William Basinski & Nika Milano^US+VE/MX

William Basinski

In his more than three decades of career, Basinski has kept recording, collaborating and exploring. Already established as one of the most important artists in ambient and experimental music, his creativity oscillates between orchestral composition and detailed work with obsolete equipment and analog media, with his own approach that results in the textures that make his music as personal as universal.

For many, Basinski is simply a virtuoso. His music has reached a wide audience beyond the experimental niche, with concerts that are said to be transformative experiences. Among his extensive discography, the profound impact of The Disintegration Loops still resonates, considered his masterpiece and which continues to be revisited and revalued; in 2021 he celebrated its 20th anniversary with an orchestral version by the London Contemporary Orchestra.

A few months ago, Basinski embarked on The Last Symphony, an intense international tour in which he presents a special performance mixing unpublished pieces recorded in the eighties -during his maximalist phase- along with selections from Lamentations, an album released in 2020 and perhaps his version of Subterraneans, the Bowie classic.

This edition we get to immerse ourselves in the ocean of sound of one of the most endearing figures in experimentation and an absolute pillar of ambient: William Basinski. For his debut at MUTEK MX, Basinski arrives with The Last Symphony, a performance that mixes unpublished pieces recorded in the eighties -during his maximalist phase- along with selections from Lamentations, an album released in 2020. This moment of deep listening will reveal to us on the flesh Basinski’s power: transforming old tapes, white noise, soundscapes and effects into an aural, bodily and spiritual experience that will pierce us with infinite emotional textures.

Nika Milano

Nika Milano began her research as an audiovisual creator with photography, a medium that expanded towards video, sound, improvisation, performance, audiovisual archives and film restoration. With this convergence of techniques and platforms, Nika Milano nurtures a hypnotic, expansive and colorful audiovisual signature, generated through analogue machines and obsolete technology and which has been appreciated both in solo pieces and in emblematic collaborations with artists such as Kali Malone, Stephen O'Malley, and Lucy Raylton. Her visual work has been part of music festivals such as Mira and Unsound, and film festivals, such as FICUNAM, for which she premiered her first short film this year, as part of the experimental film commissions.

For MUTEK MX Edition 19, as part of the A/Visions 2 program, Nika Milano and the iconic musician and composer William Basinski will present an unprecedented collaboration. It will be a moment of deep synesthesia through analogous and apparently obsolete means. Old audio and video tapes will be transformed into an aural, visual, bodily and spiritual experience that will run through us with infinite emotional textures.

American ambient musician and composer William Basinski; and Nika Milano (Venezuela/Mexico), audiovisual creator and filmmaker.