Audioglimt: Rudi Valdersnes

Rudi Valdersnes performs an experimental live soundtrack to the Russian Cold War propaganda film, Shooting Range, interspersed with excerpts from the 94 minute video installation, Hours and Hours by Yafei Qi. This Audioglimt concert took place on the 20th of January 2023 at Wrap arts centre.

Music: Rudi Valdresnes
Hours and Hours (film): Yafei Qi
Shooting Range (film): V. Tarasov

“Shooting Range” from 1979 by V. Tarasov. Soyuzmultfilm, based on a play by V. Slatkin.
Based on a play by V. Slatkin. An unemployed American gets a job in a shooting gallery as a live target; the greedy capitalist owner charges patrons double for the chance to shoot at a human being. Tarasov, a fan of J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye,” modeled the film’s hero on Holden Caulfield. An artist as well as an animation director, Tarasov combed through back issues of “America,” a magazine published by the U.S. government during the Cold War, and American comic books, to lovingly create the film’s fabulous New York City back drop. The attention to detail is amazing (and sometimes off base), from the graffiti on the buildings to the brand name on the back of the hero’s tennis shoes.

Yafei Qi’s film Hours and Hours follows the daily routine of a man that has confined himself to his apartment over the course of three days. He feeds his cats, showers, eats breakfast, and takes medication. He cleans, observes life on the street through his window, watches TV and reads a few pages in a book. Monotony gradually morphs into loneliness and finally alienation and anxiety.

Rudi Valdersnes (1978, NO) is an instrumentalist, composer, DJ and concert promoter.
His distinctive style revolves around repetitive structures and elongated percussion landscapes where polyrhythms are the central element. The music is focused around contemplative narratives, often described as hypnotic and meditative.
His musical interest began in his youth as a songwriter and guitarist in punk rock and new-wave bands, strongly inspired by folk music and by early minimalist composers.
Valdresnes has made a number of commissioned works for key festivals such as EKKO Festival, Meteor Festival and the Bergen Festival, in addition to various gigs in Norway and beyond.
In 2018, Jiska Huizing, Julie Silset and Rudi Valdersnes started the record company Ideophone Records, which focuses on electronic and electroacoustic music for the adventurous dance floor and listeners. Through the record company and his involvement in the DOT collective, he arranges club nights and other musical events. In the autumn of 2018, Valdersnes initiated the concert series Ohm at Cafe Opera, where artists from various musical disciplines were invited to do a collaborative concert. The artists Bjørn Tomren, Ida Nerbø, Craig Wells and Fridtjof Wesseltoft were among some of the contributors.
He is a member of the Norwegian Composers’ Association.

#experimentalart
#experimentalsoundscapes