Short Cuts: Beauty
ZKM's International Competition for Electroacoustic Music 

The Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe is an important partner of the World New Music Festival. For “grenzenlos”, the ZKM put on an international competition in electroacoustic music entitled “Short Cuts: Beauty”. “Short Cuts: Beauty” should deliver an insight into the multiple concepts of beauty from different cultures. The competition was directed towards musically creative people throughout the world dealing with computer music. The ZKM looked for short pieces of 3 to 8 minutes in duration. The works should represent the artists' concepts of beauty through three of their favourite sounds which can be arranged in any way. The artists were invited to give their fantasy free reign. They could use everyday sounds, voices and whatever they like.
The deadline was June 15, 2006.

All submissions are presented throughout the festival from July 14 until 29, 2006. There will be special audio stations at the ZKM Karlsruhe and the festival's media center at the Theaterhaus Stuttgart. Moreover, the Museum of Art in Stuttgart will exclusively open a chillout lounge to present a selection of the most inventive “Short Cuts: Beauty”. Other works will be broadcasted through the internetradio of the German Society for Electroacoustics. “Short Cuts: Beauty” aims at presenting not only the different aesthetic biases of individual artists, but also the cultural concepts and artistic visions beyond. Thus, the compositions reflect the festival's topic: “grenzenlos” refers to the existing and diminishing borders between people from different cultures and singles out the significance of art as a central theme. Is it possible for art to overcome existing borders or to negotiate between them? How do artists in different parts of the world react to the challenges of media, mobility and cultural tradition? Which kind of access do they have to new technologies? How do they define their cultural identity?

1st Prize

Francis Dhomont (France)
Corps et âme
In “Corps et âme” Francis Dhomont demonstrates in an impressive way that limitation of material doesn’t necessarily mean limitation of expression. Thus, he meets one of the basic ideas of the competition. By processing sounds in an immensely virtuosic way Dhomont creates a fascinating musical journey.

Shintaro Imai (Japan)
Figure in Movement
By using archaic sounds – far away from either occidental or oriental ideals - Imai evokes images of a pre-cultural musical world in which the local colour is completely subordinated by the rampant noisy material. For him, beauty is consequently described in landscapes of pre-human times - when there were no continents and all was one. The work captivates by his spontaneity of the singular sound levels, a concert of cell division.

Ailís Ní Ríain (UK)
Street-Song
The work “Street-Song” by Ailís Ní Ríain captivates with its icon like sounds and musical form. Like a movie by Fellini the used sounds evoke an aura of associations. The material, however, is declined in the course of the piece to be eventually concentrated in a contrapuntal way and to be juxtaposed in ever new combinations. Simplicity and intensity are married in a congenial way. By this, the piece achieves the level required by “Short Cuts: Beauty”.

Ana María Romano (Columbia)
agujeros
The piece “agujeros” by Ana María Romano stands out as the composer uses little sound material yet provides many different sound experiences. The use of dynamics and the positioning of sounds in the stereo field are particularly impressive means to create a traceable development of the work.

Wilfried Jentzsch (Germany)
Dream of B
“Dream of B” by Wilfried Jentzsch convinces by formal conciseness and by a well-done juxtaposition of acoustic instruments and electronic processed ones. By including Balinese music the thematic focus of the festival is emphasised: “grenzenlos / without borders”

2nd Prize
 
Frank Niehusmann (Germany)
Gasometer
Frank Niehusmann shows austere beauty: In his piece he depicts the vastness of the industrial space of the “Gasometer” and confronts it with sounds of industrial production and mining.
Using these unprocessed and thus “un-alienated” he creates an intensive listening experience which affects directly.
 
Balint Bolcso (Hungary)
Farblos
Balint Bolsco's work “Farblos” (without colour) is characterised by an enormous dramatic potential combined with a distinct sense for the shaping of the sound development. He manages to create orchestral sound structures, which he – under constant eruptions – develops into a climax. With his command of sound and material he creates an impressive music. 

Antonio Russek (Mexico)
Canica 1
With three short sounds Antonio Russek creates a miniature world of sound and power.

Sébastian Beranger (France)
Le complexe de la goutte d’eau
Beranger creates a whole world out of the sound of a single falling water drop. In constant modulation of the sound the drop – symbol of life that comes out of water – is elevated to become spatial sound sculpture. By refining, alienating and expending his sound spectrum Beranger shows how versatile digital means can be used. An honest “handmade” music.

Vytautas Germanavicius (Lithuania)
Sunset Arrays for prepared piano and computer
In “Sunset Arrays for prepared piano and computer” Vytautas Germanavicius succeeds to create a fine balance and merging of the piano and the live-electronics. The pace of the music remains consciously monotonous but carries through right to the end.

3rd Prize

Jan Stoltenhoff (Germany)
Bin ich schön?
A man, a woman, a wardrobe.
Using minimalistic means Jan Stoltenhoff tells an everyday story and brings up an essential question: How is beauty created?
Stoltenhoff’s choice of material is obvious and simple, yet among the submissions singular.

Claudio Perugini (Italy)
Pythagorean
In a time where synthesized music has reached some kind of scarcity value Perugini’s idea proofs to be original and striking. By utilising Pythagorean proportions as a basis for synthesised spectres he creates a fascinating world of sound, which, though sometimes seemingly superficial, transports the idea of beauty inherently via the material.

Eldad Tsabary (Canada)
In the Eye of the Believer
The task of the competition was to depict an idea of beauty using three sounds. In his piece “In the Eye of the Believer” Eldad Tsabary achieves this by a somewhat unorthodox solution which in the end moving and simply beautiful.

Pei-Yu Shi (Germany/Taiwan)
Liu An Hwa Ming (dark meadows and blooming flowers)
The composer mediates between Western and Eastern hemisphere by consciously chosen timbres. Her lyrical approach turns into a somewhat international one; pipa and clarinet sounds are used as landmarks. Couleur locale as basic sound attribute.

Victor V. Pushkar (Ukrainia)
Pushkar lake
“Pushkar lake” by Victor V. Pushkar represents a number of pieces from the genre Electronica/Ambient/Drones. “Pushkar lake” is refreshingly unpretentious and authentic.