Ars Electronica Forum Valais 2025

The 10th Ars Electronica Forum Valais Selection Concerts are curated and performed by Simone Conforti (IRCAM Paris). They will take place on May 28 and 29, 2025 as part of the Forum Wallis festival at the MEbU in Goms. The jury was made up of Kotoka Suzuki (JPN), Jaime Oliver La Rosa (PER), Reuben de Lautour (NZL) and Javier Hagen (Festival Director Forum Wallis).

Results

Concert Selection (26 works)
Alvarez Tobias, Paralelismos (MEX)
Bangun Setyawan Candra, Idrak (IDN)
Behrens Marc, L'écrit fantome (GER)
Bordin Matteo, Symbols (ITA)
Borrel Stéphane, The Favourites (FRA)
Cappelletti Nicola, Parallaxe.Parataxe (ITA)
Castro Pinto Joao, Circumsphere: to bounce and rebounce (PRT)
Cheung Chris, Casting light (HKG)
Curgenven Robert, Across Country (AUS)
Dall'Ara-Majek Ana, Mare Buchlae (FRA)
Delgado Gustavo, Strin[G]i(n)[Mi] (ARG)
Duchenne Jean-Marc, L'énigme des objets (FRA)
Fumo Frattegiani Nicola, Hybris (ITA)
Karkatselas Theodoros, Lacuum (GRC)
Koszolko Martin, Tympan (AUS)
Kubaczek Benjamin-Alan, Impromptu 8 (AUT)
Kuehn Mikel, Dancing In The Ether (USA)
Nguyen David Quang-Minh, Texture Arc The Points (USA)
Oliveira Joao Pedro, Pulses (BRA)
Orlandini Valerio, Jeu de Bruits (ITA)
Perez Simon, Las cifras y las palabras (ARG)
Sambucco Dominic, Sink (ITA)
Sintaratana Tanid, Fragments (THA)
Sismann Valentin, Morphaime (FRA)
Talebi Shahrzad, WatchTheOnlyWayHomeDisappear (IRN)
van der Loo Ernst, Void Population (NLD)

Special Mention (14 works)
Argento Cristian, Diviso in Due (ITA)
Gintas K, Crunchy (LTU)
Guzman Roy, Guasábara (PRI)
Harper Nathan, Nutria No. 4 (USA)
Hernández Elliot, Leviathan (MEX)
Hernandez Omar, de tu piel supura... tristeza /from your skin exudes... sadness (MEX)
Huerta Concepción, somos de los lugares... (MEX)
Magnien Léo, dans la plaine incertaine (FRA)
Moyers Timothy, On the Rim of Conciousness (USA)
Polymeneas-Liontiris Thanos, Tettix 'A (GRC)
Quint Ursel, Es (GER)
Sintaratana Tanid, Phi Fa (THA)
Soria Edmar, PostAnthroposRecord1 (MEX)
Turcotte Roxanne, Alibi des voltigeurs (FRA)

Forum Valais

The Forum Valais is an annual international festival for new music in Valais. Since 2006, Forum Wallis has co-produced over 300 world premieres and presented works by over 500 composers from all over the world, including Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet together with the Arditti Quartet, André Richard and Air Glaciers as well as Cod.Acts Pendulum Choir. Regular guests at the festival include ensembles such as recherche, Zafraan, UMS'nJIP, dissonArt, Steamboat Switzerland, Klangforum Wien, ensemble für neue musik zürich, Contrechamps and Ensemble Modern.

Addendum on April 7, 2025 - Interview

In the annual publication Carol from arttourist.com (a brand of Art Cities in Europe, "a niche between the newspaper, the magazine and the pure organizer catalog" according to https://www.arttourist.com/about.html) features a portrait of Forum Wallis (pages 48 and 49). Publisher Kai Geiger conducted the following interview with Javier Hagen.

