Cobi van Tonder

cobi@otoplasma.com *** mobile: 6503918408****url: www.otoplasma.com

 

 

Biography

Cobi van Tonder is a South African born artist, composer and producer. Formally her works explore concepts of self (similarity) and difference. Moments of ephemera, impermanence, translation and identity are seen as gateways to the real, expressed through video art, music, interactive electronic media and other digital media.

Van Tonder completed a MFA Art Practice degree at Stanford, USA; a BHons in Music in History and Society (Musicology) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, a Jazz Diploma majoring in Film music and Jazz Piano at the Technikon of Pretoria, South Africa as well as a Diploma in Musical Theatre also at the Technikon of Pretoria, South Africa. Her work has been performed and showed in New York, San Jose, San Francisco, Seoul, Stuttgart, Berlin, Ogaki, Toronto, South Africa and Antarctica.

EDUCATION

• 2009: MFA Art Practice, Stanford University, USA.
• 2008-2009: Classes taken at Stanford: Video Art I: Conceptual Video Art and production technique with Amy Hicks, Video Art II: Hollywood Style with Jonn Herschend; Independent study with Prof. Jonathan Abel in Spatial Acoustics and 3D sound; Foundations of Computer-Generated Sound with Chris Chafe, Ge Wang and Miriam Koler; Advanced Sound-Recording Technology with Jay Kadis; Intelligent Audio Systems: Foundations and Applications of Music Information Retrieval with Jay LeBoeuf. Work intensively with Mark Applebaum, Paul Demarinis and Gail Wight as supervisors. Participate in weekly Object and Concept seminars led by David Hannah, Paul DeMarinis, Gail Wight, Enrique Chagoya, Terry Berlier and other visiting artists.
• 2004-2007: Study Composition with Kevin Volans.
• 2005: BHons in Music in History and Society (Musicology) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Earlier: Jazz Diploma majoring in Film music and Jazz Piano at the Technikon of Pretoria, South Africa as well as a Diploma in Musical Theatre also at the Technikon of Pretoria, South Africa. The usual classical music exams and training in piano, violin and music theory since age of 5.
• 2000-2004: Intensive 7Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu and Tai Chi training.

Experience

Lecturing and Teaching Experience

• 2008: Lecturer in Video Art/Video Production, Stanford, USA.
• 2008-2009: Teaching assistant in the following classes given at Stanford Art Department: Sound Art with Paul DeMarinis, Light as Sculptural Element with Elaine Buckholtz, Video Art with Amy Hicks, Sculpture with Terry Berlier, Drawing and Painting with Kevin Bean, Digital Art with Joe McKay, Digital Art with Gail Wight.
• 2007: Part time lecturer in Music Composition, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
• 2005: Part-time lecturer in Sound Design at Vega - The Brand CommunicationsSchool, Johannesburg, South Africa.
• 1998-2008: Led various educational theatre or interactive workshops for children and students.

Production Experience

I have almost 10 years of sound design and music production experience. Ranging from advertisements, jingle writing, mobile ring tones, television sound effects and logo music, corporate videos, radio shows, short films, animation, art projects and performances, including sound recording, composition, videography, video editing, production and post-production.

Interaction design: Two of my art projects, Ephemeral Gumboots and Skatesonic, involved development of unique self-built systems with sensors, Bluetooth communication, and very intricate Max/MSP/Jitter programming.

EVENT and project management EXPERIENCE

I am passionate about the organization of concerts, parties, club events, workshops and art projects. Some art projects like Skatesonic have required me to oversee rather big organization of various age groups including a professional marketing, engineering and design team at the Palo Alto design firm IDEO as well as skater kids and the public to work together.

Software and Technical Knowledge Base

I am fluent in most Sound production software and some Video Production software

• ProTools
• Logic Pro
• Max/MSP
• FinalCutPro
• Compressor
• iMovie
• Quicktime
• Reaktor
• Reason
• FruityLoops
• Familiar with After Effects and Jitter
• CubaseSX
• Ableton Live
• Audacity
• Peak
• Wavelab
• SoundtrackPro

• Expert with studio recording gear such as mixers, microphones, free standing recorders and field recorders.
• Familiar with surround sound techniques.
• Familiar with Linux based audio network technology such as Jacktrip and Jamlinks.
• Expert in Video editing. Familiar with various video cameras and very good at basic recording techniques and lighting.
• Familiar with Processing.
• Good at basic web design and design: Familiar with Flash, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Dreamweaver and Adobe Illustrator.
• Currently learning iPhone SDK and writing basic iPhone Application code.

