NE Amplifier 7
Tuesday 18 February 2025, 19:00 CET
RADIO WORM
On this episode, Semay Wu (NE) presents works by Ella Kay and Seraphim Blush, and revisits New Emergence’s 20th production, Exquisite Corpse – recomposing the body. Semay Wu, composer of Exquisite Corpse, will talk about her idea, compositional approach, and how the involved artists gave shape to the performance which took place in November 2019.
Listen live via radio.worm.org
Track list
1. Ella Kay – As The Earth Preserves
2. Seraphim Blush – Contact
3. Semay Wu – Exquisite Corpse
About the Artists
Ella Kay – As The Earth Preserves
Ella Kay is an electro-acoustic composer, sound artist, stroke designer and saxophonist.Her music aims to interpret the intricacies of humanity using field recordings through a mixture of fixed works, interactive media and live performances.
This piece explores the sounds of organic activity and human involvement in spaces commonly affiliated with archaeological dig sites. The work highlights and responds to Manchester Museum’s 2023 Archive. This piece is the first of its kind in the history of archaeology exhibition, by drawing upon the preserving processes and environments of archaeological artefacts before they come to be in museums today. With the help of sound recordings captured above and below ground, the work offers an insight into the Earth’s changing landscapes from beneath, highlighting the passage of time and its role in caring for lost pieces of history before they are unearthed.
You’ll be listening to a stereo reduction of the original piece.
Ella Kay
Seraphim Blush – Contact
Seraphim Blush has just released a new album on February 9 2025, in the form of a cassette, called Rot Fungus Animorph. We’ll be listening to the track Contact, which is the last track on the album. The music is described as computer-reconfigured sample collages stitched together from phone recordings, trinkets, improvisations, both from home and at live shows between 2023 to 2024.
Seraphim Blush
Semay Wu – Exquisite Corpse
On the 23rd of November 2019, we had our 20th New Emergences production. This was a special one, it was called Exquisite Corpse – Recomposing the Body, composed by the NE member Semay Wu.
Exquisite Corpse is a 35-minute electro-acoustic audio-visual game piece. It has a series of five graphic scores, where each one represents a part of the body. Four musicians, a visual artist and a performance artist enter the game, and generate a score in real-time, exploring the discrepancies and frictions between our relationship to our bodies and society’s ideal norms.
The performance was premiered at Splendor in Amsterdam, combined with a panel discussion between makers, artists, thinkers and audience, to explore the themes of chance, acceptance, body differences, reflection, self-identity, and androgyny as alien or ideal.
Credits
Artistic Director: Semay Wu – composer, cellist, sound artist
Technical Director: Dan Gibson – sound artist, instrument builder & designer
New Instrument Concept, Coding & Build: Semay Wu and Dan Gibson
Performers
Sato Endo – choreographer, performance artist
Emily Fong – visual artist
Dan Gibson – sound artist, instrument designer
Fani Konstantinidou – composer, sound artist, music researcher
Anne Wellmer – composer, performer, media artist
Semay Wu – composer, cellist, sound artist
Speakers
Mariette Groot – moderator
Emily Fong – visual artist
Marianna Maruyama – artist working with the body, voice and language.
Joan Dee – body modification artist
Sato Endo – Exquisite Corpse performance, Splendor 2019