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Kata Kovács and Tom O'Doherty

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Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty
Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, October 2017
Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, October 2017
NationalityHungarian, Irish
Years active2011–present
Notable workSignal Tide, Minute/Year
MovementPost-conceptual, durational, sound art, process art
Websitekkto.net

Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty (often also referred to by the stylised abbreviation KKTO) are an artist duo, primarily known for working with sound and duration. They live and work in Berlin, Germany.

About[edit]

Kata Kovács is originally from Kecskemét, Hungary, and studied dance in Budapest; Tom O’Doherty is originally from Dublin, Ireland, where he studied literature. After meeting in Berlin, they began to work together in 2011. Their initial collaborations were on a series of performances involving the acoustic traces created by movement scores, which were presented at Sophiensæle, ausland, Uferstudios, Montag Modus, and other venues in the city. Their work has subsequently been presented at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Serralves Museum, MNAC Chiado, Ars Electronica, Casino Luxembourg, and Issue Project Room, among others.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

The duo’s work incorporates elements of durational and time-based art, minimalist movement, and electroacoustic music and sound. They assert a curiosity about “processes, sounds, and movements that come close to imperceptibility, and the ways in which this material can be transformed through repetition, patterning, layering, and archiving.”[13]

Notable works[edit]

Signal Tide at LACMA, California, 21. September, 2017
Signal Tide at LACMA, September 2017

In 2017, the duo presented the “sound and extraterrestrial radio installation,” Signal Tide, at LACMA, Los Angeles. This work, which was undertaken in collaboration with David Bryant of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, involved receiving live signals from an abandoned satellite, the LES-1, as it orbited the earth above the site of the work, and combining the sound produced from these transmissions with music derived from sacred harp singing. The work was presented outdoors, beside the museum’s Pavilion for Japanese Art, and was centered around a line of custom-made overhead speakers. The work became ‘activated’ every three hours — the time it took for the satellite to orbit the earth and return to the sky above Los Angeles. An audio piece based on the work was subsequently commissioned by the museum as part of their LACMA@home series in 2020.[14][15][6][16][17]

In 2016, Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty began their long-durational installation work, Minute/Year. This automated work produces a one-minute-long audio recording every day, with each recording acoustically layered over the one which has preceded it, in a process which has been ongoing for over eight years to date. The work alters location every year, and in 2024 it is located in Olin Library at Wesleyan University. The first seven years of the work were presented at a retrospective at Halfsister Berlin in 2023.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]

The 2016 work, Afterglow, was presented as part of the closing event for Digital in Berlin’s Kiezsalon series at Musikbrauerei. The work was an installation in which all the concerts in the 2016 Kiezsalon series were recorded, and then replayed in overlapping fragments, in the giant basement space of the Musikbrauerei, “evoking recognisable parts of past events, now juxtaposed with each other and situated in a radically different environment.” The work included excerpts from live performances by Christina Vantzou, Laraaji, Janek Schaefer, and others.[25]

Other activities[edit]

Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty are represented by Hošek Contemporary. Both are also active in other musical and artistic collaborations: Kata Kovács is a member of the improvisation ensemble Vrouw, Tom O’Doherty has worked with Paula Matthusen and has exhibited photography. Both were members of Fake Company with Kathleen Hermesdorf.[26][27][28][29][30][31][32]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Pyanoe, Steffi (October 20, 2011). "Kultur: Fünf Jahre und dein Leben" [Culture: Five years, and then your life]. Der Tagesspiegel (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  2. ^ "Fundação de Serralves » The Museum as Performance". Serralves. Retrieved June 2, 2024. Kata Kovács (Kecskemét, Hungary) / Tom O'Doherty (Dublin, Ireland)
  3. ^ "Tom O'Doherty, Kata Kovacs | Silences 1 (Feet) | Tanztage Berlin 2012 | Sophiensæle". Tanzforum Berlin. January 12, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  4. ^ "Increments (Day I) » Kata Kovács and Tom O'Doherty". ausland. November 6, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  5. ^ "Montag Modus (2015–2018)". Montag Modus. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Whispers from Space". LACMA Unframed. September 19, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  7. ^ "Performance-Installation: Increments - Goethe-Institut Portugal". Goethe-Institut (in German). April 12, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2024. Das Künstler-Duo Kata Kóvacs und Tom O'Doherty vereint in seinen Werken Elemente aus dem Minimalismus, der Elektroakustik, der Bewegung, dem Video und der sogenannten „durational performance". Am 12. und 13. April [2017] von 13 bis 18 Uhr präsentiert Projecto P! im Museu de Chiado die Performance-Installation Increments des Künstler-Duos. [The artist duo Kata Kóvacs and Tom O’Doherty combine elements from minimalism, electroacoustics, movement, video, and so-called “durational performance” in their works. On April 12 and 13 [2017], from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Projecto P! will present the artist duo's performance installation Increments at the Museu de Chiado.]
  8. ^ "P! » Performance na Esfera Pública" [P! » Performance in the Public Sphere]. Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea do Chiado (in Portuguese). April 10, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  9. ^ "Durational installation · Increments · Kata Kovács / Tom O'Doherty". Performativa.pt. April 12, 2017. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  10. ^ "Sound Campus". Kunstuniversität Linz (in Austrian German). Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  11. ^ "Kata Kovács and Tom O'Doherty". Casino Luxembourg. April 27, 2024. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  12. ^ "I am sitting in a room: Alvin Lucier's 90th Birthday Celebration". ISSUE Project Room. May 13, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  13. ^ "Listening Back: Minute/Year 2020 » bb15". bb15 » Space for Contemporary Art. September 3, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  14. ^ "Signal Tide". LACMA. August 20, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  15. ^ "Signal Tide — A sound and extraterrestrial radio installation" (PDF). Los Angeles County Museum of Art. September 20, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  16. ^ "Signal Tide — Two Passes: A Special Audio Mix by Kata Kovács and Tom O'Doherty". LACMA Unframed. May 28, 2020. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  17. ^ "Signal Tide — Two Passes: A Special Audio Mix by Kata Kovács and Tom O'Doherty". Los Angeles County Museum of Art. May 27, 2020. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  18. ^ "Space Tone: Das Künstlerduo Kata Kovács und Tom O'Doherty erforscht den Klang von Räumen" [Space Tone: The artist duo Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty explore the sound of spaces]. Gallerytalk.net (in German). May 20, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2024. Seit bereits vier Jahren nehmen die Künstler Kata Kovács und Tom O'Doherty täglich für die Installation 'Minute/Year' eine Minute lang den Sound im Raum auf. [“For four years now, artists Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty have been recording the sound in the room for one minute every day for the installation ‘Minute/Year.’”]
  19. ^ Wochnik, Thomas (November 30, 2019). "Wochniks Wochenende" [Wochnik’s Weekend]. Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on June 2, 2024. Retrieved June 2, 2024. Die Klanginstallation „Minute/Year" des Künstlerduos Kata Kovács und Tom O'Doherty zeichnet seit dem 1. Januar 2016 jeden Tag automatisch eine Minute akustisch auf. Jährlich wechselt dabei der Raum. [The sound installation “Minute/Year” by the artist duo Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty has been automatically recording one minute of sound every day since January 1, 2016. The location changes every year.]
  20. ^ Valencia, Kassandra (July 4, 2020). "El Presente Suena, Resuena" [The present sound re-sounds]. Centro de Cultura Digital (in Spanish). Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  21. ^ "Looking at the moon, twice". COVEN BERLIN. September 12, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  22. ^ Chatfield, Andrew (December 20, 2023). "Upcoming Faculty and Alumni Performances and Exhibitions". The Wesleyan Connection. Retrieved June 2, 2024. The sound installation "Minute/Year" (2016–present) by artists Kata Kovács and Tom O'Doherty makes its United States premiere in the Wesleyan Olin Library in January 2024 and runs through December 31, 2024. The project uses the daily repeated recording/playback/re-recording of sound in a space to reveal the resonant frequencies of the venue. Presented in collaboration with Professor of Music and Director of Graduate Studies Paula Matthusen.
  23. ^ "Minute/Year: Seven Years — Eine Ausstellung von Kata Kovács und Tom O'Doherty" [Minute/Year: Seven Years — An exhibition by Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty]. field notes | Zeitgenössische Musik in Berlin (in German). Retrieved June 2, 2024. Minute/Year: Seven Years vereint Siebdrucke, Video, Fotografien und Spektogramme und präsentiert das gesamte Archiv von über 2500 einminütigen Aufnahmen, die als Teil von Minute/Year über sieben Jahre hinweg, von 2016 bis 2022, generiert wurden — eine Aufnahme für jeden Tag, an dem die Arbeit gelaufen ist [Minute/Year: Seven Years brings together screenprints, video, photographs, and spectograms, presenting the entire archive of over 2500 one-minute recordings generated as part of Minute/Year over seven years, from 2016 to 2022 — one recording for each day that the work has been in progress]
  24. ^ Kovács, Kata; O’Doherty, Tom (2023) [2023-06-16]. Minute/Year (Seven Years) (PDF). Berlin: Estovers Editions. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  25. ^ Lupo, Radu (March 21, 2016). "Kiezsalon closing w/ We like We, Baby Dee & Moiré at Musikbrauerei Prenzlauer Berg / Saturday, 08.10.2016". Digital in Berlin. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  26. ^ "Hošek Contemporary » Kata Kovács and Tom O'Doherty". Hošek Contemporary. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  27. ^ "Vrouw!". Orange 'Ear. August 15, 2020. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  28. ^ "Tom O'Doherty » Plattenbauten Nachts". Fenster 61 » Fenster für Fotoprojekte (in German). October 1, 2007. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  29. ^ "Tom O'Doherty » Neustart Kultur: Stipendienprogramm Digitale Vermittlungsformate" [Tom O’Doherty » Restart Culture: Scholarship program of the Digital Mediation Formats]. Deutscher Künstlerbund (in German). Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  30. ^ Matthusen, Paula. "Sounds · Paula Matthusen · Composer". Paula Matthusen. Retrieved June 2, 2024. Filling Vessels is a multi-channel sound and light installation/performance by Paula Matthusen and Tom O'Doherty, dependent on interaction with audio feedback generated in an installation space itself
  31. ^ "Next Generation — Musik im Raum: Festival mit Konzerten und Symposium" [Next Generation — Music in Spaces: Festival with Concerts and Symposium] (PDF). ZKM. June 21, 2007.
  32. ^ Lewis, Melissa (December 13, 2018). "Fresh Festival Practices: Alternativa + Fake Company". Joe Goode Annex. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
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