FORUM WALLIS

Contemporary Music Festival, Switzerland

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Manuel Mengis (trp/el) Hanspeter Pfammatter (key/el) Lionel Friedli (dr) Manuel Troller (guit/el) excerpt recorded@ FORUM WALLIS 2013 / Stage In Focus - Marie Noële Guex le pot spielen zeitgenössischen Jazz le pot existieren genau jetzt le pot spielt mit viel elektronischem Gerät le pot klingt wie Samba Oelek le pot schreit laut in den Himmel le pot kann aber auch Zuckerbrot sein le pot tanzt le pot stinkt le pot hinkt

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excerpt recorded@ FORUM WALLIS 2013 / Stage In Focus - Marie Noële Guex SkizZippichkeit (2013) Russian composer, musicologist, arranger, teacher and executor (piano, keyboards, violin). He was born in 1964 in Rostov-on- Don. It was the Rostov State Rakhmaninov Conservatory (RSRC) where he was graduated from and later has got a postgraduate course under supervision of Prof. Vitaly S. Khodosch (composition). Later M. Fuchsmann also studied as a musicologist under Prof. Tatyana V. Frantova and have taken his Ph. D. degree in Art Criticism in 2002. He has currently a position of associated professor in RSRC. M. Fuchsmann has written compositions for orchestras (not only symphonic one), chamber music, pieces for voice, choir. Some of his works combine both traditional instruments and electronic media. Several performances of Rostov State Puppet Theatre named after Vladimir S. Bylkov are accompanied by Michael`s music. In several cases M. Fuchsmann incorporate his compositions in complex actions demonstrating the unity of sounding message in its artistic, scientific and educational sides. He is also an author of numerous arrangements for various instrumental groups. Texts of «music in words» represent one other essential aspect of Michael`s activity. The works of M. Fuchsmann are executed mostly by Russian musicians including Russian folk instruments orchestra «Don» (Rostov-on-Don), «Studio for New Music» (Moscow), «Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble» (Moscow), «eNsemble» (St.-Petersburg), «Capriccio» (Rostov-on- Don), pianists Mikhail Dubov (Moscow), Sofia Bugayan (Rostov-on-Don), extremal vocalist Boris Filanovsky (St.-Petersburg), violinist Evgenia Linskaya (Rostov-on-Don) and others. Multielement style of M. Fuchsmann incorporates the features of contemporary academic composition, free and/or controlled improvisation, jazz, rock. Sometimes with an ear to enlarge this mixture Michael adds the flavors of previous epochs of music or non- Western traditional art without pretending to be literally precise in these stylistic exercises. As a musicologist M. Fuchsmann writes about thematic development and rhythmical structures in musical composition, creative process of composer, computer musical technologies. He also popularizes the activity of Rostov musicians.

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recorded@ FORUM WALLIS 2013 / Stage In Focus - Marie Noële Guex Simon Wunderlich received his instructions in art in Germany, Spain, The United States of America and Switzerland. The overall interest in Wunderlich's work is questioning the perception of reality in order for the viewers to achieve a stronger sense of awareness. He achieves this by allowing them to take their time and engage them actively in a spatial and temporal situation, either within outdoors or indoors. Time plays quite an important role in his projects and they are often subjected to the changes of natural and artificial light. Recently he has been developing many of his art pieces within the architectonical context of the spaces where he is working at or where he is going to exhibit them. He tries to draw the viewers' attention by creating appealing environments to penetrate their momentary reality in a way that the current experience through the nteraction with the piece becomes the important part. In these situations the viewer is confronted with a variety of phenomena, such as reflections, projections of light, mirroring effects, plays of shadow and light, experiments in the darkness, vortexes of smoke, malfunctions, sound installations, representations of space, etc. Wunderlich creates the phenomena by experimenting with products and materials from building supplies stores or so called DIY (Do It Yourself) superstores, that he uses because of their easy accessibility and their universal dimensions to which everybody can easily relate to since we are surrounded by them. By the choice of the materials and the setup of the artwork Wunderlich tries to make it clear to the viewer that he offers only a mock-up for the ultimate experience that any kind of art actually can't provide. DIY materials are characteristically simple and practical and they lack of delicacy and they have the spirit of spontaneity and directness. In the beginning their cheap and raw appearance can be awkward, but through process of assembling they lose their sturdiness and convert into something beautiful, actually delicate and often ephemeral. The imperfection of the DIY materials shall help the viewer to enjoy the experience in the situation rather than to be overwhelmed by high-end finishes full of effects, which can distract and raise questions how something is really done instead of asking what it is and what does it do. Wunderlich's work turns into authentic "homemade" experiments creating situations about the exploration of the spiritual and sublime, while at the same time lending irony to itself through its practical character of the construction and its imperfection, which all can be understood as well as questions about the boundaries of art.