(BVHaast Records, esc.rec.)
Xavier van Wersch (b.1976) short-circuits predictable machine responses to create physical, organic electronic music. The complex feedback networks he (re)constructs from defunct equipment are used to create compositions, performances and installations that explore human/machine relationships with control/chaos.
Originally from The Netherlands, Van Wersch was raised with classical piano and violin training which set the foundations for his experiments with composition and electronic music as a young teenager. At first spurning the conservative music academy for the freedom of visual arts, Van Wersch was eventually drawn back to study Sonology at The Hague’s Royal Conservatory after discovering abstract electronic music. Van Wersch’s final exam composition for the Conservatory,
Odysseia, was included on the 2001 compilation
His Master's Noise - The Institute Of Sonology, released on Dutch experimental label BVHaast Records. The compilation gathered pieces from artists who had worked or studied at the Institute for Sonology, including Iannis Xenakis, Edgard Varése and György Ligeti.
As well as rather noisy performances under his own name, Van Wersch produces beat oriented tracks under the moniker
xaf. The first xaf releases appeared in 1999 on Dutch Breakbeat label Fluff Girl Wax, several more appeared on the more experimental esc.rec. over the next few years. Van Wersch is also a sound designer, and has worked with among others, Nederlands Dans Theater, Icelandic National Ballet / Maska Ljubljana, the Poni Collective and Ivana Muller. He is the director and founder of
re.Bug, an organisation that supports and develops projects in which art, technology and ecology meet, with support from cultural institutions in Holland.
Sonic Wargames is their biggest project to date.
Van Wersch has presented work at
Transmediale, Garage-g, Touch, Sonic Arts, New Forms, and in many venues and galleries throughout the world.
> www.sonic-wargame.net
> www.xaflab.tk
Appearances:
> CTM.08 > ANTICIPATING UNPREDICTABILITY
> CTM.08 > SONIC WARGAME
> CTM.08 > SONIC WARGAME_DAY 2
