Dear all,

a few concerts you may be interested in before we embark on x-mas mayhem and enter the 2nd decade of the 21st century.:

>> On Tuesday 1st December I'll be playing/singing as part of Thomas Koner's “opera digitale” The Futurist Manifesto at Festival Rencontres Internationales in Paris. We performed this at Impakt Festval in Utrecht in October, described like: "The dreamy, echoed sounds of Carl Faia's prepared piano and electronics are countered by the cold and sometimes scarily distorted voice of the otherwise lovely Iris Garrelfs. The individual parts come together in perfect harmony." Always wanted to be scary...

1/12/09, 8pm
Festival Rencontres Internationales
Theatre du Chatelet
75001 Paris
France

>> The last day of the year sees the 10th anniversary of Jem Finer's Longplayer. To celebrate there will be a live performance at Trinity Buoy Wharf. Be great to see you there at some point during the day. We'll be wearing very fetching, matching outfits too and hopefully there will be a bbq...
A clip from the last concert at the Roundhouse in September can be found at news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8252139.stm

31/12/09, noon - 3pm
Trinity Buoy Wharf
(in Chain Store, under the lighthouse)
64 Orchard Place,
London E14 0JW

Have a fun festive season and a good new year !

Bye for now
Iris

Futurist Manifesto

Longplayer live

Dear all,
a few concerts you may be interested in the coming month:

>> On Wednesday 14th October I'll be playing/singing as part of Thomas Koner's “opera digitale” The Futurist Manifesto. This takes place at the opening event for this year's sound/image festival Impakt in Utrecht, Netherlands and looks at speed as a representational force.

"The dreamy, echoed sounds of Carl Faia's prepared piano and electronics are countered by the cold and sometimes scarily distorted voice of the otherwise lovely Iris Garrelfs".... Sounds good to me.

14th Oct, 7pm
Impakt Festival
Theater Kikker, Main Hall
Utrecht
The Netherlands

>> On Sunday 18th October a few of us including Douglas Benford and myself will be playing at the closing event of Simon Whetham's installation Active Crossover at the Arnolfini in Bristol. There will be a mix of solos and collaborations throughout the event, further playing with the idea of crossovers.

18th Oct, 7pm, £7
Arnolfini
6 NARROW QUAY
BRISTOL BS1 4QA

>> On Friday 30th October am playing a mono set at Scaledown. Full details (including a handy map) can be viewed at theorchestrapit.com/scaledown

30th Oct, 7pm, free
King & Queen
1 Foley Street
W1W 6DL

>> A track of mine entitled Beachball appears on the new compilation "Quit Having Fun" on the Italian label Boring Machines. It's a double CD featuring 23 artists, so expect lots of, ahem, fun. You can buy it for 11Euro incl shipping from boringmachines.it/shop.php

>> Last but not least you may want to see me and others at Jem Finer's Longplayer concert at the Roundhouse in September. There is a little clip at news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8252139.stm

Bye for now
Iris

Futurist Manifest still

Dear all,

>> The longest day of the year is almost upon us and luck has it that I am teaching an afternoon of creative instrument and sound making followed by an improvised performance at Camberwell Arts Festival on 21 June.
We'll start by roaming the streets and parks of Camberwell for suitable materials, such as discarded cans, bathroom cabinets, followed by a performance in which I will mix and process the sounds made by you, Camerwell's very own Stumble-on-and-hit-upon Orchestra to the exited cheers of assembled festival goers...

21/8/09, 1-7pm
performance from 5pm
Funky Munky
25 Camberwell Church St, London SE5 8TR
£free

>> Still staying south of the river, Tasty! is a brilliant annual performance art series taking place in Deptford, South London. On Thursday 25 June will will feast on your dinner, processing chinking plates, clattering cutlery, tinkling glasses and transforming Café Crema into a haven for experimental music and food lovers. I promise not to interrupt any intimate conversations...

