Green Music

Empty Gallery is pleased to present Green Music – a piece by the Danish fluxus composer, Henning Christiansen – reinterpreted and performed by Tomoko Sauvage and Francesco Cavaliere.

The music of Henning Christiansen comes from the 20th Century avant-garde but does not sit comfortably amongst any of the recognisable patterns within that field. A turning point in his creative output came in the year 1984 when he created a piece that was a deeper reflection on nature. He called it Green-ear-year, a signpost to listen to nature. A number of sketches and watercolours he made throughout this year all pointed to the act of listening to what is out there. Henning Christiansen was sympathetic with all sounds. He did not distinguish a hierarchy amongst any of them.

In their sound installation/ performance, Sauvage and Cavaliere play visual music with green sculptures, icons, plants, tea, minerals, glass, ceramic, cassettes and green-painted synthesizers, as a tribute to Christiansen’s obsession with sounds from nature and the colour green. Surrounded by a small collection of green curiosities, the duo are mainly using a pair of glass bowls filled with water and leaves, diving in a repetitive aquatic rhythm amplified by two hydrophones. Objects in different shades of green are mixed and displaced as if in an act of painting, where relations of colour and sound are explored and celebrated.

Tomoko Sauvage, a Paris-based Japanese musician and sound artist, is known for her serene, contemplative and aquatic waterbowls music, where she uses water-filled porcelain bowls of different sizes and hydrophones for her electro-acoustic performances and compositions. The sound of every water wave, droplet and bubble resonating in the bowls is amplified and goes into audio feedback to create waving drones and natural overtones. In her works, Sauvage seeks delicate balance between the controlled and uncontrolled, manipulation and chance, repetition and instance. Sauvage exhibited and performed extensively around Europe, US, Canada and Japan, notably at Empty Gallery (HK), Grimmuseum (BER), Centre Pompidou-Metz (FR), Musée de la céramique d’Andenne (BE) etc. Her music was released by and/OAR (US), aposiopèse (BE), dokidoki editions (FR).

Francesco Cavaliere is a Berlin based Italian sound artist. A formally trained musician, Cavaliere has developed a unique style of utilising his voice as the main source of sounds, as well as a library of homemade sound effects. Inspired by literature and film, his work is reminiscent of old radio drama, where a strong narrative is accompanied by prominent electronic music. Cavaliere creates a universe of eccentric characters and elements, not only by inventive expressions through fiction and sound, but also attentive use of intonations and gesticulations. First introduced to the world through the tape “Neverending Somersault”, Francesco Cavaliere released his full length LP “Gancio Celo” on the label Hundebiss (IT) in 2016, as well as a second volume in the same year.