Carsten Nicolai

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Carsten Nicolai
Carsten-nicolai-2009-wuschanski.jpg
Nicolai at a performance under his pseudonym Alva Noto (2009)
Background information
Birth nameCarsten Nicolai
Also known asAleph-1, Alva Noto, Noto
Born (1965-09-18) 18 September 1965 (age 59)
Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany [1]
Genres Electronic music · glitch · microsound · minimal techno · ambient
Instrument(s) Synthesizer
keyboards
laptop
iPad
percussion
LabelsNOTON Raster-Noton
Mille Plateaux
Line
Website www.carstennicolai.de

Carsten Nicolai (* 18 September 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, now Chemnitz) is a German artist, musician and label owner. As a musician he is known under the pseudonym Alva Noto.

Contents

Life and career

Carsten Nicolai was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz) of Saxony, GDR in 1965. He studied architecture and landscape design before pursuing art. In 1994 he founded the label NOTON, following which a collaboration with RasterMusic began and by 1999 the two labels had merged into Raster-Noton, which operated until 2017. Returning to the labels origin in 2017, Nicolai runs NOTON separately. [2]

In 2009 Nicolai wrote the opera Sparkie: Cage and Beyond in collaboration with Michael Nyman. [3]

Nicolai performed and created installations in many of the world's most prestigious spaces including the Guggenheim, New York, the SF MoMA, Modern Art Oxford, NTT Tokyo, Tate Modern and Venice Biennale, Italy. As a member (and co-founder) of the Raster-Noton label he was responsible for the acclaimed CD series 20 to 2000 that went on to win the Golden Nica prize at Prix Ars Electronica, 2000. [4]

Carsten Nicolai also works as a visual artist. In 2013, Nicolai participated as a visual artist in Biennale Documenta, an official collateral show of the 55th Venice Biennale of Art. [5]

Nicolai started his professorship in art with focus on digital and time-based media with Dresden Academy of Fine Arts since 2015.

Nicolai co-scored the music for Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant , along with Ryuichi Sakamoto. The score was nominated for a Golden Globe, BAFTA, Grammy and Critics' Choice Movie Awards. [6] In 2018 he created the sound design for Iñárritu’s groundbreaking VR project "Carne y Arena" Flesh and Sand. [7]

Solo exhibitions (selection)

Group exhibitions (selection)

Discography

Alva Noto solo studio albums

Alva Noto as Aleph-1 solo studio album

Alva Noto extended plays (EP)

Alva Noto as noto solo studio albums

Compilation albums

Soundtrack albums

Collaborations

With Ryuichi Sakamoto, as alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto
With Ryoji Ikeda, as "Cyclo."
With Mika Vainio, as "noto"
With Scanner (Robin Rimbaud)
With Blixa Bargeld, as ANBB
With Opiate (Thomas Knak), as Opto
With Zeitkratzer
With Anne-James Chaton and Andy Moor
With Anne-James Chaton as Alphabet
With Olaf Bender (Byetone), as Diamond Version
With Iggy Pop and Tarwater

Compilation appearances (exclusive/non-albums tracks)

Remixes

Installations, etc.

Accolades

Source: [44]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Insen</i> 2005 studio album by Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto

Insen is the second collaboration album between Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and German electronic artist Carsten Nicolai. It was released on 20 March 2005 via Raster-Noton label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raster-Noton</span> German record label

Raster-Noton was a German electronic music record label. It was established in 1999 in Chemnitz, Germany. By the mid 2010s, it had become known as "one of Europe’s most revered and reliable hubs for experimental electronic music, IDM and audio-visual art."

Richard Chartier is a sound/installation artist and graphic designer from the United States. He works in reductionist microsound electronic music, a form of extreme minimalism characterised by quiet and sparse sound.

<i>Xerrox Vol.1</i> 2007 studio album by Alva Noto

Xerrox Vol.1 is the third studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released on March 27, 2007 via Raster-Noton label. This is his first album in the five-piece Xerrox series, followed by Xerrox Vol.2 (2009), Xerrox Vol.3 (2015) and Xerrox Vol.4 (2020).

