M A Harms is a Los Angeles based composer, instrument builder, and performer who explores the intersections between grief, gender, and sex through a combination of text and sound. Performance art is a major component of their work, as they believe that sound and visual aesthetics are equally significant within their art. M navigates literal stories and personal life events via sound practice, obscuring them to the point that they begin to bridge the gap between individual and “universal” experiences.
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Clare Marie Nemanich is an award-winning theatrical sound designer and experimental artist who delights in bringing the sounds in their head to life. Their sound design draws from a well of influences and inspirations: A career in talk radio, a musical ear, an appreciation of nature, an interest in how sound and resonance can affect the body and mind, a sense of timing honed by a lifelong love of classic radio and television, and an inclination toward disruption and the weird. Recent theater design credits include Etta and Ella on the Upper West side at REDCAT and Augustine Machine with CalArts Center for New Performance in Paris.
Artist Location: Los Angeles, CA
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PARTICIPATION
M A Harms & Clare Marie Nemanich
Video presentation Online TBA Oct 27 – 29:
Secrets Beneath the Whispering Leaves
How do you prioritize presentation and aesthetics when plating soups and salads? What techniques do you use to ensure consistent quality and flavor in soups and salads? We asked ourselves these questions, and many more. The only possible answer is “Secrets Beneath the Whispering Leaves
M A Harms solo
This Body is a Play Thing
“This Body is a Play Thing” is an interactive sound art installation made in response to its sister piece, “Disembodiment”, which was about abuse and harm done to those around us. This project focuses on the variations of the word “play” and positive interactions with bodies instead.
The piece is set up with a circle of 5-8 instruments made from mannequins. In an outer ring surrounding the mannequins, there will be posters placed into the ground facing the opposite direction of the bodies. These posters will offer various text prompts questioning how many ways can we define the word “play” while interacting with the instruments. It will then be up to the participants to rely on their remembered interpretations of the prompts as they navigate into the inner circle to explore the mannequins and the sounds that they are capable of producing.
These mannequin instruments were created to point out significant flaws within the music and art world via abuse, sexism, fatphobia, and transphobia. However, “This Body is a Play Thing” offers time and space for them to also become a means of celebration for Sound Pedro patrons to express through them. Some of these mannequins are modeled after instruments such as guitars and make very inconsistent and grungy sounds. While the voices of these mannequins may not be up to par with popular instruments, there is a deeply calming effect to seeing things that were initially rooted in violence, ultimately bringing people joy and healing.
M A Harms solo
The Sound of Cycling
Proposed work as accepted for soundpedro 2021:
The Sound of Cycling
I will provide laminated copies of my score, Cycling, as well as various pieces of scrap metal, wood, rocks, cans, bottles, and newspaper for creating sound. I will also be bringing multiple carpets and 6-8 chairs as well as other living room furnishings to create an artificial living room space. These objects will all be set up in a circle so that patrons of Sound Pedro can walk up to the site, pick up a score, and respond to any movement of Cycling that they see fit with the materials that I have provided. Similarly to a drum circle or AA meeting, people will have the opportunity to come in and voice their experiences of grief from the past year+ in an effort to heal through community. These “rules” will be posted, along with the notes in the score that are attached separately.