NATURE AMPLIFIED

Monday, July 29
Kotor Creative Hub, 9:30 p.m.
NATURE AMPLIFIED
NAE Collective

Partitipans:
Branimir Norac, composer
Filip Merčep, composer
Vid Veljak, composer
Tomislav Oliver, composer

Partneri programa:

NAE Collective is an ensemble of composers, performers, and new media artists committed to the creation of experimental art. It was established in 2022 and is based in Zagreb, Croatia. The founding members include composer and live electronics performer Tomislav Oliver, cellist Vid Veljak, percussionist Filip Merčep, and clarinetist Branimir Norac, joined by drummer and sound artist Boy van Ooijen, new media artist Tin Dožić, and video artist Goran Nježić. The collective thrives on close creative collaboration between the members, but also with other composers and artists. Focusing on multimedia projects that drive artistic innovation and expression, their projects and performances are designed to expand and challenge the musical experiences of their audience, featuring original works that integrate live electronics, performer-controlled sonic and visual amplification, and cutting-edge video and lighting design. Improvisation plays an important role in their performances, allowing for spontaneous and dynamic interactions between the artists and their mediums.

The NAE Collective has begun its artistic journey by addressing a fundamental issue: the alienation of contemporary humans from nature. This project, inspired by the disconnection of modern individuals from natural processes, aims to reconnect audiences through a multidisciplinary art form project named "Nature Amplified." The collective aims to broaden the outreach of their artistic visions of amplified nature, as well as the creative potential of this newly formed, cross-sector, experimental ensemble. The original goal was to create an audio-visual project in which natural processes form the base of a multimedia performance, whereby collected data from nature (e.g., wind speed, ground tremors, strength of the sea waves, etc.) would be “translated” in real-time into various artistic media (sonification of ground tremors into infrasound drones, using the force of the waves to control lights and delay lines in electronics, etc.), serving as a “cantus firmus” for the ensemble's live performance. The technical aspect involves transforming raw numerical data from nature into actionable information to manipulate various media parameters using different programming languages. For this project, the collective has partnered with the emerging Festival of New Sound Sinj and renowned festivals KotorArt and Music Biennale Zagreb. The project is co-funded by the European Union through the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA) residency program, an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA).