Shape is a new experimental improvisation ensemble comprised of Viv Corringham (vocalist), Stephen Goldstein (laptops and various electronics and controllers) and Craig Harris (real time sampling and processing). Viv extemporizes with a broad vocal palette, with and without words; Stephen draws upon his vast toolbox of sounds, controllers and live performance techniques; and Craig records and processes them both, feeding the material back into the mix to create a sound fabric that the three “shape” together.
This is an excerpt from a 40-minute session. (12-minutes, 40 seconds)
Viv Corringham is a British vocalist and sound artist, currently based in Minneapolis, USA, who has worked internationally since the early 1980s. Her work includes music performances and audio installations. She is interested in exploring people’s special relationship with familiar places and how that links to an interior landscape of personal history, memory and association. Her ongoing project Shadow-walks has been presented in gallery shows from New York to Istanbul to Portugal. Recent work has featured in Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Portugal; C33 Gallery, Chicago; Proteus Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY; Deep Listening Institute, Kingston, NY; NAISA Toronto, Canada; Abrons Art Center, New York City; Meridian Gallery, San Francisco; Galata Perform, Istanbul and Spark Electronic Music Festival, Minneapolis. She received a McKnight Composer Fellowship in 2006.
Drummer/Percussionist Stephen Goldstein moved from sticks, skins and cymbals to laptops, percussion controllers, standalone hand drum electronic synths and electronics gradually over the past decade. Originally a drummer/percussionist Goldstein performed with a vast number of name performers in a variety of genres and idioms dating back to the '60s. In the late '80s he started studying with ghatam/solkattu vidwan TH Subash Chandran. Goldstein currently resides in Minneapolis where he performs with Douglas Ewart, Donald Washington, AntiGravity, Carei Thomas, David Means, Quasar as well as a number of other groups.
Craig Harris is a composer, new media artist and designer, writer and consultant in the non-profit arts community. His artwork includes works for concert performance, music theater and performance art, dance, video, multimedia and art installation. His music and multimedia artwork has been presented at numerous international festivals and concerts, and includes commissions to create work for renowned soprano Renée Fleming, and for the Sabes JCC Center for Jewish Arts and Humanities. Since the early 1980s Craig has been using sound sampling and processing techniques in his composition, live performances and installations, appearing in numerous solo and ensemble performances at the Walker Art Center, Science Museum of Minnesota, several venues in San Francisco, and in international festivals. Craig received his Ph.D. degree in Composition at Eastman School of Music.