Kai Giger: What is the Ars Electronica Forum Wallis?
Javier Hagen: The Ars Electronica Forum Wallis (AEFW) has been a program track for acousmatic music within the Festival for New Music Forum Wallis since 2015. Its repertoire is drawn year after year from an international Call for Acousmatic Works, and in 2025 it will celebrate its 10th edition.

How did you come to establish these in the Valais Alps?
Acousmatic music (editor's note: music exclusively for loudspeakers) can rarely be experienced live in an appealing quality because the technical requirements are complex and the instruments are expensive. At the MEbU in Goms, however, we have a permanently installed state-of-the-art 16-channel acousmonium. This was designed and set up by Simone Conforti, who teaches at IRCAM in Paris and worked for the Biennale Musica in Venice. This means that we can offer the best possible conditions for acousmatic music - and with this program we also have a unique selling point. (smiles) In view of the splendor of the Valais Alps, acousmatic music is also a thought-provoking statement.

It is noteworthy that there are no registration fees for the AEFW Call for Acousmatic Works, nor is there a ranking, what are the reasons for this?
There are numerous competitions whose costs are financed to a considerable extent by composers' registration fees and whose prize money is symbolic in comparison. We are of the opinion that the organizer should not pass on the funds for such a concert series to the majority of composers - who have not been selected - but should generate them independently.

On the ranking question: Our aim is to give visibility to as many works as possible. We find it presumptuous to select just three works from hundreds of submissions in a ranking. Our principle is more of an activist one. Let me explain this in a little more detail using the following comparison: 40 years ago - in the days before the Internet - there were, let's say, a dozen independent bubbles worldwide in which new music was played, received and also honored in competitions. In each bubble, around 20 composers regularly made it into the ranks, which, extrapolated to the global scene, means that over 200 composers made up the top rankings worldwide.

In our globalized world, these bubbles have merged into one large one, but the number of composers selected has not grown by the corresponding factor. On the contrary, it has decreased: it feels like no more than 50 composers are regularly to be found in the top rankings. That's 75% less, so the professional playing field has narrowed. Even if it is just a drop in the ocean: By playing not just a handful, but 26 pieces, as we did this year, and awarding a Special Mention to 14 others, more works than average get a playing window and all composers get a certificate. The composers who play will be paid the royalties and overnight stays, which in many cases already exceeds the prize money. Overall, we think this is more effective.

The AEFW jury has been the same for years with Kotoka Suzuki, Reuben de Lautour, Jaime Oliver La Rosa and yourself, is there something special about this?
Yes, that is a conscious decision: We have a constant jury ensemble that engages in an aesthetic discourse over the years. This would not be possible if the jury was composed differently every year. The exchange between the jury members is extremely open, and together we have an overview of developments over several years, which is particularly valuable. It is also special that we cover all continents through the individual backgrounds of the jury members - with the exception of Africa, at least for the moment: Kotoka Suzuki stands for the Asian region, Jaime Oliver La Rosa for both Americas, Reuben de Lautour for the Turkish-Arabic and Austro-Pacific regions and I for old Europe.

Is acousmatic music male-dominated? The program lineups at least allow this assumption.
In terms of numbers, this seems to be the case, but musically it is not: our experience shows that the pieces that we have rated the highest internally over the years are conspicuously often by female composers. As a rule - and unfortunately - they make up no more than 20% of the input collective. However, they are statistically very far ahead with their pieces. We select pieces that we think are worth listening to and presenting. Nota bene: in several editions, female composers submitted such good works that in some years we had selections with more than 50% female composers, and this with a participation of less than 25% female composers! Chapeau!

AEFW, quo vadis?
As the IGNM-VS, the local chapter of the International Society for New Music, which organizes the Forum Valais, has entered into a partnership with the MEbU, we will be able to draw on an instrument of above-average quality at any time in the coming years. Since 2023, the MEbU has established its own concert series for acousmatic music in Goms with Ars Acusmatica and offers further opportunities to play acousmatic music throughout the year. In the coming years, we will be able to step up these activities and have significantly more works performed.