25/6/09, 7:15pm
Café Crema
306 New Cross Road. London Se14 6AF (2 mins from New Cross / Gate tube)
£6

>> If you're based north of the river, Brent's Respect Festival might be a nice Sunday outing for 5 July. It gives you the no doubt exciting opportunity to have a play with my interactive sound sculpture of of the analogue kind, which will be on display there.

5/7/09, 1-8pm
Respect Festival
from 12 noon
Roundwood Park, London NW10
£free

>> Later that month I will perform 2 dates at the Science Museum. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo XI moon landing the Science Museum and Sound and Music, present the premiere of a new arrangement of Brian Eno's 1983 album Apollo, performed by the Icebreakers with BJ Cole. Myself and Douglas Benford will be playing space inspired sounds in the gallery alongside the Apollo X capsule. Anybody who knows my bookshelves will smile at this point...

20 + 21/7/09 July, 19:30pm
Science Museum
Exhibition Road, London SW7
£18

>> Between 24-28 July I''ll be in Italy researching next year's residency at Pollinaria, an amazing farm space at the foothills of the Abruzzo mountains, still devastated by the recent earthquake there. I am looking forward to long hikes and good wine!

>> Last but not least, I am very happy to be appointed as Creative Agent for Royal Opera House Creative Partnerships, which will see me whizzing around the south of England curating and brokering creative educational projects with selected schools.

Bye for now
Iris

Apollo X capsule

Pollinaria, Italy

Dear all,

>> For all you London based folks, I'll be performing live in collaboration with Douglas Benford at Dalston's Cafe Oto next Wednesday 25th March 09 from 7pm. It's a Sprawl event celebrating 10 years of the french label Bip Hop and also features the label's founder PHILIPPE PETIT, the brilliant German artist AGF [aka Antye Greie], SIMON FISHER TURNER who some of you might recognise from his 70s pop stardom days or as a composer writing music for several of Derek Jarman's films such as Blue & Carravagio. Oh, and there'll be some free BipHop compilations available..

www.sprawl.org.uk
www.cafeoto.co.uk

>> Finally, the first ever Symbiosis Orchestra album has been released on the Spanish label Baskaru and has attracted some very nice press so far such as "Live Journeys is an incredibly tight and consistent record, which never ceases to surprise, impress and fascinate".
Symbiosis is an international collective of acoustic and electronic musicians (including myself, Scanner, Stefano Tedesco) initiated by Italian sound artist Andrea Gabriele, a collaboration I hugely enjoy as I get to sing with nice microphones a lot as well as creating mayhem basslines...

SMALLFISH review and audio
MILKFACTORY review

>> Should you happen to be in New York on Tuesday 7th April and/or Wednesday 8th April, may I suggest a soundart/dance event in New York. It takes place on both days at Galapagos from 8pm and the Wednesday showcases my contribution to the 60x60 project, choreographed and danced by Victoria Brown.
The event and also features work by one of my favoured artists Joan La Barbara!

www.galapagosartspace.com
www.voxnovus.com/60x60

Bye for now
Iris

Doug and Iris at Interplay Festival

Live Journeys

60x60 dance in New York

Dear all,

First of all, a VERY HAPPY 2009 and many thanks for your support in the past year, which went past all too fast...

>> If you are free next Thursday, the delightful Urbania Collective with whom I am having the absolute pleasure of working with, is staging URBANIA'S SOUP NIGHT for the second half of The Royal Academy's Contemporary Season.

For the event, our installation ‘The Red Storage Room’ will extend into a large, bohemian banquet where Urbania soup, bread and drink will be prepared live and served to our guests. In addition to this, there will be an Urbania film screening, advice on human composting, and an exclusive 4-channel concert by the Urbania Orchestra, showcasing a new sound piece by me.

