Experimental Music Making Waves at Miami’s Edge Zones

Richard Garet, whose conceptual and experimental creations utilize background noise activations, image and sound generative processes as well as obsolete and current media to create unique abstractions, performs at Edge Zones on Aug. 31. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Miami has been home to plenty of experimental sound events but Juraj Kojš, the founder of the Foundation for Emerging Technologies and Arts (FETA) and an assistant professor of Professional Practice at University of Miami School of Music, always strives to bring more of them here.

As an experimental music performer himself, that was his goal behind hosting the upcoming Soundweaving Experimental Electronic Music Show on Aug. 31 at Edge Zones.

Kerrith Livengood performing on the tongue drum, an instrument whose pivotal role is sound healing. Livengood will perform at Edge Zones on Aug. 31. Photo courtesy of the artist.

The event will feature Miami musician Richard Garet, a contemporary multimedia artist and Kerrith Livengood,  a Chicago-based composer of experimental acoustic and electroacoustic music and the inventor of Soundweaving, a concept where sounds are braided into streams.

Kojš met Livengood at the New Music on the Point Festival in Vermont where she was artistic director. “I thought right away that I needed to bring her to Miami,” said Kojš. “First, because she invented the soundweaving term, but also because FETA puts great importance on highlighting women in electronic music.”

Asking Richard Garet to perform was a no-brainer because, as Kojš explained, “he is a hidden gem and I’ve been going to his sound installations for years now.”

Like Kojš, Garet has created a culture of electronic music through his projects where he strives to bring the art form to young artists. His conceptual and experimental creations utilize background noise activations, image and sound generative processes as well as obsolete and current media to create unique abstractions.

Juraj Kojš performing. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Kojš believes that both artists will contribute their unique perspectives to the performance, a crucial element for enhancing the event’s distinctiveness. He explained that presenting artists from different areas and aesthetics is important for developing the performances. On Saturday, Garet and Livengood will each perform a solo set, then the event will culminate in a collaborative performance, blending their talents in a dynamic finale.

Kojš says finding the venue was easy; he immediately thought of Charo Oquet,  a multidisciplinary artist, curator and cultural producer and founder of Edge Zones.

“I am so excited that the event is happening at Edge Zones given it is such a historic place presenting experimental programs in Miami,” said Kojš. “I think Charo is amazing and love that she cares about cultivating this experimental scene.”

Kojš and Oquet have known each other for years and the two share the love of providing events and venues that create intersections of diverse artists. Kojš himself has performed at Oquet’s International Performance International Festival multiple times and always attends if he is in town.

Oquet is also excited, given this is her first collaboration with Kojš and what she hopes will be one of many to come. “We are all about collaborating with organizations that need a space while also helping to broaden Miami’s audiences to experimental music,” said Oquet. “It is a small niche in Miami, so I love creating this cross-pollination between Miami’s major musicians and the younger generation noise people because out of that have come amazing things.”

Oquet has been focusing on performance art and the connection between performance and noise as well as experimental music since 2012 and leaning more into this in the last seven years. “It has helped enrich the community of performance in Miami,” she said.

Kojš and Oquet are funding the event and “it is great we can provide this space for this event at basically no cost,” said Oquet. “I know Richard Garet really well, he is an amazing artist, and I trust Juraj bringing Livengood here, I trust his curatorial prowess.”

While Oquet is not a musician, she understands that Juraj brings his knowledge to the event and “it’s exciting that through this Soundweaving event I meet new artists and be a part of helping audiences learn from these people, it is great to share knowledge and be enriched by this experience.”

WHAT: Soundweaving: Kerrith Livengood and Richard Garet
WHERE: Edge Zones, 3317 NW 7 Ave. Circle, Miami
WHEN: 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 31
COST: Free
INFORMATION: Eventbrite.com or 305-303-8852

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