Zbigniew Karkowski (14 March 1958 – 12 December 2013) was a Polish

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

ian and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Biography

Karkowski was born on 14 March 1958 in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, Poland. He studied composition at the State College of Music in Gothenburg, Sweden, aesthetics of modern music at the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

's Department of Musicology, and computer music at the

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology (, commonly referred to as Chalmers) is a private university, private research university located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Chalmers focuses on engineering and science, but more broadly it also conducts research ...

. After completing his studies in Sweden, he studied sonology for a year at the Royal Conservatory of Music in

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, Netherlands. During his education, he also attended many summer composition master courses arranged by Centre Acanthes in Avignon and Aix-en-Provence, France, studying with Iannis Xenakis,

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

and Georges Aperghis, among others. He worked actively as a composer of both acoustic and

electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a Music genre, genre of Western art music in which composers use recording technology and audio signal processing to manipulate the timbres of Acoustics, acoustic sounds in the creation of pieces of music. It originated a ...

. He wrote pieces for large orchestra (commissioned and performed by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra), plus an opera and several chamber music pieces that were performed by professional ensembles in Sweden, Poland, Switzerland and Germany. Along with Edwin van der Heide and Atau Tanaka, he was a founding member of "Sensorband." In performances by this electroacoustic music performance trio, Karkowski "activated his instrument by the movement of his arms in the space around him; this cut through invisible infrared beams mounted on a scaffolding structure" (Tanaka 2012). Karkowski lived and worked in

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, Japan, for the last years of his life and was active in the underground noise scene there. Karkowski died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

on 12 December 2013 in Peru.Słodkowski, Jędrzej.
Zbigniew Karkowski nie żyje. Mistrz muzycznej awangardy, radykał, burzyciel barier…
" ''Gazeta Wyborcza'', 13 December 2013.

Discography

*''Bad Bye Engine'' (Radium 226.05 1988) *''Uexkull'' (Anckarström 1991) *''Phauss / Karkowski / Bilting'' (Silent 1992) *''Disruptor'' (OR 1998) *''World as Will'' (Staalplaat 1998) *''Mutation'' (ERS 1999) *''Choice of Points for the Application of Force'' (Ytterbium 2000) *''It'' (Mego 2000) *''Le Depeupleur'', with Kasper T. Toeplitz (Cross Fade Enter Tainment (CFET) 2000) *''Reverse Direction and Let the Sound Reach out to You'' (Firework Edition Records 2000) *''Whint'' (.Absolute. 2000), with Francisco López *''Function Generator'', with Xopher Davidson (Sirr 2001) *''Consciously Unconscious Unconsciously Conscious'' (Metamkine 2002) *''World as Will II'' (23five 2002) *''ElectroStatics'' (Post Concrete 2003) *''Turnoff'' (Noise Asia 2003) *''Attuning / Attending'' (Musica Genera 2004) *''Intensifier'' ( walnut + locust 2004) *''KHZ'', with Antimatter (Auscultare Research 2005) *''One and Many'' (Sub Rosa 2005) *''Live at Waterland Kwanyin'' (Kwan Yin Records 2006) *''Continuity'' (Asphodel 2007) *''Divide by Zero'', with Antimatter opher Davidson(Antifrost 2007) *''Difficulty of Being'', with Brian O'Reilly (Monotype Records 2014) *''Encumbrance'', performed by Gęba, Constantin Popp, and Wolfram (Bôłt Records/Turning Sounds 2019)

Bibliography

*Karkowski, Zbigniew. ''Physiques sonores''. Paris: Van Dieren, 2008.

References

Sources

*Tanaka, Atau.
[Gallery] Atau Tanaka
" ''eContact! 14.2 — Biotechnological Performance Practice / Pratiques de performance biotechnologique'' (July 2012). Montréal: CEC.

External links

desk.nlDiscogs artist pageZbigniew Karkowski, one of his last concerts
1958 births 2013 deaths Musicians from Kraków Noise musicians Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Peru {{Poland-musician-stub