Olivia Louvel

Olivia Louvel is a French-born British composer and artist whose work draws on voice, computer music and digital narrative. The Sculptor Speaks, a resounding of a 1961 tape of Barbara Hepworth's voice, was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in the Sound Art category at the Ivors Composer Awards 2020.[1] She was interviewed by Stuart Maconie on his BBC Radio 6 programme Freak Zone about her "compelling sculpture-inspired work" on Barbara Hepworth.[2] The "composer, researcher, and sound artist" [3] often operates at the intersection of creation and documentation.

Olivia Louvel
Background information
Birth nameOlivia Louvel
GenresElectroacoustic Music, Experimental Music, Sound Art
OccupationsComposer, producer, vocalist, visual artist
InstrumentsComputer, DAW, vocals
LabelsCat Werk Imprint, Optical Sound, Angelika koehlermann, Ici, d'ailleurs..., Parallel Series, Bella Union
Websitewww.olivialouvel.com
Awards: Qwartz Electronic Music Awards 2011 Qwartz Album
Olivia Louvel in Lulu in Suspension


Education

Louvel studied at the National Superior Conservatory of Dramatic Arts of Paris and had the opportunity to work with Klaus Michael Grüber and Michel Piccoli in a reworking of a Luigi Pirandello play.[4] She holds a master's degree in Digital Music and Sound Art from DMSA, University of Brighton.

Career

Initially trained in classical singing, she began to work as a singer for the flying trapeze circus Les Arts Sauts, performing at 12 metres in the air a Meredith Monk composition. She toured with them for three years, with notable performances at Festival de la Batie in Geneva, and Festival of Perth in 1995.[5]

December 2014, she produced an exclusive mix for Electronic Beats, which features her remix of Antye Greie's Poemproducer.[6]

For Data Regina (2017), Olivia Louvel "packaged experimental electronic music, new media art, and 16th century conflict into multimedia art", exploring the reign of Mary Queen of Scots, through an interactive digital platform and an album release.[7]

In November 2018, she toured throughout the UK presenting a headline audio-visual set of Data Regina for Synth Remix, an event curated by Benjamin Tassie under Sound and Music's Composer-Curator scheme, also featuring Jo Thomas.[8]

With her generative sound mural The Whole Inside (2019), Louvel explored an explicit sociopolitical agenda: the violent misogyny of incel communities.[9] The Whole Inside was selected for the Longlist at the Aesthetica Art Prize 2021, and is featured in the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology: Future Now.[10]

Commissioned by avant-garde ensemble Juice Vocal, she composed ‘Not A Creature Of Paper’ (2019) a Louise Labé inspired composition, premiered at Kings Place, London. [11]

[Hepworth Resounds] (2020) is a multipartite sound art project based on British sculptor Barbara Hepworth. ‘The Sculptor Speaks’ is a resounding of a 1961 tape by Barbara Hepworth, premiered on Resonance Extra Resonance FM, [12] and followed by an audio-visual iteration. "The sculptor's cut-glass Received Pronunciation might be off-putting for the modern ear, but waves of technological manipulation have eroded its edges, turning it into a dreamy meditation on the nature of creativity."Deborah Nash, The Wire, [print], October 2020, issue 440.

The critically acclaimed album ‘SculptOr’ (2020) is a suite of nine pieces based on Hepworth's extensive writings. “Armed with an algorithmic chisel and mallet, Louvel repurposes writings by the late English sculptor Barbara Hepworth (...) SculptOr is a highly conceptual and meta-referential piece, a sort of meditation on artistic practices."[13]

Louvel has opened for artists such as Eartheater at De La Warr Pavilion,[14] Japanese avant-garde artist Phew,[15] Planningtorock at the Earsthetic Festival Brighton Dome,[16] and Recoil for various concerts on the European Selected tour (2010).[17]

Her work has been featured in The Wire, The Quietus, Electronic Beats, Fact Mag, and Electronic Sound among others.

Louvel has been an active member of female:pressure, the international network of female, transgender and non-binary artists in the fields of electronic music and digital arts. In 2016, she contributed a "compelling audio-visual" Afraid Of Women to the female:pressure campaign—curated by Antye Greie-Ripatti—to raise awareness for the special de facto autonomous zone in northern Syria, Rojava. [18]

