March 27, 2025
From the organizers:
“Synopsis:
Fear of the Object is a site-specific intervention utilizing live video and sound performance to put into dialogue the architectural resonances and dissonances found within physical space, sound and light.
Initiated in 2017 at Austin’s No Idea Festival, the continuing duo collaboration is based on the inherent frequencies and resonances of Chris Cogburn’s percussive objects (cymbals, bells, drum) put into dialogue with Norwegian video artist Kjell Bjørgeengen’s audio generated video. The visual projections are fed back into sound, blurring distinctions between hearing and seeing.
Austin electronic music legend Rick Reed opens the evening with a new audio/visual piece.
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MORE INFO ON FEAR OF THE OBJECT
Discography
2024
leaves never fall in vain, CD, SOFA + true blanking labels, Oslo, Norway
https://fearoftheobject.bandcamp.com/album/leaves-never-fall-in-vain
2022
Fear of the Object, 4-CD box set, SOFA + true blanking labels, Oslo, Norway
https://fearoftheobject.bandcamp.com/album/fear-of-the-object
Video
Fear of the Object in Mauricio Rocha´s new wing at Diego Rivera Anahuacalli Museum
Mexico City 2022
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ARTIST BIOS
KJELL BJØRGEENGEN
Kjell Bjørgenngen looks upon his art as an investigation of a reality which needs to be worked upon and changed in both artistic and political ways.
His video work began in association with The Experimental Television Center in Owego, New York, which specialized in the development of new video technology for artists. There he met Dave Jones with whom Bjørgenngen collaborated on a number of large scale video installations and, most recently, in the development of the Jones VideoSynth which Kjell uses for his prints, live performances and installations.
Since 2000, he has worked exclusively with audio-generated video using the Jones VideoSynth and the Jones Flood Coil—a device which mimics a CRT monitor where the debris of the magnetic fallout is picked up and turned into sound.
Bjørgenngen has exhibited widely in his native Norway including a series of large scale video installations at Kunstnernes Hus, The National Museum of Art, Bergen Art Museum, Stavanger Art Museum, Kristiansand Art Museum, Kristiansand Arthall and Gallery K. He has shown internationally in the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo), The Ludwig Forum (Aachen, Germany), Dundee Contemporary Arts (Scotland), and the Pori Art Museum (Finland), among others.
His first video “Fade in” had original music by Svein Finnerud trio. For his audio generated video performances Kjell has worked with Jon Balke, Joëlle Léandre, Okkyung Lee, Uchihashi Kazuhisa, Jin Hi Kim, Otomo Yoshihide, MIMEO, Evan Parker Electro Acoustic Ensemble, Aernoudt Jacobs, Streifenjunko, MURAL, Lasse Marhaug, Marc Ribot, Kim Myhr, Toshimaru Nakamura, Thomas Lehn, Rick Reed, Jim Denley, Chris Cogburn, Inga Margrete Aas, John Tilbury, Keith Rowe and Andrea Giordano.
In the last few years his input to the music part has grown, incorporating the sound of the video in the mix with his fellow musicians. This has been an important development especially with his group Fear of the Object.
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CHRIS COGBURN
Chris Cogburn is a percussionist working primarily in the field of improvised music. His current practices focus on the threshold between acoustic and electronic sounds, their different timbral qualities and their sites of resonance.
Cogburn has performed at various venues and festivals around the world including: Festival Aural/elnicho (FMX, Mexico City), Issue Project Room (NYC), James Turrell Roden Crater (Arizona, USA), Quiet Que (Berlin). His current musical projects include: Resonance with Iván Naranjo (MX); the electro-acoustic trio Anáhuac with Ignaz Schick (DE) and Juan García (MX); A Spirale with Italian musicians Mario Gabola and Maurizio Argenziano; and an audiovisual improvisational set with Norwegian video artist Peter Holm and a rotating cast of guest artists including Masterof Sruti (NO), Juan García (MX), Aimée Theriot (MX/NL), Juan Manzano (MX), and Judith Hamann (AU). Chris has released recordings on several labels including: Astral Spirits, Another Timbre, true blanking, INSUB, Simple Geometry and Balance Point Acoustics.
Since 2003, Cogburn has organized the annual No Idea Festival. Based in Austin, Texas, No Idea events have been held in San Antonio, Houston, Marfa, Fort Worth, Dallas, New Orleans, Shreveport, Mexico City and Mérida, Yucatán; featuring artists from around the world. More info: http://noideafestival.com
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RICK REED
Rick Reed (b. 1957) is a self taught musician who began making his own brand of electronic music in 1981. In addition to his latest release, The Symmetry of Telemetry (Elevator Bath, 2023), he’s also appeared on numerous compilation records, as well as 7 solo recordings, plus various group efforts such as The Voltage Spooks, Shifting Currents, Frequency Curtain, Abrasion Ensemble. Reed has performed live throughout the US, and has played in England, the Netherlands, Scotland, Mexico, India, and Switzerland.
In 2006, Reed began working with NY filmmaker Ken Jacobs, doing numerous soundtracks for films such as Capitalism Child Labor (2006), which is part of the Museum of Modern Arts permanent collection. Reed also paints and makes short video sketches of his music, over 200 of which appear on Youtube under the name ‘Casa Magnetica Viva’, and Instagram at ‘synth_clouds’. His music can be heard/purchased on Bandcamp ‘https://richardkreed.bandcamp.com’ and ‘www.elevatorbath.com’.
Reed is currently working on a new record, plus a video compilation of experimental music groups he recorded during the years 1996-2000.”
Artist talk: March 25, 2025
3908 Avenue B, Suite 116
Austin, 78751 Texas
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