Michaela Neild is a freelance dancer, choreographer, and educator based in Buffalo, New York where she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University at Buffalo with a BFA in dance. While at UB she performed two seasons with Zodiaque Dance Company, the university’s most selective pre-professional company. Michaela has been awarded multiple honors such as the Lucille and Jack Yellen Foundation award for creative excellence, the American College Dance Association scholarship, and the Lehrer Dance Observership. Michaela is also a member of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts as well as the National Dance Education Organization.Her work, The Long Line (2016),was selected by CURCA, the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Arts, to represent the department of Theatre and Dance at the 2016 Celebration of Academic Excellence at SUNY at Buffalo.
Michaela has worked as an apprentice for LehrerDance, trained under Judith Leifer-Bentz of the Martha Graham Company, and has taught various dance techniques to grades 5-12 as the interim director of dance for Nichols Preparatory School. She has performed professionally with LehrerDance, Melanie Aceto Contemporary Dance, RK-CO Dance, and Anne Burnidge Dance.
Michaela specializes in integrating somatic-based principles into her movement vernacular, emphasizing internal physical perception and experience. Influenced by her work as a certified Pilates instructor and her knowledge in kinesiology, Michaela focuses on finding ways to educate her students on movement efficiency, getting to and from the floor with ease, moving from the core, and using breath to help facilitate a mind-body connection. Students are encouraged to listen to their bodies, learn at their own pace, and experiment.
Michaela is very excited to be shifting roles from performer to choreographer for Indeterminacy Festival 2019 before pursuing a MFA from The Ohio State University, where she will be studying pedagogy, somatic sciences, and conducting research in the psychosocial connections between habitual movement patterns and personality traits. Indeterminacy Festival has been a highlight of her summers in Buffalo and Michaela would like to thank her dancers for their trust, energy, and inspiration over the last few months.
Born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., Brian Milbrand is a multidisciplinary artist whose work incorporates video, film, live performance, audio, and painting, often in combination with each other. He attended the University at Buffalo, where, he recalls, “I originally wanted to be a scientist and study genetics, but then I took a basic film class in the second semester of my sophomore year and it sort of ruined my life. [laughter]… But science and math are still really involved in what I do, like in digital and audio manipulation. A lot of the software I use involves numbers.” [Artvoice] Milbrand received a B.A. in media study from the university in 2002, by which point he was already a prolific contributor to the Western New York arts community, in part through his role as a founding member of Kamikaze Gallery & Media Center, a live/work space in downtown Buffalo. Like the other core members, he was in his early twenties; together, they used the combination gallery and performance space/microcinema to exhibit their own work and that of guest artists on a monthly basis. Both individually and in collaboration with each other, the Kamikaze artists created work in a variety of media, including visual art, film, video, and performance. Drawing inspiration from artists like Chris Burden, Yoko Ono, and the Fluxusgroup as well as horror films, Milbrand’s early contributions were both confrontational and deeply personal, as he told an interviewer in 2006: “The [performances] were very much about audience interaction. … [W]hat’s the point of performing in front of an audience if you’re not going to use them? But the first stuff I did at Kamikaze was very physical for me … getting tortured, being shocked, drinking syrup of ipecac before going out to do a one-man performance of Waiting for Godot, which I’d never read before.” [Maynard]
Milbrand’s live performances, installations, films, and videos have been presented nationally at the Museum of Modern Art, Scope New York Art Fair, PS 122, the Richmond Moving Image Co-op, Artists Television Access, the Athens International Film and Video Festival, the Detroit Film Center, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In addition to venues listed above, his work has been shown in Buffalo at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, the Carnegie Art Center, Soundlab, Big Orbit Gallery, and in the Suburban Samizdat series. He has received funding from NYSCA’s Individual Artists Program, Tonawanda’s Council on the Arts, and Medaille College’s Faculty Development Grant; and residencies at Squeaky Wheel and the Experimental Television Center. Milbrand was named Best Video/Film Artist by Artvoice in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and Most Provocative Experimental Artist in Any Artform by Buffalo Spree in 2009.
In addition to his artistic career, Milbrand has been an adjunct professor of media technology and a multimedia technician at Medaille College, and was the technical director at Squeaky Wheel, later serving on the organization’s board of directors. As of 2009, he has been the equipment manager/technical assistant at Buffalo State College, as well as teaching courses in the communications department. He is married to fellow artist Holly Johnson.
