Cathy van Eck is a composer, sound artist, and researcher in the arts. She focuses on composing relationships between everyday objects, human performers, and sound. Her artistic work includes performances with live-electronics and installations with sound objects which she often designs herself. She is interested in setting her gestures into relationships with sounds, mainly by electronic means. The result could be called “performative sound art”, since it combines elements from performance art, electronic music, and visual arts.
Cathy’s Sounds Unheard Studio Talk series, “Sounds from somewhere else”, explores her work with speakers, microphones, sensors and systems. Over four videos, Cathy introduces a number of her works and explains the concepts and technology behind her creative output.
In the final episode of this series, “Interaction Systems”, Cathy explains how she’s expanded her work with microphones and loudspeakers by adding sensors to her toolkit. In “Cheering for Others Makes You A Leader” (2016), Cathy uses the sensors in smartphones to trigger various electronic sounds with specific gestures. We also hear Cathy’s work “Wings” (2007-2008), which looks at another movement system. In this piece, performers place objects between microphones and speakers to control and manipulate feedback.
Thanks for joining us for Cathy’s Studio Talk series. For more information on Cathy, please visit https://www.cathyvaneck.net/. Keep an eye out for our next Studio Talk series in September 2022!
Tags: Cathy van Eck Composer Composing composition sound art
