EPK_MusicDeepSpace – valeryvermeulen.net

Music, (Deep) Space and Black Holes (Lecture-performance)

(Picture by Wouter Kers)

In the lecture performance “Music, wall street, (deep) space and black holes” dr. Valery Vermeulen takes the audience on a quest how to develop as an artist and scientist connections between music and math using new technologies and paradigms. Starting point is the visionary book “Formalized Music” of I. Xenakis from 1968, the ancient Egyptian Narmer Palette, quantum gravity and Vermeulen’s background as a pure mathematician/theoretical physicist and musician. Vermeulen presents a voyage in time, space and sound trough various projects including his work for Esch 22 European Capital of Culture 2022 and the Mikromedas project. It is a journey that leads to the latest evolutions of astrophysics and how they bend and question the boundaries of human scientific and artistic imagination. The lecture performance also features Vermeulen’s collaborations with various academic partners and scientsists including physicst Thomas Hertog, former colleague and long time collaborator of Stephen Hawking.

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Press pics

1 dimensional representation of gravitational waves emitted by black hole merger

2 dimensional representation of gravitational waves emitted by black hole merger

Simulation of particle trajectory near black hole event horizon

2 Dimensional visualisation of gravitational waves emitted by black hole merger

Picture by Carolien Teunisse

Press bio approved for immediate release

Valery Vermeulen cuts a unique presence in the world of music. Holding a Phd in pure mathematics and an MA in music production, he is passionate about the convergence of art and science. Driven by a raw curiosity, a fascination with the very nature of reality and a determination to test boundaries within music, Vermeulen’s work evolves tirelessly in its exploration of innovative generative sound synthesis and sound design. His experiments range from using AI in his Emo-Synth project – exploring the connections between music and emotions, to journeying into space using gravitational wave data from black holes. Vermeulen’s process is as mind-bending as the music he produces – like writing bespoke programs to translate data into musical compositions. This approach has led to the creation of beautiful, haunting story telling productions with an emotive intensity – the merging of intuition and logic.

Vermeulen’s installations and performances have been widely shown at various festivals and venues including Hause der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin, DE), CTM Festival (Berlin, DE), Slingshot Festival (Atlanta, US), KIKK Festival (Namur, BE), Bozar (Brussels, BE), Concertgebouw Brugge (BE) and Muziekgebouw aan ‘t Ij and was featured extensively in international news outlets and magazines such as e.g. DJ Mag, MixMag, Music Radar, Tech Radar, The Wire UK, Electronic Sound Magazine, New Scientist, Mixmag (UK, Asia and Korea), Trax Magazine, Future Music (Es), FazeMag, Deutschland Funk, Deutschland Funk Kultur, Yle Radio1, The Wire UK on Air, VRT Radio1 and Radio2 to name but few.

Extended bio

Valery Vermeulen cuts a unique presence in the world of music. Holding a Phd in pure mathematics from Ghent University (BE) and an MA in music production from the Royal Conservatory of Ghent (BE), he is passionate about the convergence of art and science. Driven by a raw curiosity, a fascination with the very nature of reality and a determination to test boundaries in sound synthesis, Vermeulen’s music evolves tirelessly in its exploration of innovative generative sound synthesis and sound design. His experiments range from using AI in his Emo-Synth project – exploring the connections between music and emotions at the Institute for Psychoacoustics and Electronic Music (IPEM, Ghent University) to working with Prof. Dr. Thomas Hertog, former colleague and long time collaborator of Stephen Hawking to use gravitational wave data from black holes and translate it into an emotive journey to the stars. Vermeulen’s process is as mind-bending as the music he produces – like writing bespoke programs to translate the data into musical compositions.

This approach has led to the creation of beautiful, haunting sci-fi productions with an emotive intensity – the merging of intuition and logic. When not in the production studio, Valery can be found as a guest professor at the Royal Conservatory – School of Arts – University College Ghent (BE), researcher at the Department of Mathematics – Computer Science at University of Antwerp (BE), guest lecturer at the Master ArtScience in Den Hague (NL), and as a statistical expert, data scientist and consultant.

Projects in Vermeulen’s work include besides Mikromedas, Krystal Ball and EMO-Synth.
Krystal Ball is an artistic, politically and economically inspired multimedia project focusing on the recent financial credit crisis, interactive systems and stochastic as well as algorithmic music composition as initiated by I. Xenakis in the early sixties. Under various formats the project confronts the audience with the often misleading systems and mechanisms that caused the global financial crisis (more info at: https://www.valeryvermeulen.net/works/krystalball/).
With the EMO-Synth project, Vermeulen has been designing and implementing interactive multimedia systems where the impact of automatically generated sound and music is directed by the emotional responses of the user through means of artificial intelligence (more info at: https://www.valeryvermeulen.net/works/emo-synth/).

Interviews, radio airplay and features (selection)

Tech Radar (US)
Music Radar (US)
DJ Mag (US)
MixMag (US, Asia and Korea)
MusicTech (US)
Deutschland Funk (DE)
Deutschland Funk Kultur (DE)
The Wire UK
Electronic Sound Magazine (UK)
Trax Magazine (FR)
FazeMag (DE)
Radio Eins (DE)
VRT Radio 1 (BE)
VRT Radio 2 (BE)
The Wire UK On Air (UK)
Radio Lancashire, On The Wire (UK)
Radio NOVA, La Potion (FR)
DubLab, Longwave (US)
YLE Radio 1 (FI)
Radio Scorpio, Sterrenplaten (BE)

Past performances (selection)

Hause der Kulturen der Welt (HKW, Berlin)
CTM (Club TransMediale) Festival Berlin
KIKK Festival (Namur, BE)
Bozar (Brussels, BE)
Concertgebouw Brugge (Brugge, BE),
Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ (Amsterdam, NL)
Slingshot Festival (Atlanta, US)
IMT (Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca, IT)
Technical Museum Zagreb (Zagreb, HR)
Atomium (Brussels, BE)
GOGBOT Festival (Enschede, Nl)
State Festival (Berlin, DE)
SPEKTRUM Art|Science Community (Berlin, DE)
TEDxFlanders (Antwerp, BE)
MHKA (Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, BE)
Musical Instruments Museum (MIM, Brussels, BE)
Economia Festival (Baltan Laboratories, Eindhoven, NL)
Oortreders Festival (Musica, Neerpelt, BE)
TECART Festival (Rotterdam, NL)
Sound Scapes & Sound Identities (Beseno, IT)
Liebig 12 Gallery (Berlin, DE)
GRETA Gallery (Zagreb, HR)
Beursschouwburg (Brussels, BE)
Z33 (Hasselt, BE), STUK (Leuven, BE)
Vooruit (Ghent, BE)
Tour & Taxis (Brussel, BE)
Gallery Tatjana Pieters (Gent, BE)