Michel Waisvisz (NL)
Lead Artist, 2007 : Workshop 2, Amsterdam
Michel Waisvisz is a pioneering composer, performer and instrument maker who for the last thirty years has been developing new ways to achieve physical touch with electronic music instruments.
Recognised as one of the first to develop and perform using gestural controllers and synthesizers on stage, over the years he has collaborated with amongst others: Laurie Anderson, DJ Spooky, Truus de Goort, Shelly Hirsch, Maarten Altena, Moniek Toebosch, Richard Teitelbaum, Steve Lacy, Frans Zwartjes, Misha Mengelberg, and many others.
An internationally renowned performer, Waisvisz has played in major international concert halls and arts spaces (e.g., Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Louvre, Paris and The Kitchen, New York) at various festivals (Mutek, Montreal; Berlin Philmarmonika, Exploratorium, San Francisco) and in clubs and smaller venues across Europe. Over the years he has received commissions for compositions by The San Francisco Symphony, IRCAM, Paris, and WDR studio for electronic music in Köln and so forth.
Besides his work as composer Waisvisz has created series of instrumental inventions, the most renowned being The Crackle Box, The Hands, and The Lick Machine, all which have explored the use of sensors and touch as a means for creating music and electronic sounds. Many of these instruments were considered breakthroughs at the time when electronic music was still considered merely a studio-art.
Other initiatives Waisvisz has been involved with include the Lisa Software, which he co-developed with Frank Bald and which is now used by many sound artists. While Image/ine the software he co-developed with together with Tom Demeyer and Steina Vasulk has become a forerunner of VJ software’s such as Arkaos, Jitter and Isadora.
As an organiser Waisvisz has contributed to, or founded, many of the new music festivals and electric art manifestations in the Netherlands, such as Claxon Sound Festival, Pandora’s Music Box and Rumori Festival. Since its initiation in the early eighties he has directed/lead the STEIM foundation, which is now recognised as a major international research and development centre for new instruments for live electronic music and also the visual arts, and an international meeting place for those who work in electronic performance and new media culture.