Home > Events > "Dissolving Localities" - A multimedia portrait of Jerusalem by Emmanuel Witzthum

"Dissolving Localities" - A multimedia portrait of Jerusalem by Emmanuel Witzthum

An audio/visual project in which the sights and sounds of daily life in Jerusalem are transformed into a work of art.

Monday, March 12, 2012
6:15 PM - 7:30 PM
Broad Art Center
Experimental Digital Arts (EDA), Room 1250
UCLA Campus

Emmanuel Witzthum’s multimedia project, Dissolving Localities, focuses on the layers that compose the city of Jerusalem. Witzhum and his collaborating artists “perform” the city as a musical/visual instrument. By interweaving sights and sounds recorded over several years and ranging from birds’ songs to street noise, from prayer fragments to church bells, the project creates an expanding open-source multimedia montage, highlighting contrasts and unexpected harmonies. The piece transforms daily life into a work of art, creating a multicultural dialogue that represents the complexity and diversity of life in Jerusalem. Nature, people, industry and religion provide the source material, including field recordings of the prayers of Jerusalem’s three monotheistic religions.

Emmanuel Witzthum is currently Schusterman Foundation Israeli visiting artist and lecturer at UC Berkeley.  In recent years he has served as artistic consultant to the Cultural department of The Tel Aviv Municipality (2011), Artistic Director of The Lab performing arts center in Jerusalem (2009-2011), and music consultant and artistic coordinator at The Israel Festival Jerusalem (2005-2009).   Previously, he was composer in residence in the DAAD "Artists program" in Berlin, where he founded a multimedia group combining electronic music and video art; he also resided in Paris, participating in the yearlong course for composers at IRCAM.  Witzthum holds a Master's degree from The Hebrew University Jerusalem in Culture Studies (2004-2008), and a Bachelor's degree from The Manhattan School of Music in NYC, studying composition with Dr. Nils Vigeland and viola with Michael Tree of the Guarneri Quartet (1996-1999).  He performed as violist with: The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Boston Symphony, Berlin Staatskapelle, Deutsche Oper, Ensemble Inter Contemporain, and The Israel Philharmonic, amongst others, playing under Seiji Ozawa, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Mazur, Claudio Abbado and others. He has written numerous acoustic and electronic works, and released acoustic and electronic music on the "Cotton Goods", "Teder" and "Statisfield" Labels. Since 2010, he has also been a lecturer at Sapir College, teaching cultural and arts management.

 

 

Pay-per-space parking is available in UCLA Structure 3, near the corner of Hilgard and Sunset.  

How to Park at UCLA

Cost: Free and open to the public

Tel: (310) 825-9646
Israel@international.ucla.edu

Sponsor(s): Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies