Audio Visual Performances

YII KAH-HOE is a contemporary composer and woodwind player. He was the winner of Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Forum for M alaysian Composers 2 (2007) and a recipient of the 3rd Prize in the International Composition for Chinese Orchestra organized by Singapore Chinese Orchestra (2006). Kah Hoe was the Finalist of International Composers Competition “Città di Udine” (Italy, 2010). Besides working artistically as a musician and composer, Kah Hoe also engaged in music education and the organization of a contemporary music collective, concerts and a festival in K.L., contributing intellectually and socially in the field. He was the festival director of Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival 2009, and the president of Society of Malaysian Contemporary Composers (SMCC). And most recently as the Director of Audio-visual Programme of KLEX 2013. Kah Hoe is currently a senior lecturer at SEGi College Subang Jaya, Malaysia.

Born In Malaysia, CHONG KEAT-AUN is a cross cultural performing artist, radio programmer, deejay, film critic, community art project founder, collaborated on series of art projects nationally and internationally since 2000s. On 9th February 2011, his cross art-cultural radio program won the “Seri Angkasa National Award”, Best Male Radio DJ and became the first Chinese broadcaster to obtain this honor in the Malaysian history. Chong was invited as a film jury for the 29th International Farj Film Festival in Iran 2011 and Hong Kong Documentary Festival 2012. The most fascinating cultural journey of Chong began in 2007 with his passion for Malaysian Chinese Accents. He initiated the project of collating Chinese Accent, focusing on the seven main spoken native tongue, Chinese opera and Folk music that are slowing being eroded in our land. By restoring and reviving the heritage of dialect, Chong was nominated for “Ten Outstanding Young Malaysia Awards 2011” in cultural achievement category.

DHARMA is the guitarist of Singapore avant-rock band The Observatory. The Observatory has released 6 full length albums and 1 split vinyl (with Norwegian band MOE) to date. They have toured extensively in Europe and Asia. Dharma has involved in several bands including Singapore veteran band Heritage that plays contemporary rock; Throb, that plays experimental jazz funk; Meddle, an improv avant-rock quartet. In 2012 he was involved in the theatre production The Song of the Broken Hearted Tiger (Directed by Ho Tzu Nyen) which was presented at The Esplanade, Singapore. Together with Shaun Sankaran (Mind Fucking Boy), he formed Chöd, an experimental / improvisational outfit that explores the meeting of spirituality and noise. Under the Earthbound experimental gig series, Chöd has performed twice, notably one on the same bill with Norwegian noise artist Lasse Marhaug. Dharma released his first solo album, Intergranular Space in mid 2013.

YONG YANDSEN is an improvised saxophonist. He has played at the Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival, Mosaic Festival Singapore, Choppa Eclectic Improvised Music Festival (Singapore), Turn Around Free Jazz & Improvisation Festival (Singapore), Music Matters Festival (Sri Lanka) amongst others. Yandsen’s debut LP of solo saxophone improvisations was released by Doubtful Sound (France) in 2013. Yandsen, together with Moore and O’Reily have formed an improvised trio Game of Patience and have toured to Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Yandsen is the audio-visual programme director of KLEX, and founder and programmer of KLEX’s monthly performance lab series Serious Play Improv Lab (SPIL) and Free Improvised Music (FIM) series. (Photo: Darshen Celliah)

Jason Bernagozzi is a video, sound and new media artist living and working in upstate New York and is the co-founder of the experimental media arts non-profit Signal Culture. His work has been featured nationally and internationally at venues such as the European Media Arts Festival in Osnabruk, Germany, the LOOP Video Art Festival in Barcelona, Spain, the Beyond/In Western NY Biennial in Buffalo, NY, and the Yan Gerber International Arts Festival in Hebei Province, China. His work has received several awards including grants from the New York State Council for the Arts, Wavefarm and the ARTS Council for the Southern Finger Lakes. Memory and Ritual in Frame Difference (2012) is a meditation on the complex relationships between ritual and public space at the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, where Jason was doing an artist residency in Malaysia. In a space shared by both devout hindus and tourists, the frame difference processing allows the viewer to focus on action and change within the recording. Electronic insights of body vernacular happening in mediated time.