Matías Homar was born in Salta, Argentina where he started studying electric guitar at the age of 14. By the age of 17 he went to the Faculty of Fine Arts at University of La Plata in Buenos Aires. There he started his Bachelor in Composition which he finished with the degree as Professor of Music and Graduate in Composition. By pursuing a way to enrich his professional training, in 2018, he started the PhD in Composition at UB.
Just before finishing the undergraduate studies he started working as Assistant Professor at the Tonal Musical Language department. While coursing the undergraduate studies Homar also studied electric guitar and composition with private instructors and has participated in many different popular music ensembles, from rock bands to folkloric and jazz bands.
He's made presentations with contemporary music ensembles and has presented works for small ensembles, saxophones, oboe and electroacoustic music. Since 2014 he has actively participated at an annual composition seminar writing world premier for saxophone and electroacoustic music in La Plata.
As a performer Homar is the other half of the Imaymana dúo taking the role of composer, arranger, guitarist and double-bassist since 2015 and with whom he has released two albums (2017 and 2019). He has participated other ensembles like a ‘modern’ tango band, childish music band, a rock band, among other projects. Homar has been part at the researching group of the Tonal Musical Language department focused at the pedagogical praxis at the University and specifically the works of Cuchi Leguizamon which he prepared for the last IASPM-LA Musicology Congress in Cuba, the summer of 2016.
He has participated since 2016 at the Nordic Saxophone Festival in Aarhus - Denmarkwhere he premieredDisiparse - for saxophone quartet (2016), Fra Nyborg til Odense - for saxophone octet (2017) and Dans av Nordlige Stjerner - for saxophone duet (2018). Recently his work Unruly Hassle - for Hanatsu Miroir Ensemble (2018) was also premiered at theSleeConcert Hall (Buffalo)
Matias Homar will premier his piece for Monochord and large ensemble.
Devin Zimmer is a technician of pianos and related keyboard instrument technology: a professional piano technician since 2002 with independent business in Seattle est. 2010. Music & Arts education is crucial to fostering individuals with broad appreciation and support of a variety of fine art forms. Devin designed and built the monochords being played as apart of this year's Indeterminacy Festival.
Interested in the possibilities of musical relationality amongst people, objects, and histories, Ben Zucker crosses and intentionally plays with genre, discipline, and creative roles. As a composer, sound artist, multi-instrumentalist, and performer, he has contributed to the experimental music scenes of the Bay Area, Connecticut, London, Chicago, and beyond, performing and presenting work in places including the Banff Centre, Vortex Jazz Club, Center for New Music, Trinity College Dublin, Chapel of The Chimes, Southbank Centre, New York Fringe Festival, Switchboard Music Festival, Experimental Sound Studio, and the Darmstadt Ferienkurse. He has been called a "master of improvisation" (IMPOSE Magazine), was recognized as a "New Composer Talent" by the International Audio Branding Academy, and his work has won awards and commissions from the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, Nucleo Musica Nova, Constellation Men's Ensemble, C4 Collective, San Francisco Choral Artists, and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. His solo album releases combine brass, percussion, voice, and keyboards into adventeruour performances acclaimed s "a testament to the power of restraint and arrangement" (Decoder Magazine) "more than a little bit remarkable" (Free Jazz Blog). Ben studied music, performance, and philosophy at Wesleyan University, Brunel University London, and currently, as a doctoral student at Northwestern University.
Ben Zucker will travel from Chicago to join the festival to premier his piece for the Monochord Ensemble as well as host a workshop around recycled materials as musical instruments.
Tomek Arnold is a Krakow-born musician currently working and living in the US. His areas of work include: composition, percussion performance (solo and collaborative), electronic music and improvisation. In his work he tries to develop a language of understanding that can function across varieties of genres and musical expressions. Five times winner of international solo marimba and percussion competitions between years 2006 and 2011. Performed as a soloist and ensemble member in Poland, USA, Germany, Lithuania, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Croatia, Switzerland, Mexico and China. PhD student at University at Buffalo (music composition). Previously Wesleyan University (MA in composition), Manhattan School of Music (MM in classical percussion) and Eastman School of Music (BM in percussion and composition).
