The International Nothing

The International Nothing
Just None of Those Things (42 min, 2022)

Kai Fagaschinski | clarinet & composition
Michael Thieke | clarinet & composition

Album stream: https://theinternationalnothing.bandcamp.com/album/just-none-of-those-things

The International Nothing is a Berlin-based psycho-acoustic clarinet duo formed by Michael Thieke and Kai Fagaschinski in 2000. They collectively compose multilayered sound sculptures using multiphonics, beat frequencies and difference tones as an integral part of their language. Both musicians might be known as improvisers but in this project they develop and perform exclusively their own compositions crafted with an extreme care for detail and precision. The duo’s works have been released on several albums by the Japanese Ftarri Label. For 2 1/2 years The International Nothing had been working more obsessed than ever on their new long-form composition „Just None of Those Things“. The two clarinets continue to gel into one multilayered entity. And while you might recognize their collective voice, they certainly reached down way further into the abyss of weirdness. Ambiguously this one might count as their yet rawest and most refined work exploring their most futuristic and primordial sonic territories. The International Nothing toured all over Europe, North and South America and East Asia, including festival appearances like Donaueschinger Musiktage (2007), Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf 2008 & 2019), Experimental Intermedia (New York 2009), Maerzmusik (Berlin 2009), Serralves em Festa (Porto 2010), Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Darmstadt 2012), Météo (Mulhouse 2012), Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (2015), Music Unlimited (Wels 2015), Ftarri Festival (Tokyo 2015 & 2019), Novas Frequencias (Rio de Janeiro 2018), Elevate! (Graz 2020), Seanaps (Leipzig 2020), Meakusma (Eupen 2022), and WienModern (2022).

http://nichts.klingt.org/
https://theinternationalnothing.bandcamp.com/

Video performance of In Doubt We Trust:
https://vimeo.com/505552644

„But the duo’s greatest achievement has been their quiet yet steady advance as composers, and this new work – the product of two and a half years of research and practice – makes plain that Fagaschinski and Thieke are far more than a couple of sound-obsessed experimenters. I was fortunate enough to hear this piece played live during a lull in Covid’s second summer, and this recording is every bit as memorable as that experience, except it allows me to notice far more of the detail-rich action. While it’s single piece, the work goes through numerous sections, opening with aerated long tones and spilled breath that coalesce into sine tone-like shimmers. Soon fluctuations interrupt the calm for a braided compositional/textural rollercoaster ride – albeit a calm spin – where the psychoacoustic effects transform a series of terse motifs into a masterfully woven Persian carpet sound. Phrases and effects cycle on and on, but as they do there is a constant transformation, shifting between woozy undulation, hypnotic gliding, and pointillistic splattering. But the duo pushed those micro permutations into ever-shifting terrain, flowing from sequence to sequence with an elusive but unerring logic that’s deeply satisfying and conceptually whole. You need to be willing to surrender to the music, because that’s when the freedom kicks in.“ by Peter Margasak, The Wire (UK, 03/2022)

Finissage Nevena Aleksovski: Tišina

Solo exhibition

27.11.- 20.12.2024

Drawing series presented at the exhibition titled Tišina (meaning silence in all ex – Yugoslavian languages) was created during the artist Nevena Aleksovski’s stay at Artist-in-residence programme in Vienna supported by the Ministry of Culture of Slovenia. Nevena was visiting various events taking part at echoraum in September 2024 and was creating spontaneous drawings, sketches, visual notes etc. inspired by the live acts, different experimental sound performances, screenings and discursive programmes at echoraum. Through this series of works the artist aimed to translate various impressions from the sound, experimental and theoretical field into her specific visual language and the medium of drawing. She thus created multi-layered, expressive and fragmented visual work which responded to the spectrum of emotional, mental and spiritual states triggered by rich experimental programme at echoraum.

Another aspect of this series of works is also the artist’s reflection of the phenomenon of silence as the integral and constitutional part of each sound and musical performance as well as the huge importance of it in our navigating the experience of sound in general. The artist was therefore interested in the possibilities of translating the experience of silence from the sound into the visual field. By titling the exhibition Tišina which is the word for silence in all of the ex – Yugoslavian languages, the artist is also referring to the existence of huge ex – Yugoslavian diaspora in Vienna as well as to various aspects of the questions of identity, integration and migration experiences. Through this series of work she therefore aimed to create visual narratives that are reflecting physical, emotional, symbolic and socio-political nature of silence.

Nevena Aleksovski (b. 1984) earned her degree in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Novi Sad (RS), in 2008, and furthered her academic journey with a Master’s degree in Cultural Studies from the University of Ljubljana (SI), in 2014. She works mainly in the media of painting, drawing, installation and found objects. She has showcased her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions, among others at ŠKUC (SI), RAVNIKAR (SI), Britta Rettberg (DE), MGLC (SI), Cukrarna (SI), P74 Gallery (SI), PrivatePrint (MK), NADA Villa Warsaw (PL) as well as at various international art fairs including viennacontemporary, Art Rotterdam, Berlin Art Week, and others. Her work deals mainly with issues of identity, migration, personal geographies and (non)belonging. She lives and works in Ljubljana.

https://nevenaaleksovski.com/
Instagram: @nevena.aleksovski

*Supported by The Ministry of Culture of Slovenia