The most famous "sound artist" in the world is in town to capture Porto

Bill Fontana, American composer internationally known for his pioneering experiments in sound art, is the first invited speaker of CITAR Talks event, organised by the Centre of Academic Research of School of the Arts (CITAR) - Catholic University of Portugal.

Since 2004, CITAR fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and promotes theoretical and applied research in artistic production.

The Centre expanded its scope of action in 2007, from the area of Digital Arts to areas such as Musical Studies, Theory of Art, or the Study and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, devoted to aggregating art and science.

The session, presented by American composer and artist, Bill Fontana, is included in a lecture that will take place this afternoon, at Foz campus of the Catholic University, at 5:30 pm. Also, the American composer will take part on a workshop that will be held today and tomorrow (March 27th-28th) in some of the most emblematic places of Porto.

The workshop is themed "Acoustic Visions", and participants (12 max number of pax) will have the opportunity to experiment, directly with the artist and to localize sounds in some of the most important places in the city of Porto. 

The first session includes studio technical training, followed by field work to collect sounds in various places of the city (transport and material included). 

The second session, scheduled for tomorrow, March 28th includes a critical hearing of the collected sounds.

The lecture is free, but subject to prior registration. The workshop has a cost attached: 60 euros CITAR students and 80 euros external participants.

For more details click here.

Bill Fontana began his career as a composer in the early 70's, using sound as a sculptural medium to perceive states of mind and transform our perceptions of the urban environment. For this composer "a sound is all the possible ways there are to hear it".

Fontana's sound sculptures have been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, the Post Museum in Frankfurt, the Art History and Natural History Museums in Vienna, both Tate Modern and Tate Britain in London, the 48th Venice Biennale, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, the Art Gallery of NSE in Sydney and the new Kolumba Museum in Cologne. 

He has also collaborated with the BBC, the European Broadcast Union, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio, West German Radio (WDR), Swedish Radio, Radio France and the Austrian State Radio.

The next CITAR Talk will take place in October in Portugal and the guest speaker is Gerfried Stocker, artistic director of the Ars Electronica Festival.