Tomek Arnold will perform as apart of the Monochord Ensemble.
Emiddio Vasquez is a Cypriot-Dominican artist and musician.
His work on sound is often the result of live improvisation. Over the years he has accumulated various techniques that make use of modular synthesis, multichannel diffusion, live audiovisuals, FM radio, tape loops and modal synthesis.
He has done commissioned work for radio, dance, theater, currently composing for film, and has worked in studios such as EMS (Stockholm), ZKM (Karlsruhe) and IRCAM (Paris). In Cyprus he has initiated and curated various series of sound events and music festivals.
He is currently pursuing a transdisciplinary PhD in Media Art and Science at Arizona State University, whereby he investigates alternative modes of computation.
https://soundcloud.com/emiddiovasquez
Emiddio Vasquez will travel from Arizona to join the festival as a visiting artist, both to host workshops around transmission and to perform in the finale performances.
Jason E Geistweidt has his PhD, Electroacoustic Composition, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast, and teaches in the Media Study Department at The University at Buffalo he works in: sonic arts, networked performance, digital tool building, installation, live electronics, happenings... "When I was young I would build elaborate tents inside my room with tunnels leading to separate spaces for sleeping, drawing, and reading. My tent even had a phone, a tiny black and white television, and my father’s shortwave radio receiver – the crown jewel. In the darkof night, huddled in bedsheet walls, I tuned into the world: the BBC, south American dance parties, and those mysterious frequencies that played revolutionary music followed by solemn foreign statements. In this pre-Internet time, I was surfing the world, and it was an impromptu performance: my left hand adjusting the antennae, my right cramping as I held the tuning knob in just the right place. The experience was physical, aleatory, and intimate.
In my creative practice I continue to return to these themes of intimate encounters, physical connections, and chance processes. My sound art works are constructed either around the human voice or contact microphone recordings – intimate noises arising from within the body or sounds only heard by pressing close to the object. In my telematic practice, I interconnect spaces, designing systems for artists to project themselves into remote stages and deploy sensor arrays to collect ambient activity and transmit it back to a local venue for sonification/visualization. Chance operations come into play in my generative practices as natural language processors rewrite texts and re-contextualize images, creating unique, ephemeral events.
My process is experimental, I am poking around a bit and I do not have a preconceived notion of what the outcome of my exploration will be. To paraphrase Cage, I am engaging in these practices precisely to see what is possible and am curious to discover what will happen. As I critique my progress, I wish to take on the role of observer as well as instigator, and by stepping away from the position of creator, I can assess if the work activates the audience as John Dewey describes in this treatise Art as Experience – specifically, ensuring that in viewing the work, the audience experiences its processes and outcomes in the same way I did during the creative process."
Jason and his drone ensemble will join the festival to perform.
Upon graduation from the Juilliard School in 1997, percussionist Tom Kolor became one of New York's most in demand chamber musicians. Engagements with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Continuum, Da Capo Chamber Players, Ensemble 21, the Group for Contemporary Music, Manhattan Sinfonietta, New York New Music Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Newband, Speculum Musicae, and Sospeso led to collaborations with such composers and conductors as Louis Andriessen, Milton Babbitt, Pierre Boulez, Elliott Carter, George Crumb, James Dillon, Mario Davidovsky, Tan Dun, John Eaton, David Felder, Brian Ferneyhough, Philippe Hurel, Oliver Knussen, Robert Kraft, Tania Leon, Alvin Lucier, Steven Mackey, Tristan Murial, Wayne Peterson, George Perle, Steve Reich, Christopher Rouse, Frederic Rzewski, Ralph Shapey, Essa Pekka Salonen, James Tenney, Chinary Ung, Charles Wuorinen, Julia Wolfe, Christian Wolff, Iannis Xenakis, and John Zorn.
Since 1995, he has been a member of Talujon Percussion, presenting hundreds of concerts throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Talujon has given countless world premieres and has made a significant contribution to the percussion quartet repertoire.