- when: Thursday, January 8, 2009, 7:00pm - 11:00pm
- Admission: FREE - places are limited so RSVP is essential at urbaniacollective {at} yahoo {dot} com
- address: 6 Burlington Gardens, London W1 3EX

a taster:

>> If you are interested in finding out a bit more what we mad people are/were up to, some interviews and other films with and by Urbania members are now online at toadball.tv

>> Last but not least, you might be interested in the following publication I have contributed to: "Playing with Words: the spoken word in artistic practice" is a collection of responses from over 40 leading contemporary composers and artists who have been invited to represent aspects of their creative practice with words for the printed page. It's edited by Cathy Lane and other contributors include Trevor Wishart, Barry Truax, Joan La Barbara, Brandon LaBelle, David Toop, Jaap Blonk, Laurie Anderson and many more. It is available from cornerhouse.org/books/info.aspx?ID=2789&page=0

Bye for now
Iris

Urbania's guerilla Soup Night at RA in Dec 08

Dear all,

After a long cold summer, it is definitely time for an update.

And just in time too, as next Thursday 16/10 sees a long awaited new installment of Sprawl, this time at our favoured new London venue, the Cafe Oto in Dalston (18 - 22 Ashwin Street, London E8 3DL / cafeoto.co.uk). We have live music by live electronics composer THOMAS GARDNER (presenting his amazing newfangled instrument, the Ouija Board with his Ecosonic Ensemble), improvising cellist BELA EMERSON (celebrating the launch of her new album on BiP_HoP) plus experimental singer/songwriter MANUELA BARCZEWSK. Check the Sprawl website for all details.

In my last update I mentioned the delightful Urbania Collective with whom I am having the absolute pleasure of working with as the collective share my interests in aspects of communal living, utopian communities and sci-fi (yes!). You may remember we were just off to a residency at Park-A-Moor in the Lake District courtesy of Grizedale Art. Spending an amazing 10 days at this remote farmhouse without running water or electricity I made some lovely intruments, we ended up building a little red raft, and... a little, very cliffhanger-ish clip is at agrifashionista.tv plus (sigh, as usual) plenty of images at flickr.com/photos/urbaniacollective

If you like the sound and look of this, you can see our Urbania installation room and a film at the upcoming The Royal Academy's Contemporary Season. It's curated by David Thorpe and also contain pieces by Julian Rosefeldt, Maya Roos plus plenty more. The event opens to the public on 31/10. Look out for our big-splash event there on 8/1/09... (6 Burlington Gardens, London W1)

Coming into November, there are more Urbania activities, this time at Somerset House, on Thursday 13/11. It's going to be a pretty mad thing as we're not really sure what we'll be doing apart from wearing our red boiler suits and publicly discussing a publication we are planning... The event is part of 'Wouldn't it be nice...' An Inventory of Aliases' (åbäke and friends).

Also in November, catch the 60 Project which has a bit of me in it. Instigated by Mathew Adkins it celebrates 60 years of Musique Concrète and will be performed at The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival on 28th November 2008. The premiere will also mark the release of the work on CD, available from electrocd.com, should you be in need of Christmas presents at that time.
Talking of which, the following book might look rather fetching under a tree: "Glitch: Perfect Imperfections" by Iman Moradi, Ant Scott, published in New York by Mark Batty, is out in November and includes a tiny slice of my piece 'Dumplinks, a rubbish film for duck and other water based artifacts'

oh the joys of advertising....

Bye for now
Iris

Urbania at Park-A-Moor

Dear all,

I hope the semi London summer finds you well. It has been a while since my last mail - it's been quite hectic since coming back from Slovenia where I worked in lived in the lovely town of Celje as artist in residence of the Centre of Modern Art. I very much recommend it for a visit if you find yourself in the vicinity, as it combines much interesting culture with wonderful nature - and of course a delightful sprinkling of cafes and bars!
As usual of course I have heaps of photos if you have a spare moment (hour more like it... flickr.com/irisgarelfs), some of which you will find in a new audiovisual piece called Twine, once it's finished. Or if you are in Slovenia, a first version will be shown at the Mediafest at the MCC in Celje this weekend (6th +7th July).

Also this weekend I shall be in Brighton, for Sonic Art Networks' EXPO festival. I am performing there on the Saturday 5th July at 5pm. The address is The Basement, Argus Lofts, 24 Kensington St, Brighton BN1 4AJ and it's all free! This is only my second performance in the UK and the last one for a little while.

