soundCommons
In soundCommons, Cindy Bernard and Joseph Hammer create hardware and software to allow composers to collaborate via the web, distribute their work online, and educate each other and the public about the work they do. soundCommons consists of cooperative structures for the creation and distribution of new sound projects, unique in its harnessing of digital streaming technologies to put both creative and distributive tools in the hands of the composer, rather than a commercial entity.
Cindy Bernard
Los Angeles, CA
The creator of the experimental music series “sound.” as well as the founder of The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound, Cindy Bernard takes an active interest in instigating social exchange. A past board member of Foundation for Art Resources and of the Coalition for Freedom of Expression, Bernard founded SASSAS out of the need for a small sustainable organization dedicated to experimental music in Los Angeles. She has received numerous grants for her photographs and projections including a Guggenheim Fellowship. Since 1986, her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Bernard’s interest in the public commons has spurred two projects in addition to soundCommons: a series of photographs documenting municipal band shells, and The Inquisitive Musician, a series of works based on a 17th century German satire, Musicus Curiosus, or Battalus, the Inquisitive Musician; the Struggle for Precedence between the Kunst Pfeifer and the Common Players.
Joseph Hammer
Los Angeles, CA
Joseph Hammer, a sound artist from Los Angeles, has actively created experimental works since 1980. His practice draws on the complexities of the process of listening and playing, reflecting on the role of the audience versus the performer, and uses music as it influences our notion of time, memory, and intimacy as the basis for improvisation and abstraction. As a member of the trio Solid Eye, Hammer has performed internationally and is an influential contributor to the Los Angeles underground scene.