Simple Present / Music performance with body, voice, room-in-room and live audio
"Simple Present" ist eine Raum-in-Raum und Live-Audio Aufführung mit Anton X und Alexey Kokhanov.
"Simple Present" is a room-in-room and live audio performance with Anton X and Alexey Kokhanov.
In the expanded context of contemporary music, performance and improvisation, the artists address the question of physical presence and try to think beyond the mere realisation of a score. Is presence a musical material? How do the modes of production and reception change if the physical presence of a concrete musician takes centre place? An attempt to overcome the anonymity and disembodiment of the score. In the complex network of feedback, resonances and physical actions, the artists bring the presence to a threshold state in order to make it more perceptible.
By and with Anton X and Alexey Kokhanov.
Funded by the initiative neue musik berlin e.V.
Alexey Kokhanov is a singer, performer and sound artist in Berlin. He transitioned from opera to contemporary music and performance art. Alexey participated in various theatre and opera projects, including "Octavia. Trepanation" by D. Kourliandski at the Holland Festival and "Stream Switch" by T. Reifler at the Museum Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. Alexey is active in the Berlin independent dance scene: "Menstrual Metal" by Jule Flierl, Ausufern (2019), and with his own performance projects including "Marxophony" at KAHO Theater Berlin (2021), "Irrungen, Wirrungen" at BAM Festival (2022). He has collaborated closely with composers and music ensembles: Maulwerker (Berlin), Neue Vokalsolisten (Stuttgart), Zafraan Ensemble (Berlin), Maurice Quartett (Italy).
Alexey critically questions the processes of normativity and cultural change and investigates their interaction. In his work he is driven to broaden narrowed horizons. He is interested in the artistic expression of history and the present. He aims to integrate sound art and singing into contemporary art making. In doing so, he relies on performative gestures that, together with ephemeral physical sounds, connect different artistic practices and historical time levels.
Anton X is a composer and media artist. He studied radio engineering at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University and composition at the University of the Arts with Prof. Younghi Pagh-Paan, Prof. Jörg Birkenkötter and Prof. Kilian Schwoon. Among others, he has worked with: ensemble mosaik, Klangwerkstatt Berlin, Neues Kollektiv München, Biennale Aktueller Musik Bremen, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, 11.11 neue musik, Platforma Moscow, hand werk Cologne, Ensemble New Babylon and KLANK and Randspiele Berlin.
In his work Anton deals with the relationship between the new and the old media as well as with the role of corporeality in the context of music as a performative art. He attempts to question the prevailing conditions of production and reception in contemporary music. He addresses political, social and interpersonal questions. His work includes ensemble pieces with and without audio/video, performance, music theatre, installation, sculpture and film. Anton X lives and works in Berlin.