The weekend after me and Douglas are hosting Horatio Oratorio, a concert & sound installation by Aleksander Kolkowski aka Recording Angels with Federico Reuben - live electronics & Sebastian Lexer - sound diffusion. It's an audio-visual exploration through the early history of recorded sound and takes place at the Shunt, Joiner Street, London Bridge SE1. The live events are on July 10th & 11th and cost £10. Check the Sprawl website for more details

At the end of the month I'll be spending some time with the Urbania collective at Park-A-Moor in the Lake District courtesy of Grizedale Art. It's an amazing, really remote and previously derelict farmhouse without running water or electricity and we'll be preparing our contribution to The Royal Academy's Contemporary Season in the autumn, curated by David Thorpe. If you've seen a red boiler suit clad troupe at Tony Conrad's performance at Tate Modern the other day, that's us! Our sadly neglected blog is at agrifashionista.tv

For all those lovers of free music, Furthernoise has just released a live extract of my live collaboration with Douglas Benford as part of Sprawl's Interplay Festival at the Spitz R.I.P last year. It's part of Explorations In Sound Vol 3, a compilation of sound works inspired by the tones, drones and rhythms of everyday life, drawing on the ideas of Pierre Schaeffers' Musique Concrète movement. Download the whole album from furthernoise.org

Interestingly (for me at least) I am involved with another project inspired by Mr. Schaeffer. Instigated by Mathew Adkins (who I believe you can also catch at Expo this weekend), it is called 60 Project to celebrate 60 years of Musique Concrète and will be performed at The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival later this year.

Bye for now
Iris

Urbania at the Tate

from my installation swannsong at Evolution in Leeds last month

hello hello dear all,

with (almost) green trees around I thought it is high time to let you know what's happening in my little world.

As of tomorrow 31st April, if you're based in Manchester or thereabouts, you can see Dumplinks, my "rubbish film for duck and other water based artifacts". The opening of the month long Dirty Mother event exploring climate change is happening at the Nexus Art Cafe, Dale Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M1 1JW from 6pm.

Next week, Sat May 10th, is our own (Sprawl) 4th Sonic Recycler, which I hope you London based folk can come to. The event has live performances by BLEVIN BLECTUM, DAVID TOOP, SEAN O'HAGAN (High Llamas / Microdisney), ALEKS KOLKOWSKI (Recording Angels), SIMON BOOKISH (Tomlab/Leafcutter John collaborator); DJ sets by moi, LAETITIA SADIER (Stereolab / Monade), JANEK SCHAEFER (rummages the Oxfam box as DJ Dedication - and if you seen/heard this last year you know it'll be hilarious!).
There also will be an amazing live CD recycling demo thingy by Aleks Kolkowski (yes, bring your old CDs/cdrs/dvds to be recycled into vinyl of sorts...), a pedal-powered installation by Dithernoise + Simon Storey, stalls, lovely river bar terrace, food and such like. It's at Watermans Art Centre, 40 High Street, London Brentford TW8 0DS. We're starting at 4pm and finish at about 12. Tickets are £10 (Conc £8) from Box Office or online at wegottickets.com/event/28432. For tube directons etc check myspace.com/sonicrecycler.
If you can't make it, the night before, Sat May 9th, Douglas and I will be on Resonance FM from 8pm talking about sonic recycling and bringing you delightful sounds to make it worth your while.

Moving further north, next stop is at Leeds' EVOLUTION festival on 23/24 May. It's a sound based installation called Swannsong at the old court room in Leeds Town Hall. The piece takes its inspiration from the case of Emily Swann, who was sentenced to death there in 1903 for the murder of her husband and looks at the idea of a time based justice system. I'll be giving a pesentation about the piece on 23rd.
A few weeks ago I spent an afternoon recording in this amazing space and the even older prison cells below, all by myself, playing with furniture and chains, which was strangely peaceful. If you want to see some pictures: flickr.com. For the sounds you have to come down... Which should be worth your while as there are live sets by MURCOF, MIRA CALIX amongst other and some more installations, for example by PETER CUSACK.