Solo works
Title Date Type Description
Luna Parc Hotel 2006 composition In 2003, with her first computer, she began to produce her debut album Luna Parc Hotel, released on Angelika Koehlermann in 2006.[19] With guest appearances by Michael J.Sheehy and Sébastien Libolt.
Lulu in Suspension 2008 composition Inspired by silent-movie star Louise Brooks and her book Lulu in Hollywood. Released as a digipak CD on Optical Sound Records and Fine Arts, run by French artist Pierre Belouin.
Doll Divider 2010-11 composition
video art		 Initially released as a digital version on Ototoi Music / Optical Sound. Doll Divider[20] was originally inspired by A4 paintings which she made using pages from fashion magazines and repainting on top of the photos of the models. Collectively these paintings are called "Processed Dolls". Following her Qwartz Album Award in 2011, she created her label Cat Werk Imprint. "Doll Divider" was re-released as a limited-edition vinyl, enhanced and remastered version, catalogue number CW01.
ō, music for haiku 2007–12 composition
video art
artwork		 A soundtrack based on a haiku by poet Bashō, released on Cat Werk Imprint. The limited edition CD is adorned with a hand-drawn "Magic Fish Dog", a character invented by Louvel. Performed in 2007 in the electronic kiosk conceived by Cocktail Designers/architect Olivier Vadrot [21] at Festival en boîte, Bibliothèque de la Part-Dieu, Lyon, France (F).[22] Screened at Festival Electron, Geneva, in 2008.
Beauty Sleep 2014 composition
video art		 A suite of songs complemented by a series of experimental short films shot in West Sussex, reinventing herself as a bird-woman. "Bats" was remixed by Simon Fisher Turner.[23]
Afraid of Women 2016 audiovisual For 'Music, Awareness & Solidarity w/ Rojava Revolution', a female:pressure campaign curated by Antye Greie-Ripatti that aims to show solidarity and raise awareness for a special de facto autonomous zone in northern Syria. Released and screened at CTM Festival, Berlin. Produced using sampled sounds and re-fragmented images sourced from the internet, an attempt to highlight the formidable solidarity and courage of these women fighting on the front line against IS.[24]
Data Regina 2017 composition
3D videos
online platform		 An interwoven tale of 16th century British history with Mary Queen of Scots, her poetry and her battles. "A multimedia suite by composer Oliva Louvel digs deep into the psychic warfare between the 16th century British Queens. (...) The refined melodies of Louvel's intimate vocals and Fiona Brice's lyrical violin stand in fragile opposition to a backdrop, based largely around processed tambour samples, of harsh percussive rolls and looming reverberations. It evokes not only the brutality of the battles that peppered the UK in the 16th century but the sense of surveillance and paranoia that both women must have experienced." Abi Bliss, The Wire, issue 396, February 2017.
The Whole Inside 2019 installation A generative sound mural of nine speaker drivers and data projection, confronting the violent misogyny of the incels communities. Installed at the Sound Diffusion Lab, DMSA, University of Brighton.[25]
SculptOr 2020 composition A suite of nine pieces based on the writings of Barbara Hepworth, released as a digipak CD.
The Sculptor Speaks 2020 broadcast
audiovisual		 A resounding of a 1961 recording of Hepworth's voice. Premiered on Resonance Extra / Resonance FM, followed by a 35-minute audiovisual piece. Presented at the Hepworth Wakefield museum as an audio-visual installation alongside the 10th anniversary exhibition 'Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life'. [26]
Doggerland Channels 2022 installation A generative sound-relief based on the ancient land which once linked Britain to the continent, premiered at Phoenix Art Space for the Sound Art Brighton festival. The cartographic sound art installation for voice and data projection throws a net over the North Sea, revealing the rivers which used to connect us to the continent – when the Thames flowed into the Rhine. [27] Installed at Middlesbrough Art Week 2023.
LOL 2022 site-specific A sonic intervention delivered through the public address system of Middlesbrough's CCTV surveillance network, reflecting the current state of political affairs in Britain, produced with Sound Art Brighton for Middlesbrough Art Weekender. [28]


Collaborative practice

Under the moniker of The Digital Intervention, she worked with Paul Kendall (long term Mute Records collaborator) on the album Capture, which was released in 2003.[29]

With Paul Kendall as The Digital Intervention, they produced the piece "When the sea will rise II'" or Acoustic Cameras, a project which invites sound artists to annex the real-time flow of webcams located in various places around the world.[30]

Along with Daria Baiocchi, Fiona Hallinan, La Cosa Preziosa, Vicky Langan, Úna Lee, Jenn Kirby, Claudia Molitor, Gráinne Mulvey and Rachel Ní Chuinn, Louvel contributed to the collaborative art project "Mean Time" with her composition "25 minutes and 21 seconds". The event was broadcast live on Nova, RTÉ Lyric FM from Richmond Barracks, Dublin.[31]

Along with Duncan Cabral, Jaimie Moore, Dominic Rae, Louvel performed with the Mi.Mu gloves '54 bones', a gesturally based performance art for an audience of one at Onca Gallery for Brighton Digital Festival 2018. [32]

Discography

LPs
  • Luna Parc Hotel. 03.2006, digipak CD with booklet. Angelika Koehlermann.
  • Lulu in Suspension. 01.2008, deluxe digipak CD & digital. Optical Sound.
  • Doll Divider. 02.2010, digital. Ototoi + Optical Sound.
  • Doll Divider. 06.2011, 12" vinyl & digital (enhanced & remastered version). Cat Werk Imprint.
  • ō , music for haiku. 12.2012, CD with hand drawn artwork & digital. Cat Werk Imprint.
  • Beauty Sleep. 09.2014, digipak CD (DVD size). Cat Werk Imprint.
  • Data Regina. 02.2017, digipak CD (DVD size). Cat Werk Imprint.
  • SculptOr. 02.2020, digipak CD (DVD size). Cat Werk Imprint.