<i>Xerrox Vol.2</i> 2009 studio album by Alva Noto

Xerrox Vol. 2 is the sixth studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. On this record, the author turns to a list of contemporary musicians, including Michael Nyman, Stephen O'Malley, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The record is the second part of his Xerrox quintet of albums.

<i>Vrioon</i> 2002 studio album by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto

Vrioon is the debut collaboration album between Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto, released in 2002. This is the first album in the Virus Series followed by four other records: Insen (2005), Revep (2006), utp_ (2008), and Summvs (2011). The initial letters of the five albums together form the word "Virus".

ANBB is a project between Alva Noto aka Carsten Nicolai and Blixa Bargeld, the singer, guitarist and composer of Einsturzende Neubauten.

<i>Summvs</i> 2011 studio album by Alva Noto, Ryuichi Sakamoto

Summvs is the fifth collaboration album between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The record was released on 9 May 2011 via Raster-Noton label.

<i>Revep</i> 2006 EP by Alva Noto, Ryuichi Sakamoto

Revep is the third collaboration record between Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and German electronic artist Carsten Nicolai. This EP continues the series titled the Virus Series. The EP was released on 23 May 2006 via Raster-Noton label.

<i>Xerrox Vol.3</i> 2015 studio album by Alva Noto

Xerrox Vol.3 is the eighth solo studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. The record was released on 31 March 2015 via Raster-Noton label, continuing his Xerrox pentalogy.

<i>Prototypes</i> (album) 2000 studio album by Alva Noto

Prototypes is the debut studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released on March 14, 2000 via Mille Plateaux label. For the release, Noto created sound collages from amplified electrical noises, which he arranged into a set of minimal movements.

<i>Aleph-1</i> (album) 2007 studio album by Alva Noto

Aleph-1 is the fourth studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. The record was released on December 31, 2007, via iDeal Recordings label.

<i>Unitxt</i> 2008 studio album by Alva Noto

Unitxt is the fifth studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released on July 22, 2008, via Raster-Noton label.

<i>Univrs</i> 2011 studio album by Alva Noto

Univrs is the seventh studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released on 10 October 2011 via Raster-Noton label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joachim Schmettau</span> German sculptor (born 1937)

Joachim Schmettau is a German sculptor.

<i>Glass</i> (composition) 2018 live album of a single composition by Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto

"Glass" is an improvisational piece composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Carsten Nicolai, known by his stage name as Alva Noto, for Yayoi Kusama's installation Dots Obsession—Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope, which ran in September 2016 at Philip Johnson's Glass House. A film of the performance was uploaded to the Glass House's official Vimeo account and website on November 11, 2016, and an audio recording of the 37-minute composition was released as an album on Nicolai's label NOTON on February 16, 2018. "Glass" is an unconventional ambient piece that uses sounds from a keyboard, glass-made singing bowls, and digital processing of the House's glass walls. The composition consists of developing layers of sounds performed over a single drone. It was praised by many professional reviewers as a display of Sakamoto and Nicolai's growing artistry.

Kuehn Malvezzi is an architectural practice in Berlin founded by Johannes Kuehn, Wilfried Kuehn and Simona Malvezzi in 2001. They work as exhibition designers, architects and curators, with a focus on museums and public spaces.

<i>Transrapid</i> (EP) 2004 EP by Alva Noto

Transrapid is an extended play by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released in 2004 via Raster Noton label.

<i>Transvision</i> (EP) 2005 EP by Alva Noto

Transvision is an extended play by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released in 2005 via Raster Noton label.

<i>Transspray</i> 2005 EP by Alva Noto

Transspray is an extended play by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released in 2005 via Raster Noton label.

References

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  3. "Linguistic budgie inspires opera". BBC News. 25 March 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
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