Currently, Kolor is an Associate Professor of Music at the University at Buffalo SUNY, where he directs the UB Percussion Ensemble, UB Contemporary Ensemble, oversees the Percussion Department and performs regularly with the faculty ensemble, Slee Sinfonietta. His first solo CD, American Masterpieces for Solo Percussion which features works by Babbitt and Cage was released by Albany Recordings. Recently released is American Masterpieces for Solo Percussion Volume II, which includes works by Wuorinen, Shapey, Wolff, and Feldman. In addition, he appears on over fifty commercial recordings for labels such as Albany, Bridge, Capstone, CRI, Deutsche Grammophone, Innova, Koch, Naxos, New World, North/South Consonance, Tzadik, and Wergo.
Tom Kolor and his percussion students will join the festival to perform Christian Wolff's piece “Stones” as well as join the other participating ensembles for the finale performances.
Alexis Oltmer is an environmental and political artist living in Buffalo, NY. She was born in raised in Endicott NY and came to Buffalo to finish out her education at the University of Buffalo where she studied photography with a focus in conceptual art.
Her main medium is photography, but also includes sculpture, sound and performance. Alexis’s work revolves around questioning consumption culture, the anthropocene, abjection, nostalgia, and societal norms. Photographically, Alexis works in large bodies of data collection, taking upwards of 6 months to 2 years for completion per project. Final bodies of work are most often presented in multi grid displays.
Her hometown has had an enormous impact on her career as an environmental advocate and artist. IBM which was founded in Endicott NY, reported a spill of of 4,100 gallons of the solvent TCA (1,1,1-trichloroethane, also known as methyl chloroform). This known spill resulted in the contamination of Endicott’s fresh water aquifer. Over the years the contaminants migrated into neighborhoods, schools and business in the area. She grew up hearing about town halls and the constant fight locals endured against IBM, the closing of buildings and areas due to unsafe situations, and a high rate of youth becoming seriously ill who happened to live in the areas affected by the toxins. To this day Endicott NY remains as an active class 2 Superfund site listed by the EPA, as the hazardous waste constitutes a significant threat to the public health and environment.
For the past two years she has visited Emerald Beach focusing on the documentation and clean up of plastic pollution that washes ashore on Lake Erie; in order to better understand the industrial impact that plastic pollution has on our communities fresh water ecosystems and main source of drinking water.
She is currently hosting public clean ups of Emerald beach throughout 2019 and is actively collaborating with local businesses, institutions, media, and government to problem solve and find solutions regarding the very real situation we face as a community regarding plastic pollution in the age of the anthropocene. For more information or to join a clean up please visit alexisoltmer.com.
Alexis has exhibited at The CEPA Gallery, and has shown her work at The Burchfield Penney, Hallwalls, The Big Orbit Gallery, Rustbelt books and was awarded the 2017 Oseroff Memorial award. She is a former board member of the WNY Peace center, and has been published in The Public newspaper for her exhibitions as well as her documentation of multiple protests in the City of Buffalo from 2016-2017.
Alexis will be co-hosting a workshop around recycling and music during the week of the festival.
The University at Buffalo Nanosatellite Laboratory or UBNL began in 2011 under the guidance of our Principle Investigator, Dr. John Crassidis, to assist with his research. Today, UBNL is a diverse and completely volunteer group of undergraduate and graduate students who work with the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and NASA to build small satellites from concept to launch. We currently have three missions all of which are in different stages of development.
GLADOS our oldest mission, is a shoebox sized CubeSat that analyzes glints (small flashes of light) to determine special characteristics off of space debris. GLADOS has been in development for 8 years and is in its final stages of the fabrication process.
LINKSAT is our first mission funded by NASA that’s main purpose is to analyze radio waves in low Earth orbit. With everyone carrying a cell phone radio noise has significantly increased over the past decade and LINKSAT plans to create a map for scientists to use to better understand the noise environment in space.
FALCON is our newest mission funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory. FALCON is looking to test out a new technology that can gather attitude and orbit data as a byproduct of a laser communication system. This technology can be used to reduce the cost of CubeSat formation flying by using the same laser communication system to determine attitude and orbit so we can eliminate the use of a GPS and star tracker.
The University at Buffalo Nanosatellite Laboratory will have two demos setup at the 2019 Indeterminacy Festival. GLADOS will be demonstrating a star tracker. A star tracker is a camera that looks out into the universe and uses advanced algorithms to determine which way the satellite is pointing. FALCON will have a laser communication demo to show how the satellites will be communicating when they are 1000 km apart in space.