A couple of days after I shall be racking up my carbon footprint by flying to Slovenia, for a residency at the Museum of Modern Art, Celje. You may remember my visit there last year to show Dumplinks and perform live, which I enjoyed hugely! I am very much looking forward to being back and if you want to know way have a look at the pix from last year flickr.com (Dumplinks I believe will be part of a Glitch Art book later this year..)

As soon as I'm back there will be something for you Londoners again as I'll be doing some soundwalks and workshops during Camberwell Arts Festival from 14th - 23rd June, more details soonish.

Bye for now
Iris

swannsong sketch

panneling at Leeds Town Hall

Dear all,

once again it is too dark and cold for my liking and that can only mean that x-mas and the new year around the corner. I have purchased a new diary and discovered my first double booking of 2008. Not a good start then.

But before we get to 2008, there is the much pleasurable advent of our 3rd Sprawl Advent Series (sorry about the pun, it was tempting) which I hope some of you can make. They are free (unless you insist on buying me a beer...) and take place on 3 advent Sundays from 6-10pm at the Fleapit in 49 Columbia Road, E2 7RG

On Sunday 2nd December we have live music by Lawrence English, Stefano Tedesco, plus audio visual sets by snd's Mark Fell with Ernest Edmonds and Julie Freeman
On Sunday 9th December we have live sets by the Beddoes and For Barry Ray (Room40) plus Alex Czinczel and Joshua Meggitt will be playing some extra special CDs for you
On Sunday 16th December Jodi Cave (12k) will be attempting a quad performance (we have to see if we can get it to work at the Fleapit), and Resonance's Framework host Murmer will give a rare London performance. We also have a performance by Simon Whetham (before he heads out to South America to work with Fernando Lopez in the Amazon) and short films by Joel Chernin and Anita Mckeown. Plenty to choose from...

Last but not least, do check out the Atlantic Basin Project, which I am a very small part of. And, if you are terribly bored over the holidays, check out lots of photos from Pescara Italy, including some of the delightful Symbiosis Orchestra in the studio. All at www.flickr.com/photos/irisgarrelfs

have a very good holiday!
Iris

Dear all,

I am back from a marvelous tour in sunny America, playing at a few venues in New York, Washington and Virginia (the Sonic Circuits Festivall amongst them, see a picture of Tony Conrad there to the right) and meeting many wonderful people. A short and very dark youtube clip is up at www.youtube.com

For those of you who know me a little - yes, I have taken HEAPS of photographs. About 200 of which are at flickr.com. So be prepared to be bored....

Another US related project is RobVoisey's 60x60, which contains 60 second tracks by 60 artists, me amongst the. It is currently touring through the States voxnovus.com

Living and working in Brixton, South London has become a bit of a full time occupation. Talks with Lambeth Council to purchase Clifton Mansions and transform this amazing building into a community of artists' live/work spaces are becoming more concrete. It might really happen, which is all VERY exciting! We have a spanking new website with the proposals and pictures if you are interested or perhaps know somebody who would be able to help with funding and other such minor details. www.cliftonmansions.org.uk

Back on a musical note, the next few months will be spent recording, firstly with the Symbiosis Orchestra, in Italy but also my album at my Clifton Mansions studio. The latter has taken many twists and turns and is currently taking on the guise of a travelog, which I am thinking to release with a series of photographs, so do let me know which ones of the afore mentioned flickr pix you like best (a cunning ploy to make you have a look!

I will be in Pescara, Italy in early November, with a Symbiosis Orchestra, concert on the 8th and a field recording workshop on the 7th. If you are interested in either, please email andrea at daddyandrea [at] gmail.com who looks after the details. On my return, on November 17th, i'll be playing a free lunchtime concert at the Union Chapel in Islington (Highbury and Islington tube). The event is organised by the Arctic Circle and also playing are The Slow Life + Paperplain.

