Internationally renowned, multifaceted multimedia artist Herman Kolgen has been modeling sumptuous ‘audiocinetic’ sculptures for over twenty years. The Montréal, Canada-based sight and sound virtuoso continually hatches new conceptual approaches to celebrate the powerful synergy (and intimacy) at the heart of his audiovisual works. His installation and performance pieces boast a hybrid technical language and a singular and bold aesthetic, sitting at the juncture of many artistic practices. From 1996 to 2008, Kolgen dedicated the majority of his immersive practice to the audiovisual Skoltz_Kolgen duo, performing at prestigious international events such as Berlin’s Transmediale, the Venice Biennale, Austria’s Ars Electronica, and multiple appearances at MUTEK.

The impact of territories on human life lies at the heart of his conceptual pursuits. His multifaceted work is characterized by a radiographic approach. It’s this x-ray effect, with its immaterial quality, that allows the invisible to be perceived.

Initially associated with the digital and electronic realms across an assortment of highly sensitive works. His approach then takes a sharp turn towards increasingly hybridized forms. His installation practice also integrates an important spatialization component, most notably regarding the field of sound. The design and application of random systems of auto-generative image/sound also allow for the creation of audiophonic spaces marked by their immersive quality.

Though his projects have conceptual concerns they all remain physically tangible, pushing sonic boundaries into resonant reactive body vibration principalities and their attachments to visual phenomena playing on notions of physical, cerebral and emotional tensities.

Herman Kolgen’s works have most notably been presented at the Venice Biennale, Ars Electronica, Berlin’s Transmediale, ISEA, the Centre Georges Pompidou, International Digital Arts Montreal and Paris, Sonic-Acts, London BFI, Arsenal Art Contemporain, Dissonanze, Mutek, Elektra, Sonar, Tapei digital arts and Shanghai E-arts. He has also performed with Paris ensemble Intercontemporain and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Herman Kolgen has been awarded many prestigious prizes, including Ars Electronica, qwartz and the New York and Los Angeles independent film festivals’ best experimental category. He received several grants from the city of Montreal, from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Quebec Council for the Arts and from Arcadi France to help materialize his works.