Scanner
Harry Smith at 100
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
Gardner Center Road
Nov 15, 2024
8:00 PM GMT
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About this concert
Harry Smith (1923–1991) was a great American eccentric, experimental filmmaker, musicologist, graphic designer, bohemian and anthropologist. He was also a collector of found objects and sounds, including the world's largest known private paper aeroplane collection. The Anthology of American Folk Music is perhaps his most famous contribution.
British artist Robin Rimbaud, also known as Scanner, has been invited by the Harry Smith Archives to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth by performing live scores to a wide selection of his films. This includes: Mahagonny, Friends of Harry Smith (Jordan Belson, Robert Frank, Jonas Mekas, Allen Ginsberg, etc.), Early Abstractions, Heaven & Earth Magic.
For this event, Scanner will be performing a live soundtrack to Smith's Early Abstractions (1946–57) and Untitled Seminole Patchwork (1965–66) films.
Scanner has been intensely active in sonic art since the 1980s, producing concerts, installations and recordings, connecting a bewilderingly diverse array of genres. Committed to working with cutting edge practitioners he names Bryan Ferry, Wayne MacGregor, Mike Kelley, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Michael Nyman, Steve McQueen, Laurie Anderson and Hussein Chalayan amongst his previous collaborators.
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Scanner Biography
Scanner (British artist Robin Rimbaud) traverses the experimental terrain between sound and space connecting a bewilderingly diverse array of genres. Since 1991 he has been intensely active in sonic art, producing concerts, installations and recordings, the albums Mass Observation (1994), Delivery (1997), and An Ascent (2020) hailed by critics as innovative and inspirational works of contemporary electronic music.
To date he has scored 66 contemporary dance productions, including the hit musical comedy Kirikou & Karaba Narnia, Qualia for the London Royal Ballet, and the world’s first Virtual Reality ballet, Nightfall, for Dutch National Ballet.
More unusual projects have included designing sound for the Philips Wake-Up Light (2009), the re-opening of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam in 2012 and the Cisco telephone system used in offices around the world.
His work Salles des Departs is permanently installed in a working morgue in Paris whilst Vex, a residential house by Chance de Silva architects, featuring his permanent soundtrack, won the RIBA London Award 2018. Listening Forest, developed with artist Rafael Lozano Hemmer, was on display at Crystal Bridges Museum, USA until 2024.
Committed to working with cutting edge practitioners he collaborated with Bryan Ferry, Wayne MacGregor, Mike Kelley, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Michael Nyman, Steve McQueen, Laurie Anderson and Hussein Chalayan, amongst many others.
Read MoreTo date he has scored 66 contemporary dance productions, including the hit musical comedy Kirikou & Karaba Narnia, Qualia for the London Royal Ballet, and the world’s first Virtual Reality ballet, Nightfall, for Dutch National Ballet.
More unusual projects have included designing sound for the Philips Wake-Up Light (2009), the re-opening of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam in 2012 and the Cisco telephone system used in offices around the world.
His work Salles des Departs is permanently installed in a working morgue in Paris whilst Vex, a residential house by Chance de Silva architects, featuring his permanent soundtrack, won the RIBA London Award 2018. Listening Forest, developed with artist Rafael Lozano Hemmer, was on display at Crystal Bridges Museum, USA until 2024.
Committed to working with cutting edge practitioners he collaborated with Bryan Ferry, Wayne MacGregor, Mike Kelley, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Michael Nyman, Steve McQueen, Laurie Anderson and Hussein Chalayan, amongst many others.
Ambient
Contemporary Ballet
Music For Ballet
Electronic
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