Sharp sweeping shards of improvised music combining elements of free jazz, electronic music and free improv. Game of Patience features Yong Yandsen (Malaysia) on saxophone, Brian O’Reilly (USA/Singapore) on contrabass + electronics and Darren Moore (Australia/Singapore) on drums & percussion. (Photo: Bannai Roo)

BLACK ZENITH is Brian O’Reilly (USA) and Darren Moore (Australia). The duo performs using analog modular synthesizers & moving images. They produce dense sonic textures that generate live visuals through the transformation of audio signals into images. Black Zenith draws as much influence from noise music & the electroacoustic music tradition as they do from the foundations of abstract video art. Black Zenith is focused on researching the intersecting points between electroacoustic music, improvisation and experimental video art. Integral to their research is the exploration of the interface of these elements within live performance. Black Zenith investigates the symbiotic relationship between sound and image considering each element as of equal importance in the artist output. (Photo: Bannai Roo)

GOH LEE-KWANG is internationally recognized sound & new media artist from Malaysia. He has created sound installations, sonic-visual interactive installations, single channel video, multi-channels video, electro-acoustic improvised music performance, tape music, composition for radio broadcast and soundtrack for theater / dance / independent movie. Goh’s works focus on the various possibility of both realistic & abstract, crossing the boundaries of digital & analog, electronic & acoustic, go beyond language, allowing audiences to experience the work directly, and in their own personal way. Most of his installation also operating interactively with the audience/viewer.

WONG ENG-LEONG is an visual artist based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He received his Diploma in Fine Art majoring in painting from Malaysia Institute of Art in 2003. His works take on multiple forms such as painting, drawing, installation, video and performance. As a contemporary multi disciplinary artist, his work often deal with political and social issues. His work has been showcased at festival, galleries and privates spaces since 2000. He received Eng Tay Awards in 2001 and 2002. In 2002 – 2005, He was selected for a two and a half year grant ‘Talent for the World’. He was then awarded the Krishen Jit Astro Fund for an audio visual performance project ‘The Rain Project’ in 2008 – 2009. Wong is also one of the founders of Findars Artists Collective and one of the founders of Findars space. Findars space is an alternative multifunctional space in Kuala Lumpur, organized art exhibition, performance art event, indie & experimental music concert, audio visual performance and international film screening since 2008.

HARAPPIAN NIGHT RECORDINGS is the solo moniker of Hunter Gracchus member SYED KAMRAN ALI. Since releasing his critically acclaimed debut album, The Glorious Gongs Of Hainuwele, on Bo Weavil early in 2009 Ali has produced a slew of increasingly deranged albums on various microlabels across Europe. These releases have seen him move into ambivalent and disturbed psychic territories that have parodied, mutated and ripped apart singular fourth world cosmopolitanisms in a disjunctured maelstrom of frenetic, conflicting and distorted energies.

KOK SIEW-WAI is a video artist and improvised vocalist. Siew-Wai has shown her videos and performed in festivals such as Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival, Choppa Eclectic Improvised Music Festival (Singapore), Busan International Video Art Festival, Bangkok Experimental Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam and more. Siew-Wai and YONG Yandsen formed Reflex Reactions, an improvised duo with voice and saxophone.

HKPT is an improvised music duo — with the occasional guest member or two — with a love for the weirder, noisier and more abrasive side of the sound spectrum. Working chiefly with electronic and electro-acoustic sounds, the core duo of Azzief (Jerk Kerouac, ZDICM) and Sudarshan (Larry Clark, ex-Think! Tadpole! Think!) record and perform anything from minimal improvised electronics to screeching harsh noise workouts and anything in between. Bring earplugs.