Svetlana Maraš - Live Performance 2019-2020

«The nearly infinite improvisational potential in my performances is a result of tweaking the technology, using it in unpredictable ways, musically exploiting it, and maybe even misusing it.» — Svetlana Maraš

Composer, sound artist and musician Svetlana Maraš has spent years developing her unique setup for live performances. She builds her live sets as frameworks for exploration by emphasising the sculptural and improvisational potential, rather than reproducibility. The core of Maraš’ performative practice lies in the accessibility of all layers of what a ‘musical image’ at any given point consists of, and gestural manipulation of these layers.

Using micro samples as a basis of her musical vocabulary, Maraš treats her live setup equivalent to an acoustic instrument. Using tablet controllers running a self-built ‘Touch OSC’ interface, pedals and different pressure-based interfaces, she manipulates and morphs the material with the mindset of a sculptor, while exposing herself to the audience and the room. Her focus lies on the musical form and structure, while the shape of the sounds projected into the performance space de ne which turn she might take next. Maraš explains: «I am interested how sounds fill up the room, how they spread, how near or far they are, how ‘big’ or ‘small’ they seem, how they morph and move.» With the set she played from 2019 to 2020, Maraš had reached an extreme regarding the handling and manipulation of micro samples and micro-collaging. -OUS is releasing a live recording of this set as deep dive into the vast possibilities of live sound manipulation.

Biography

Svetlana Maraš (1985) is composer and artist active in the field of experimental music. Her work encompasses variety of formats such as live performance, electro-acoustic composition, sound installations and works for the radio.

Maraš has presented her work internationally, at venues, festivals and events such as Ruhr Triennial, CTM (Berlin), Ars Electronica (Linz), Wien Modern, House of Electronic Arts (Basel), Espace Multimedia Gantner (Bourogne), Musikprotokoll (Graz), Heroines of Sound (Berlin), Onassis Cultural Centre (Athens), Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade), Ausland (Berlin), Izlog Suvremenog Zvuka (Zagreb), Blurred edges (Hamburg), ICMC (New York), International Rostrum of Composers (Wroclaw), ISEA (Dubai), International Music Institute (Darmstadt), Orpheus Institute (Ghent) and many other places. Her music was used in theatre plays, experimental and documentary films and presented at places like MOMA (New York), Aubagne International Film Festival and Bitef theatre (Belgrade). 

Maraš is Professor of Creative Music Technology and Co-head of Electronic Studio at Hochschule für Musik FHNW, Basel. She is the winner of the most prestigious Serbian composition prize "Mokranjac", awarded by the Serbian Composers' Association.

From 2016-2021, she was composer in residence and artistic director at Radio Belgrade’s Electronic studio, where she established numerous programs such as artistic residencies, educational courses and most notably, restoration of EMS Synthi 100.