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stage: explorations

“nowhere dense”: Max Arsava CD-Release

© Luise AnnaHeinig

Location: exploratorium berlin, Saal

Concert series explorations

Max Hirth – tenor saxophone
Ignaz Schick – turntables, sampler
Max Arsava – piano, electronics
Alex Bayer – double bass
Flo Fischer – drums

Max Arsava is a pianist and composer based in Berlin. In addition to his main instrument, he also plays synthesizers and other electroacoustic sound generators, and works with cassette tapes, contact microphones, objects, as well as loopers and samplers. In 2018 he founded the trio werken with the Copenhagen-based singer Sarah Buchner and the Düsseldorf-based clarinettist Sebastian Langer, which is dedicated to improvised chamber music beyond stylistic listening expectations; in 2023 the trio released its debut album collective wiring. Since 2022 he has been working with the composer and sound artist Jascha Hagen on the cybernetic extension of the prepared piano. In November 2023 the quintet’s debut album nowhere dense was released on the Berlin label Aut Records.

In mathematics, a nowhere dense set is, simply put, a topological concept in which no matter how much you zoom into a given structure, an infinite number of gaps reveal an infinite number of porosities; but this album is not necessarily what some would call ‘mathematical’ music. Rather, the listener is invited to imagine different modes of permeability, on a formal, substantive or other level, in which each structure may collapse into another, repeat in contrasting ways, or disintegrate into scattered particles, giving way to a fragmented soundscape that ranges from intimate, crystalline textures to expressive, noisy outbursts.

The music of nowhere dense was conceived to address several dilemmas and conditions: writing for a diverse ensemble of acoustic and electronic instruments, especially those that mostly evade conventional forms of notation; balancing free improvisation with densely composed passages; negotiating repetition and development within the form; and finally, creating a hybrid sound body in which each musician can bring out his or her own idiosyncratic way of transforming the given material while remaining true to a still jazz-oriented approach.

Free admission, suggested donation 5-15 €.
If necessary, please make a reservation in advance via this email: ma@exploratorium-berlin.de

For access to the box office and concert hall, please use entrance H (via the courtyard).

 

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Please note that the programmes are only available in German.

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exploratorium berlin

Zossener Straße 24
10961 Berlin (Kreuzberg)

Marheinekeplatz (Bus 248, 20m)
U Gneisenaustraße (Bus 140, U7, 200m)
U Mehringdamm (Bus M19, U6, U7, 900m)

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Mi 14.00 – 18.00
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