center devotes a significant part of its work on art projects that foster questions about identity,  ethnicity, nationalism and cultural exchange.  This activity is lead by the overarching question: How can art institutes reflect and react to volatile conditions of culture and politics and how can art and its institutions take part in shaping these realities? The center initiates partnerships and collaborations with contemporary artists, theorists, writers, curators, and other institutions in the Middle East and the Balkan region, to explore how creative communities from different peripheries of the world can connect, learn from each other, and break down nationalistic or regional barriers. The activities of the center are concentrated in the following main areas:

 space devoted to exhibitions
 a research unit including video and media archive, library of printed matter, and conference room
 a residency program for artists and curators
 a publishing unit that includes online arts and culture magazine, “Ma'arav” (www.maarav.org.il), online
radio station,  “Halas” (www.halas.am) and publications of catalogues and books.
 an education unit focusing on lectures, gallery tours, community relations, and programs of youth
empowerment
 an administrative unit that works in parallel to all other units and backs up the activities of the center in
areas of financial management and fund raising

www.digitalartlab.org.il

Liminal Spaces was launched in March 2006 with a three-day international conference and a series of excursions along Road no. 60 – which connects Jerusalem to Ramallah and to the Qalandia checkpoint and refugee camp.

This conference inaugurated the first stage of the project, which was followed by six months of residencies in the regions of the participating artists. In November 2006 artists' works from the project were exhibited in Leipzig, Germany and parallel to that a second conference took place. The third and last meeting  of Liminal Spaces took place in October 2007 with a three-day traveling conference in Palestinian and nationally mixed towns in Israel. Liminal Spaces materials, in the way of transcripts, articles, pieces of fiction, and artists' pages are now being gathered for a reader that will be published in Spring, 2009.

The project must be viewed as a platform whose goal is first and foremost to enable forms of 'working together.'  Such methods of working concern not only the production of artworks, but even more importantly discussion and dialogue among Israeli and Palestinian artists and cultural producers, and between them and international colleagues – in a reality in which any form of collaboration is impossible. This platform has been made possible, in the face of numerous external obstacles, due to a number of understandings shared by all participants. These understandings include the need to bring the Israeli occupation to a final and rapid end; opposition to the blatant violation of human and civil rights; and the need for joint action in order to advance these goals.

The idea of producing shows for radio came up quite spontaneously, when my friend and colleague Dani Meir offered me a card-blanche to bring myself, and my tastes forward through slots in the newly founded Internet radio Halas, which he co-manages.

Previewing Halas for the first time, I recognized a podium that I could use in any way I felt appropriate, as it was completely non-commercial, publicly funded educational radio. More so, most shows produced by others for Halas shared my ideal for shedding light on the extremes of a specific musical genre or topic. Like all radio stations I enjoyed listening to in the past, Halas too managed to be a mouth for an under-represented, non-mainstream collective.

A composer myself, having passed through many “front-doors” of the music world, it had slowly dawned on me that trying to be new, extreme, and yet responsible for the musical art I hold so dear, is a task much opposed from within the music world, as it is outside its realms.
I think that in my short musical career I have received scorn for both my music and ideas from critics, teachers, colleagues, friends, foes, musicians and non-musicians alike. Needless to mention audiences!
What started as a naive quest for self-expression in my early teens, was hence slowly becoming a religious one: proving to the world that yes, there were people out there who enjoy a saw-wave finely shaped into a piece as much as they do a Mozart minuet. Furthermore, that experimental avant-garde is not to be perceived as a slap in the face to those who clearly don't like it, or all past music, but rather a solemn hymn to contemporary culture and hence immediately, to similar cultures of the past.

iNiT was formed in 2006 by Guy Harries and M. Both had been working on experimental projects for years - together and separately. This band was going to be the happy-happy outlet, with unabashed pop theatricality. After a series of twists and turns, and a varying lineup leading to a very strange show in which three guitars on stage turned pop into a wall of metal distortion, iNiT finally emerged with its edgy electro sound. Bringing into the band their Middle Eastern origins, as well as the occasional flirtation with Goth, new wave, rock and cabaret, a diverse but recognisably unique sound emerged.

The live gigs are where things all came together. A cheeky approach, audience involvement, a mix of performance art and danceability result in something intense, funny and occasionally scary. The band performs in the weirdest of places, including boats on the Thames, a warehouse in Totthenham, basement venues that were once public toilets and neo-Cabaret nights. At the moment most action is in the studio where iNiT is working on a full-length album, a follow up to their recent EP.

