Edit history

Robert Curgenven is an artist producing large-scale audiovisual experiences, albums, performances and installations. His work emphasizes physicality, our embodied response to sound and its correspondence to location, air, weather and architecture. His recorded output includes Tailte Cré-Umha (Bronze Lands) and SIRÈNE for his Recorded Fields Editions, described by the Guardian (AU) as "evocative" and "expansive [pipe] organ work", "epic... remarkable music" by Wire Magazine (UK), "astounding" by FACT mag (USA) and given 'four stars' by Mojo (UK); Oltre and Built Through for LINE imprint, both "highly recommended" by Boomkat (UK) and "true sound art" by the Washington Post (USA); and Climata, recorded in 15 of James Turrell’s Skyspaces across 9 countries, called "sense shifting" by Fluid Audio (UK) and "an extraordinary piece" by RTÉ (Irish national radio). Curgenven has produced works and installations for National Gallery of Australia, Musée du Quai Branly (Paris), National Museum of Poland (Krakow), Centre for Contemporary Art (Warsaw), Palazzo Grassi (Venice), Transmediale (Berlin), Modern Art Museum of Medellin (Columbia), National Sculpture Factory (Ireland), New Music Dublin and the National Film and Sound Archive (Australia). He has presented live performances at festivals including Sydney Festival (Sydney Town Hall), Maerzmusik (Kraftwerk Berlin), TodaysArt (The Hague), Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), Ultrahang (Budapest), Insomnia Festival (Tromsø/Norway), Cork Midsummer and was an artist for the EU's SHAPE (Sound, Heterogeneous Art and Performance in Europe) platform in 2019. Curgenven is an associate composer with the Contemporary Music Centre (Ireland), has produced radio works internationally including national radio in Australia (ABC Classic FM) and Ireland (RTÉ Lyric FM) and since 2008 has been a guest lecturer in music and sound at Universities, Conservatoriums and tertiary institutions internationally. "Curgenven makes the point that sounds are fundamental to our perception of the world... hearing the complexities of a place and time is intersected by memories of the familiar which are in turn displaced and transformed.” Realtime Magazine (AUS) “Behind the music lurk such [disparate] presences as Alvin Lucier, King Tubby, Murray Schafer and Eliane Radigue.” The Wire Magazine (UK)