JENNY GRÄF PROJECTS in Music, Video, Performance, Creative Aging, and Social Space

J.Gräf- SOLO CD, Os
May 2010 release, Wachsender Prozess J.Gräf Live, YouTube

 Metalux 1996 - Present Osmosymbiotic Echo 2009 The Guitars Project 2003/4 Proud Flesh 2010 Harrius 2006 to Present Experimental Archeology
The Stone-Carving Oraclestra 1998 - Present		 Threshold for Sound and Action 1998

 The Hilgos Project, Hilgos Foundation and the I Remember Better When I Paint Film 1995 - Present
 Cabeca Gorda Restaurant 1998 - Present

 
Bio

J.Graf and M.V. Carbon produce electronically manipulated, tape processed sounds and vocals. Central to their music is the subversion of structural and melodic expectation. They have performed throughout the U.S. and Europe with artists such as John Wiese and Evan Parker and have a dozen releases on labels such as Load, Hanson and Veglia. Metalux webpage

Commissioned by Experimental Sound Studio, Osmosymbiotic Echo was composed for the Florasonic sound installation series (in conjunction with the Outer Ear Festival of Chicago) in the Fern Room of the Lincoln Park Conservatory.

Based on native bird song and wing beat pattern, this sound piece uses sounds typically inaudible to humans – sounds in the ultrasonic range that affect plants, insects and other birds in a variety of ways. In addition to actual bird recordings, synthesized sounds based on birdcalls and wing beat patterns were also used. Although we recognize a symbiosis among birds, plants, and insects in an environment, humans cannot always perceive the causes of this “give and take.”

A 6-month Creative Aging project in which a group of women with Alzheimer's were introduced to the electric guitar. Each found her own way to use sound as a vehicle for the self. This project includes a vinyl LP Picture disc record, video piece titled "Exchanges" and color portraits. The project was presented at Northwestern's Neurological Conference in 2004.

Video and soundtrack produced in collaboration with Chiara Giovando. The film, an experimental Western, was shot in the Badlands and Baltimore. It features an aging female gunslinger seeking revenge, who through the un-hinging of the narrative finds something else instead. The original soundtrack also titled Proud Flesh was release by Ehse Records.
Harrius is J. Graf and Chiara Giovando. Their collaborations include two records on Ehse Records as well as live performances using live video and sound processing. Upcoming release in late 2009.

Performed at D'Amelio Terras Gallery, NYC as well as the High Zero Festival in 2008, the Stone Carving Oraclestra performes "Experimental Archeology" improvising spoken and sung phonemes. The group gives members of the audience "readings" using the carved stone as a medium. The channeled reading is sung by the members in intuitive choral pieces generated by their contact with the stone.

Performers are Serena Williams, Miranda Bushey, Katherine Porter, Shana Palmer and J.Graf.

High Zero Musicians in the piece were Chris Corsano, Susan Alcorn, Bill Nace, M.V. Carbon and Liz Albee
Threshold is self-perpetuating system for sound and action in a social space. Performed at the High Zero Festival in 2008, this piece involves musicians, servers and diners. The ordering of specific foods triggers specific sounds which, in turn impacts the way in which food is served. Also involved is a "manager" who directs the servers to behave in various ways based on hand gestures. The result is a dining event in which not everyone ends up getting what he or she ordered. The social convention of dining out is shaped by the composition of elements in this work.

For four years Hilgos, an artist with Alzheimer's and Jenny Graf Sheppard worked together to investigate ways in which the self could be tapped through creative activity. Graf's MFA thesis drew from this interaction and resulted in numerous shows with Hilgos in Chicago and New York. Together with Hilgos' daughter they founded The Hilgos Foundation which awards scholarships to young artists for intergenerational creative collaborations.

I Remember Better When I Paint is a documentary film, with contributions in research and film by Graf on the subject of Alzheimer's and creativity. See trailer.

 Cabeca Gorda is a monthly series curated by Jorge Martins and J. Graf. Located in the basement of their home in Baltimore, the Cabeca Gorda provides guests with a curated blend of gastronomical specialities and sonic manipulations by artists from near and afar. Food and sound artists such as Peter Blasser, Lucas Crane, Snacks, Shelley Blake Plock, Jackie Milad, M.V. Carbon and Brooke Gillespie + many more have been a part of this social experiment.