Carsten Nicolai aka Alva Noto

RAY COLLECTOR, 2022-2023

Variable dimensions

In 2022, ten packages were sent from Berlin to 10 addresses around the world - always on an island, to a fictitious name, Mr. Nemo, after the captain of the Nautilus in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The consignments were to be returned to the sender, Carsten Nicolai, at his own expense. Each package contained: 1 cassette of unrecorded magnetic tape, 1 Ilford 3200 delta black & white film, ISO 1000, and 1 Kodak color negative film, ISO 800. On their return, these media were developed and digitized, and the traces left by their exposure to various electromagnetic waves and radiation during the journey were made visible, audible.

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HYbr:ID SESSION, 2021

Live session

This film-performance combining music, light and visual art is part of an ambitious project exploring the boundaries between electronic music, contemporary dance and the physical sciences. Initiated in 2021, the series comprises several albums, each associated with choreographic collaborations and scientific concepts. The first was composed for Oval, a choreographic piece by Richard Siegal. It will be followed by an album to accompany Ectopia, a performance by Tanztheater Pina Bausch, incorporating Anish Kapoor's Shooting into the Corner, and another inspired by Japanese Noh theater, for Richard Siegal's Ballet of (Dis)Obedience.

WARNING: This video may potentially trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. Caution is advised.

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Carsten Nicolai aka Alva Noto

Born 1965
Based in Berlin

Trained in architecture and landscape design, Carsten Nicolai's work is at the crossroads of art, science and technology. His immersive installations explore invisible phenomena such as sound and light frequencies, using mathematical structures and self-organizing processes. Under the pseudonym Alva Noto, he pursues minimalist sound experiments and collaborates with artists such as Ryuichi Sakamoto - they notably composed the soundtrack for Alejandro González Iñárritu's film The Revenant. In 1994, he founded the Noton label, now Raster-Noton, a major reference for experimental electronic music.