So where does the name of the band come from? The band members have different takes on it. The word has something of the typically London mockney 'innit?' brought into a more general and almost mystical world of 'everything that is in it'. Whatever that means is up to your fantasy. Make your mind up when you see this phantasmagoric flabbergasting show.

iNiT on myspace | iNiT on the FMA

Barcelona based group Selva de Mar was formed in 2006 by popular street musicians Sasha Agranov and Pablo Wayne. Fundamentals of its music are the wooden sounds of the cello blended into the metal frequencies of the hang, mixed with various objects and instruments such as the musical saw, metal tubes, music boxes and crystal glasses. They create what they call "aquatic music," sonic images detached from time or place. Selva de Mar have become well-known in Spain for their live performances, which combine their unique music, video projections and dance, as well as the incorporation of improvisation and experimenting with different styles and sounds from around the world. Selva de Mar have been involved with: acoustic concerts in churches, festivals of electro acoustic music, dance and circus shows and creating sound tracks for movies. And of course, they had an opening slot for the one and only Rolling Stones at a private function in Barcelona during 2007. Selva de Mar has participated in: world music festival "Le Suds" à Arles France (July 2007) International cinema music festival "Fime" à Toulon France (November 2007) Drap-Art Festival in Barcelona CCCB (December 2007) Tours around Israel, Jordan, France and Spain.(2007) and playing different concerts in Barcelona where they Courtney live: Convento de San Agustín (June 2007), MNAC - opening act for the Rolling Stones (July 2007), Antic Teatre with guests (September 2007). management: Estel Segui +34 620253775 selvademar@gmail.com www.myspace.com/selvademar

Shapira recounted to me once that at The Rubin Academy in Tel-Aviv of the 60s, teachers encouraged students to follow the compositional routes of Schoenberg (Serialism), Bartok (national folklore) or Stravinsky (neo-classicism).

Shapira recalls that none of these avenues resonated in him and even though he had not yet developed his unique compositional style, he knew that following the pre-determined path of others was not the path he need follow.

Finishing his degree he ventured upon the composition of a few short pieces and was concerned at discovering that he is constantly composing his education rather than inventing. Disconcerted, Shapira took almost 10 years off composing at which he dedicated himself to teaching and studying the musical language of Bach, which he teaches to this day.
His first pieces immerged in the late 70s ushering in a new style of music deriving its force from the music Shapira finally realized he related to:

“… Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok? This music meant absolutely nothing to me. They represented an era past to which my teachers could perhaps relate. I chose if anything to argue with these composers, but realized that even that is not relevant. The composers I should have been arguing with were Stockhausen, Boulez, Berio, Reich. These were the voices of my time whose music I didn’t accept as well, but who were at least relevant…”

“… I believe that my only reference if any could have come from post- war composers. They could understand the tragedy but decided to continue the tradition of beautification. Hence my ongoing musical argument with them…”

The Haifa University decided to honor Shapira with a concert on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The New Israeli String Quartet performed some pieces of his including a String Trio written for his graduation from the Rubin Academy in 68. Shapira mentions that students at that time were allowed to venture upon an original composition only at the end of their studies, and after proving they were proficient in past techniques and pastiche. The trio was performed in an official concert on which some of his teacher’s music was programmed as well. Shapira still recalls with noticeable joy the confused and perturbed faces of his teachers and colleagues.

Having heard the same piece almost 40 years later was quite a revelation: A short, two and a half minute gesture, revealing much of what will become the style of one of Israel’s most delightfully extreme composers.

Ophir Ilzetzki

* An Hour is an Anechoic Transmission

Oy Division is one of the only bands in Israel which perform the old style folk music of eastern- European Jews, generally known as Klezmer. The members of Oy Division do not adhere to the modern Klezmer style nor do they try to make it contemporary in any way, but rather try to recreate and bring back to life the nearly extinct pre-war jewish music the way it had been originally performed. Their repertoire is a mix of instrumental wedding dance music, folk songs and songs originating in the Yiddish theatre, Old music played again with the zeal and exuberance of punks. The members of the band come from different musical backgrounds: Eyal Talmudi is a leading Israeli and international reed player, who regularly tours the world with the Balkan Beat Box; Noam Enbar is the bass player and lead singer of the exceptional Israeli experimental punk band H'Billuyim; Assaf Talmudi is an established record producer and composer and a lecturer in the Haifa University department of music; Gershon Leizersohn is a graduate student in the Tel Aviv University music department who regularly plays with classical music orchestras, and Avichai Tuchman is an independent musician and producer active both in the secular and the religious music scene in Israel.