“Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and…stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to ‘walk about’ into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?”
Wassily Kandinsky 1866–1944
About AVA
AVA was formed in 2001 by Scylla Magda , as the curatorial branch of audio-visual Midlands based collective, Modulate . Prior to this, she was the organiser of experimental electronic music club Oscillate.* Currently she works with Crafting Community as lead artist & co producer of annual light night events, including Handsworth Park Illuminations and Birchfield Light Night.
AVA has fundraised for, and co ordinated /curated a small but significant number of AVA / Modulate produced projects and events in the Midlands supporting experimental electronic music, and the related development of live processed visuals and audio visual by:
– Bringing international sound and visual artists to perform in Birmingham including :
Monolake -Robert Henke (DL) / Frank Bretschneider (DL) / Damian Stewart (NZ) /
Karl Kliem (DL) / Fransisco Lopez (Spain) / Mia Makela (Finland) / Bas Van Koolwijk (NL) with Skiff ++ / Jeff Carey (U.S.A.) with Skiff ++ / Robert Van Heumen with Skiff ++ / Vladislav Delay (Finland/Berlin) / Fluxion (Greece) / Jan Jelinek (DL)
(* and with Oscillate : Autechre, Orbital, Mu-ziq, Higher Intelligence Agency,Plaid, Ultramarine,Locust, Children of the Bong, Insanity Sect, Freeform, The Drum Club, Pentatonic, Headspace, Banco de Gia, A Positive Life, Alex Patterson, State of Flux, Exquisite Corpse, Deep Space Network, Sun Electric, Space Time Continuum, Subtropic, Spring Heel Jack, Non Place Urban Field, & T-Power, Mix Master Morris, Telepathic Fish, & Chantal Passamonte ( Mira Calix)
– Creating opportunities for regional artists who have performed or worked alongside international artists at AVA curated and AVA/Moduate produced projects :
Birmingham Sound Matter
Sonic Culture Salons
Modulate 4 x Listening environments,
– By raising international awareness of Midlands based AV culture with the production of Modulate 5.1 DVD 10 x original audio visual compositions for surround sound viewing/listening, screened widely at international festivals including
New Forms Festival, Vancouver, Canada
AMODA, Austin Museum of Digital Art, Texas, USA
Optofonica / Five Days Off Festival Amsterdam
Mediateca of Caixa Forum, Barcelona, Spain
Sounds Electric Festival, Ireland