Yann Novak (b. 1979 Madison, WI) is a sound artist, composer and designer based in Los Angeles. His compositions have been published by Dragon's Eye Recordings (US), Dulcett Records (US), The Henry Art Gallery (US), Infrequency (CA), Mandorla (MX), smlEditions (US) and White_Line Editions (UK). His work utilizes different forms of digital documentation as a point of departure. Through the digital manipulation of these sound and image files, his works serve as a translation from documents of personal experiences into new compositions fueled by the original experience. Novak's installations and performances have been presented internationally at prestigious events and venues including American Academy in Rome (Rome, Italy), Blim (Vancouver, BC), Decibel Festival (WA), Ersta Konsthall (Stokholm, Sweden), Fiske Planitarium (CO), Henry Art Gallery (WA), Hit Art Space (Gothenburg, Sweden), Kasini House (VT), Las Cienegas Project (CA), Lawrimore Project (WA), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (CA), Mutek Festival (Montreal, QB), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA), Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (WA), Soundwalk (CA), Suyama Space (WA), TBA Festival (OR) and Western Bridge (WA).
As a result of these endeavors, Novak had been invited to numerous Residencies including Environmental Aesthetics Residency (WA), Espy Foundation Residency (WA), and Kasini House Studio A Residency (VT).
In 2005, Novak re-launched his father’s Dragon’s Eye Recordings imprint with a new focus on limited edition releases by emerging and mid-carrier sound artists, composers and producers. Since its re-launch, Dragon’s Eye Recordings has published over 25 releases and has received critical acclaim. In 2009, Infrequency Editions, curated by Jamie Drouin, was integrated into Dragon’s Eye’s operations and distribution.
In recent years Novak has collaborated through select installation, performance and recorded work with Gretchen Bennett, Brittle Stars, Crispin Spaeth Dance Group, Robert Crouch, Jamie Drouin, Will Long, Marc Manning, Brian Murphy, Alex Schweder and Tiny Vipers.
Artist Statement
My work is an exploration of incident, process, and narrative. Central to my practice is the capturing and manipulation of audio recordings and photographs. Through various types of digital media, I collect material culled from a range of sources initially selected by the emotional content of the subject matter. These documents become highly charged fragments of an ongoing autobiographical text. Dramatic events like relocating from one city to another, or simple day-to-day incidents like being trapped inside during a strong rain, can be equally compelling. I am interested in reconfiguring documents of moments such as these into abstract, open ended narratives.
By subjecting these recordings to a series of erasures and treatments, a delicate palette of textures, drones, subtle melodies and color fields emerge. Each piece is then composed from numerous variations from a single source, meticulously sculpted to highlight some aspect of the original document. Although significant details and artifacts are deliberately eliminated, the narrative and structural elements of the source material are left intact. The final form of my work may be realized as sound performance, sound installation, large scale projection, video work or recorded work.
Each of my works is an investigation into presentation, composition and perception, not just to be heard, but to be felt.
Live Performance Description
My live performances utilize the same techniques as my recorded or installation work: transforming a simple environmental recording into a richly layered, and emotionally tense composition. Since each or my works is constructed out of numerous variations on a single recording, my performances are composed from a library, unique to that piece, of pre-processes and altered sounds. Through this process my performances can take on aspects of my recorded or installation works, while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to unique venues, situations, environments and the audience.
My performances are also adaptable through their presentation. Generally I will perform in stereo, but when possible, my performances can be expanded to up to 6-channel surround. My performances utilize darkness as a visual queue to draw the audience into a deeper listening experience. However, in some cases, video will be utilized as a focal point if the piece was originally conceived with a video element. Both of these elements can be discussed with the organizer and are expansions on the basic elements of my performance.
Quotes
"Novak does not waste his chance to make a first impression. In fact, with remarkable economy he transforms the three rooms he's been given to work with into chambers where you can be transported into states of mind that feel both personal and familiar. Using digitally altered field recordings (in which the sounds are heightened but the time is real) and snapshots digitally stitched together and abstracted into gleaming videos, Novak both fills the work up with his subjective experience and empties it out to make room for you. There's just enough specificity and just enough blankness.
I know, technically, how Novak made this work, but I don't quite know how it works. The closest I can get to describing his approach is that it's a combination of generosity and restraint. Each detail being so firmly in place means that the rest is open."
– Jen Graves, The Stranger (From "Yann Novak's 'Relocation': All Kinds of Movings On" May 13, 2009)
"The work is distinguished by its clean design, with its constituent parts meticulously woven into a seamless flow without a superfluous element in sight."
– Textura (CA)
"Essentially, this is a drone workout, but in the hands of one of its most proficient exponents, becomes a glistening, precious sound work, unrivalled but by a handful of contemporaries. Novak has seemingly taken an obvious source sound, and with an exploratory and majestic treatment transmuted it into sonic gold. Masterful."
–BG Nichols, WHITE_LINE (UK)
"Novak creates a sense of distance by abstracting his source materials beyond recognition - whatever is going in is obscure, and far away. Hence the vague, rotorblading, respiratory effects of the first of these three tracks - the sound of systems ticking over, yet whose undulating motions are curiously involving."
–David Stubbs, The Wire (UK)