Michael Johnsen [Pittsburgh] is known for live-electronic performances with a menagerie of custom devices whose idiosyncratic behaviors are revealed through their complex interactions. His work is characterized by a relative lack of ideas per se, and an intense focus on observation, the way a shepherd watches sheep. The extensive patching of large numbers of devices produces teeming chirps, sudden transients and charming failure modes; embracing the dirt in pure electronics. His current research concerns the circuit-level documentation of David Tudor’s “folkloric” homemade instruments. His work has been shown widely at MoMA, SF Cinematheque, Radio France, Idiopreneurial Entrephonics, and Musique Action. He co-edits ubu.com/emr which is devoted to technical resources concerning the experimental practice of sound. He also designs analog circuits for Pittsburgh Modular.
