Collapsing Borders: German pop ambient star Markus Guentner rises at U-M performance studio
Duderstadt Center, University of Michigan
Markus Guentner, nospectacle
Nov. 20
6-9 p.m.
Collapsing Borders -- or let's put it another way, in German this time: Einstürzende Grenze -- is a special live electronic music and video presentation, mixed and sequenced by
Markus Guentner, a German
artist known as an innovator of the pop ambient sound for Cologne's
Kompakt label, and Detroit-based digital dub stylists
nospectacle. The focus of the event is to show how art and entertainment technologies play a crucial role in transcending political, cultural and psychological borders. It is part of a series sponsored by the University of Michigan
Center for European Studies commemorating 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Guentner (pictured) is best known for his work on Kompakt, which released his full-lengths
In Moll (2001) and
1981 in 2005, and various single tracks on its annual Pop Ambient series. He has a new LP,
Doppelgaenger, released this month on the Dutch Sending Orbs label. Guentner has produced soundscapes for Ambient Works, a comprehensive workstation for creating cinematic atmospheres for feature films, documentaries, commercials and new media project applications. His only other area appearance was at Movement, Detroit's Electronic Music Festival, in 2006. He lives in Regensburg.
nospectacle is an electronic music, video and DJ hybrid project based in Detroit. The group is made up of Christopher McNamara, Jennifer A. Paull and Walter Wasacz, and performs original works by McNamara, a founding member of the Windsor-Detroit laptop group Thinkbox, re-shaping the source material into drones, dubs, disembodied voices, subsonic bass immersion and streaming images. McNamara's new release
Vague Cities includes a remix by Guentner.
November 20, 6-9 p.m. At the Video and Performance Studio, Duderstadt Center, University of Michigan's North Campus, 2281 Bonisteel Blvd.
There is an after-party, 9 p.m. - 2 a.m. at Sava's (in the space once occupied by Zanzibar), 216 S. State St., Ann Arbor. Called
Sonic Subliminal, the dance-friendly event features DJ sets by Guentner, nospectacle and Forest Juziuk of Dark Matter. $5