EPs
  • Bats by Night, 02.2015, digital. Cat Werk Imprint.

Collaborations
  • Capture as The Digital Intervention (with Paul Kendall), 2003, CD. The Parallel Series + 0101 + Ici D'Ailleurs.

Compilations
  • 2013. Pussy Riot Freedom. female:pressure.Track featured ' Doll Divider'.[33]
  • 2016. Music, Awareness & Solidarity w/ Rojava Revolution. female:pressure. Track featured 'Afraid of Women'.[34]
  • 2017. Mind The Gap. Gonzo Circus. Track featured 'Good Queen Bess'.[35]

Remix
  • 2016. Paris Multiplié for Fiona Brice 'Postcards Reframed'. Bella Union.[36]
  • 2021. Pathetique N.8 for CHAINES 'Beethoven Simulator'. Classical Remix. [37]

Awards. Grants

References
  1. "The Ivors Composer Awards 01 Dec 2020". ivorsacademy.com. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  2. "Olivia Louvel Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone". bbc.co.uk. 2 February 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  3. "Olivia Louvel SculptOr [Hepworth Resounds]". thequietus.com. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  4. "Klaus Michael Grüber est un mystique". Letemps.ch. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  5. "Olivia Louvel". Chain D.L.K. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  6. "EB radio presents Olivia Louvel". electronicbeats. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  7. "Multiple Media: Olivia Louvel On Music, Art & 17th Century History". thequietus.com. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  8. "Synth Remix". classicalremix.com. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  9. "A Generative Sound Mural, The Whole Inside: Sounding the Body". direct.mit.edu. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  10. "Future Now 2021 Aesthetica Art Prize". aestheticamagazine.com. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  11. "Juice Vocal Ensemble: Voices of Venus". kingsplace.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  12. "The Sculptor Speaks". Resonance Extra. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  13. "Olivia Louvel SculptOr [Hepworth Resounds]". thequietus.com. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  14. "Semiconductor and Eartheater". dlwp.com. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  15. "PHEW, debut live in London + Olivia Louvel". iklectikartlab.com. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  16. "earsthetic Planningtorock". brightondome.org. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  17. "Olivia Louvel predskokanom Alana Wildera". depechemode.sk. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  18. "Is The Islamic State 'Afraid Of Women'?". electronicbeats.net. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  19. "'Luna Parc Hotel' on Angelika Köhlermann". angelika.koehlermann.at. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  20. "LISTEN: Olivia Louvel-Doll Maker". Thequietus.com. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  21. "Cocktail Designers' music furniture". lespressesdureel.com. 26 November 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  22. "Festival En Boite". Bm-lyon.fr. 1 April 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  23. "INTERVIEW: Olivia Louvel". Thequietus.com. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  24. "Is The Islamic State 'Afraid of Women'?". electronicbeats.net. 20 February 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  25. "Graduate Show 2019: Olivia Louvel: Digital Music and Sound Arts". Blogs.brighton.ac.uk. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  26. ""Olivia Louvel: The Sculptor Speaks". hepworthwakefield.org. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  27. ""Sound Art Brighton: Doggerland Channels". phoenixbrighton.org. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  28. ""Shoppers left spooked after 'Boris Johnson sounding' voice is randomly played in town centre". yahoo.com. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  29. ""The Digital Intervention – Capture" release". forcedexposure.com. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  30. "Acoustic Cameras". acousticcameras. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  31. ""Sound Art celebrates the female revolutionary spirit"". thesampler.org. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  32. ""Digital Gestures, Human Contact"". onca.org. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  33. "All-female EDM and digital art collective female:pressure have released a new compilation album in aid of Pussy Riot". thegirlsare.com. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  34. "female:pressure release Rojava Revolution compilation for International Women's Day". factmag.com. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  35. "MIND THE GAP #124". gonzocircus.com. 23 December 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  36. ""FIONA BRICE shares Gonjasufi 'Glastonbury' remix" release". bellaunion.com. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  37. "IBeethoven Simulator". 9 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  38. "Qwartz Award Winners Announced". Thewire.co.uk. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  39. "Qwartz – Paris Réseau international pour les musiques électroniques et nouvelles". Sacd.fr. 3 April 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  40. Taylor, Mark (18 October 2023). "Nominees announced for The Ivors Classical Awards 2023". The Ivors Academy. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
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