Mazurek has elaborated conceptual dichotomies: the cardinal point of his poetic is the dialogue between the analogue and the digital, between body and machine, between perceived time and condensed time. What we see in the photos, videos, and the 36 isolated frames printed on paper is a process of transformation that creates a synthesis, a unity between sound and image, a central theme present in Mazurek’s oeuvre. This piece was inspired by one of Mazurek’s paintings, which was then transformed into a photographic copy; an analogue double which preserves the aesthetics of the original shedding the painting’s aura. This photographic copy is then processed digitally by software (developed in collaboration with Mathieu Constans) which allows images to be transformed through sound or a musical composition. The composition Mazurek created for this transformation is his original piece ‘A Wrinkle In Time Sets Concentric Circles Reeling’. This piece is part of the new album Dimensional Stardust which will be released on 20 November 2020 by the Exploding Star Orchestra, Mazurek’s largest and most dynamic ensemble. The single, presented as a preview of the album (International Anthem/Nonesuch label), will be launched during Happening! as part of the Battiti programme on Rai Radio3. During the festival, the video of A Wrinkle In Time Sets Concentric Circles Reeling “First Kid in Space (part 1)” created by Chicago artist Mikel Patrick Avery will be projected.

ROB MAZUREK

Rob Mazurek is a multidisciplinary abstractivist with a focus on electro-acoustic composition, improvisation, performance, painting, sculpture, video, and installation. He spent much of his creative life in Chicago, and some years in Brazil. Currently he lives and works in Marfa, Texas.
Emerging from the musical nexus of 1990’s Chicago, the Jersey City, New Jersey native has made an indelible impact on creative music over the past 30 years. He has written over 400 compositions and is featured on 70+ recordings from various labels including Thrill Jockey, Astral Spirits, Corbett vs Dempsey, Cuneiform, CleanFeed, Delmark, Rogue Art, El Paraiso, Harmonipan, Mego, Northern Spy, Submarine, and International Anthem.
He’s led or co-led many ensembles of various sizes and shapes including Exploding Star Orchestra (his flagship large ensemble), Chicago Underground (Duo, Trio, Quartet & Orchestra), Isotope 217 (alongside several members of Tortoise), São Paulo Underground (his primary working group across his time in Brazil), Pharoah and the Underground (featuring Pharoah Sanders), Alternate Moon Cycles (with Matt Lux and Mikel Patrick Avery), Alien Flower Sutra (with Emmett Kelly), and a duo with Jeff Parker – each of which possesses its own distinct musical personality. In addition to those listed above, he has collaborated with Bill Dixon, Roscoe Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Yusef Lateef, Sam Prekop, David Grubbs, Jim O’Rourke, Naná Vasconcelos, and many more venerable artists.
Mazurek’s visual work has garnered much attention as well. In addition to creating original artwork for almost all of the albums he has released in the last 2 decades, he has shown his paintings, prints, sculptures, video and installation work at galleries throughout Europe, South America, and the United States. On the continuity of Mazurek’s sonic and visual artistic expressions, Experimental Sound Studio founder Lou Mallozzi has said: “For those familiar with his music, the attitude, sensibility and craft in his visual work will come as no surprise, exuding the same combination of neo-expressive clarity and dense materiality, sometimes in corrosive collision, at other times in stark harmony. Gesture is paramount: Mazurek’s hand is always apparent, always engaged – like his cornet sound, in which one feels the body intimately shaping the melody, his visual works embody breath and hand shaping light, surface, color and line.

GABRIELE MITELLI

Gabriele Mitelli debuted with two new albums: a solo album for the label We Insist!, and in duo with Rob Mazurek for the Portoguese label Clean Feed. His new European quartet includes three star players from England: Alexander Hawkins, John Edwards and Mark Sanders. In 2017, Mitelli was chosen by critics of the magazine ‘Musica Jazz’ as Italy’s most-promising young talent. The same year, Mitelli won the Bando AIR for an artist residency programme abroad and published his second solo album, ‘Crash’, for the Auditorium Parco della Musica di Roma with O.N.G. ‘Crash’ was classified as one of the best albums on the European Jazz Chart. Mitelli presented it in Italy and Abroad, sometimes featuring American saxophonist Ken Vandermark. During a residency organised by Novara Jazz in Locarno, Mitelli recorded and performed in duo with Alexander Hawkins, the English pianist who worked with Louis Moholo, Rob Mazurek, Chad Taylor and many others. Thanks to Mitelli’s and Hawkins’ collaboration, Mitelli has had the opportunity to perform at the Novara Jazz Festival and the Lagarina Jazz Festival. He has performed at many of the most important European jazz festivals with noted musicians including Jeff Parker, Rob Mazurek, John Edwards, Mark Sanders, Pasquale Mirra, Markus Stockhausen, Chris Speed, Gianluca Petrella, Ralph Alessi, Simone Graziano, Alexander Hawkins, among others.

MIKEL PATRICK AVERY

has been active within the Chicago area for the past 12 years. Established as a jazz drummer, he is commonly recognized for his orchestral and melodic style of drumming that often involves the use of unconventional “non-musical” objects. As well as being a performing musician, Mikel is a dedicated composer, photographer, producer, and educator. In recent years, Avery has become an integral voice in varying ensembles, including Rob Mazurek’s Moon Cycles, Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society, The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and Theaster Gates’s Black Monks of Mississippi; as well as leading several of his own projects, including 1/2 Size Piano Trio, Rats+Star, and Mikel Patrick Avery PLAY. Mikel has had the privilege to perform at Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), Documenta 13 (in Kassel Germany), Kepler Studio (Berlin), Guelph Jazz Festival, White Cube (London), MCA Chicago, and for President Barack Obama.