GALERIJA VARTAI, Vilnius - Gallery news: Vladimir Tarasov / London Jazz Festival

Vladimir Tarasov / London Jazz Festival

VLADIMIR TARASOV

SOUND GAMES
Video work

11-20 November 2011
The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
Southbank Centre, London

The Lithuanian jazz percussionist Vladimir Tarasov has been invited this year to the London Jazz Festival to participate in a special project Written/Unwritten. Musicians from one of the world's elite contemporary music ensembles - the London Sinfonietta - strike a creative dialogue with Vladimir Tarasov and radical composer/pianist/improviser Matthew Bourne, exploring the boundaries between written and unwritten music.

During the London Jazz Festival, which will take place 11-20 November, the Foyer of Queen Elizabeth Hall will host an exhibition of Vladimir Tarasov's four video works titled Sound Games set up in collaboration with Galerija Vartai.

Vladimir Tarasov was born in 1947 in Arkhangelsk, Russia. From 1968, he has been living and working in Vilnius. In 1971-1986, Tarasov was a member of the famous contemporary jazz trio "GTÈ", together with Vyacheslav Ganelin and Vladimir Chekasin. He has recorded over a 100 vinyl albums and CDs with the trio and a number of other musicians and orchestras, as well as solo pieces. Tarasov also writes music for orchestras, films and theatre performances.

From 1991, he has also been engaged in visual art projects - individually and in collaboration with other artists (mostly with the noted Russian painter Ilya Kabakov). Tarasov has had a number of personal shows and participated in many group shows across the world. He has taught at the Berlin Podewil Centre, the Music Academy Bremen, as well as the art academies of Orléans, Düsseldorf and Vilnius. A book titled Trio by Vladimir Tarasov was published by Baltos lankos in 1998, followed by Vladimir Tarasov: Between Sound and Image (Vladimiras Tarasovas: tarp garso ir vaizdo), a collection of essays by various authors and photographs of Tarasov's installations, in 2008.

Sound Games is a sound and video installation project that has been developing for two decades with the constant addition of new works. This time the artist will introduce his video works titled Constellation (2011), Gobustan (2009), In Between (2009) and The Third River (2011), where he reverts to the basic structures and rhythms of sound, exploring their interaction, as well as visual metaphors related to the sound. The stylistic expression of the video works is minimalist, meticulously organised, and focussed on corporeality with all its visual and acoustical properties. A subtle relationship between sound and silence, a delicate sense of time, and a controlled and economical visual expression invoke a meditative relationship between the viewer and the piece of art, creating a feeling of "transparent impalpability".

Vladimir Tarasov in concert:

18 November, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1
8XX. Tickets: L12+bkg can be booked online at:
http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/music/classical/tickets/london-sinfonietta-61277

Vladimir Tarasov's Sound Games:
11-20 November, foyer of Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1
8XX. Open every day two hours before the show.

Sponsored by:
Culture Foundation of the Republic of Lithuania

Organised by:
Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the UK
Galerija Vartai

Contacts:
info@galerijavartai.lt, 00370 5 2122949

Links:
londonjazzfestival.org.uk
southbankcentre.co.uk
galerijavartai.lt
vladimirtarasov.com
lithuanianembassy.co.uk