Catalina Alvarez (Fordham University)
Daniel Fishkin (University of Virginia)
IMPORTANT!: Date and time correction
March 24, 2024 / 14:00-15:30 (JST) (Formerly announced as March 25, 2024 / 14:00-17:00)
10-301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Modos de Transporte (in-progress) is a multilingual travel-series. In the episode, “Bois du Rose” the host takes a high speed rail train from Paris to Bordeaux and there discovers the studio of Jose Le Piez, builder of “abrassons,” a type of friction drum sculpted from trees that sings with the simple caress of a hand. In fact, this instrument has a sonic ancestor called the livika, which comes from the island of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea, though there are no remaining indigenous elders trained to play it. As if possessed by these tree sounds, the travelogue dissolves into an abstract film of long takes and slow sounds.
Filmmaking team Catalina Alvarez & Daniel Fishkin will screen a draft of the Bois du Rose episode, incorporating live components including a demonstration of the livika and the daxophone.
Catalina Alvarez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Visual Arts at Fordham University. She incorporates physical theater and social issues into films, expanded cinema and virtual reality projects. Her films have screened at festivals including Slamdance, Fantastic Fest, New Orleans and Palm Springs, and venues such as the ICA Philadelphia, the San Diego Art Institute, and the Museum of the Moving Image. She is a recipient of fellowships and residencies from the Flaherty Seminar, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Rooftop Films, Flux Factory, and the Wexner Center for the Arts. Catalina grew up in a bilingual (Spanish and English) household. She teaches in the Visual Arts program at Fordham University, where she is head of Art & Engagement.
Daniel Fishkin is a PhD Fellow in Composition and Computer Music at University of Virginia. He builds instruments in order to live in music. Daniel’s lifeworks investigating the aesthetics of hearing damage have received international press; as an ally in the search for a cure, he has been awarded the title of “tinnitus ambassador” by the Deutsche Tinnitus-Stiftung. He is the only luthier that studied with the daxophone’s inventor, Hans Reichel; Daniel’s instruments have traveled the world, and are played by players based in Canada, California, Norway, Germany, France, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Australia. Daniel is currently a PhD Candidate in Composition and Computer Music at the University of Virginia.
This event is organized by David Slater (Professor of Anthropology, Sophia University).