I don't know if you have heard the new ICA podcast "Experiments" as yet. It's really very good and I am in it, together with Astral Social Club, Octis, Accretions records, I.U.D and Corridors - download it at www.ica.org.uk

Last but not least, I have also made it into a book! It was written by Tony Gibbs and is entitled "The Fundamentals of Sonic Art", available through Thames & Hudson and contains interviews with Vicki Bennett, Max Eastley, Janek Schaefer amongst others. It's a really nice overview of all things soundart and some sound design.

Bye for now
Iris

Dear all,

apologies for a long break in communication, due to just too much to do and a nice break visiting my family in Germany, where I had a summer! If you do not live in London you might want a few pictures of what Winter In July was like!

During the last couple of months I had a very long protracted involvement with Anita McKeown's Deptford 45 project, leading workshops into field recording and editing whilst enjoying Deptford's beach (honest!), the Tour de France and such like. Don't believe what they try to tell you in BBC1's The Tower, it's a great place!
Anyway, I'll be performing with results from these workshops during the Deptford 45 website launch at The Albany in Deptford, on 30th August from 3pm. So you can check out the area for yourself.

More workshops are coming up during August, working with young refugee women for the Refugee Council in and around Brixton. Then in Spetmeber I am off again for some concerts.

Douglas aka Si-cut.db and myself also received a very nice review in the Wire for our London Interplay collaboration, our set being described as the best of the night. This went down very well with me, considering that the other artists were Thomas Koner with Max Estley and Brian Duffy with Ekkehard Ehlers. There are a few very nice pictures on flickr. A good friend spotted a similarity with the doll Brian Duffy was performing with. Must be the hair! --->>

Talking about reviews, you might want to read Talking Space To Space very nicely reviewed at www.furthernoise.org

Apart from all that I also spend some time in Celje, Slovenia, showing my piece Dumplinks at the Museum for Modern Art, plus giving a performance. Another little bit of summer, pictured here. I am hoping to be back there next year for a longer residency. It's such a nice place with great people!

D I A R Y

30 Aug 2007 3pm - live at the Deptford45s website launch: The Albany, Deptford, London
8 Sep 2007 8pm - live at the opening of Palazzo delle Esposizioni with Symbiosis Orchestra, Via Nazionale 194, Rome, Italy
13 Sep 2007 8pm - hosting Sprawl at the Fleapit, London, with Mike Cooper, Phil Durrant and Israel M
18 Sep 2007 8pm , live at Dust, Charlottesville, Virginia: with Jeff Surak Cheapmachines, Arturas Bumsteinas, Antanas Jasenka
20 Sep 2007 8pm - with Cheapmachines, Noveller and more: Pussycat Lounge New York
21 Sep 2007 8pm - Sonic Circuits Festival at The Warehouse Washington DC, Washington DC

Bye for now
Iris

June is turning out to be quite a hectic month, but i'll be great if you could join me for one thing or the other...

best
Iris

D I A R Y

2 Jun 2007: Rota at the nottinghillartsclub in London's Notting Hill Gate. I'll be showcasing a work in progress, "Hotel Mexicano", a piece made from practice recordings in hotels during last year's Mexico visit. Just imagine me sitting on a bed with my mic and laptop.
Also playing are my dear friends Lumenlab, Nebula3, Transistor, Jack's Son from Mexico. As it's all marvelously free, pls come and join us from 4-8pm.

6 Jun 2007 Bimhuis - as part of INTERPLAY4, with si-cut.db
8 Jun 2007 Resonance FM
16 Jun 2007 film showing : Glebe Estate / as part of Camberwell Arts Festival
20 Jun 2007 The Spitz - as part of INTERPLAY4, with si-cut.db
21 Jun 2007 The Cube - as part of INTERPLAY4, with si-cut.db
22 Jun 2007 Darklight Festival - as part of INTERPLAY4, with si-cut.db

W O R K S H O P S

Do you happen to live in London's Deptford, New Cross areas or study at Goldsmiths? If yes you can join me for 1 of 4 free one-day workshops in June and July, looking at field recordings and audio editing. For more information or to book, do get in touch with asu[at]london[dot]com.

Bye for now
Iris