Business Experience

I ran my own media production company in Johannesburg, working with various of the main advertising and media production organisations in South Africa. My clients included the SABC - South African Broadcasting Corporation, Studio M Design, Gerhard Marx, Threshold Collective, Small Screen Media, Mama Dance and more.

I like working with people. I can teach any age group. Enjoy interaction. Enjoy group work as well as working on my own. I am a creative person and I like to create new things or participate in a group or team that do the same. My interests range from purely artistic expression to design. When required, I can be a good writer. Good with documentation and systematic work. Good at improvisation too.

WEBSITES

http://www.otoplasma.com

LIVE PERFORMANCE (only most recent)

• 2008: Member of the Soundwire Ensemble, doing various networked collaborative performances under the lead of Chris Chafe with participating ensembles at other institutions (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Princeton, UCSD, UCSC, and others).
• 2008: Live underwater-generated sound performance for Red Rover dance event with Brittany Brown Ceres, Max Citron and Jeff Cooper. Department of Drama and the Dance Division Co-sponsored by SICA and Stanford Lively Arts.

PUBLICATIONS

2009: MEMORY SCENE, MFA Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the Stanford MFA Art Practice degree, Art and Art History Department of Stanford, California, 2009.

2004: MUSIC COMPOSITION AND PERFORMANCE IN INTERACTIVECOMPUTER/HUMAN SYSTEMS, Research essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Honors in Music in History and Society in the Wits School of Arts, Faculty of Humanities,University of the Witwatersrand.Johannesburg, December 2004.

Selected Awards and Career Activities

• 2009: Wunderflater, Sculpture/Architecture/Installation/Networked live audio-feed. Really complex network audio tunnel achievement! Tomas Welton Gallery, Stanford. MFA group collaborative show with Michael Arcega, Reed Anderson, Kazumi Shiho and Jina Valentine.
• 2009: Vuurvangerkindmens, HD Video and 16-channel sound diffusion, CCRMA Stage, Stanford.2008: Noexi(s)t, HD Video and 8-channel sound diffusion, CCRMA stage, Stanford
• 2008: Part of Chavín de Huántar Archaeological Acoustics Project: A collaboration between Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) and Archaeology/Anthropology. Research assistant and responsible for documenting the project, main videographer during field trip to Chavín de Huántar.
• 2008: 8x8x8 Black Sensory Box, Stanford.2008: Release of Chupacabra on GLU-music with Susanne M. Winterling.
• 2008: Skatesonic, Interactive skateboard and music project for P.A.R.Ty Seoul, Korea.
• 2007: Music OMI International Musicians Residency, Hudson, NY.
• 2007: Scholarship awardee for MFA Arts Stanford, California.2007: SNOW, Audio CD release, Merz/Solitude, Germany, in the Reihe Projektiv series
• 2007: Memory and Distance for Solo Cello performed by Gavriel Lipkind as part of the Solitude Cycle, Ludwigsburg, Germany.
• 2007: Golden Summer Mistake for Soprano and Harpsichord. Soprano Angelika Luz and pianist/harpsichordist Florian Holscher. Kein Liederabend, Stuttgart.
• 2006: Co-existenz for 9 piece ensemble, performed by Ensemble Ascolta. Stuttgart, ISCM World New Music Festival 2006 grenzenlos during the Festival Sommer in Stuttgart
• 2006: The Carpet International Guest Artists Residency, Torronto. Physical, sonic, design, animation and dance storytelling, led by team of Katya Bonenfant, Cobi van Tonder, HansWerner Klohe and Su Mei Jang.
• 2005-2006: ZERO ONE/IDEO artist-in-residence, San Jose, California. Collaboration with IDEO, Palo Alto. Create version one of Skatesonic.
• 2006: 12 months fellowship from Akademie Schloss Solitude, Germany
• 2004: Feb – May: Exhibit ìEphemeral Gumbootsî at the Ogaki Biennale 2004, on invitation by IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences /International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences), dedicated to the theme ofSCHOOL OF FUTURES
• 2003: Ephemeral Gumboots won a Digital Pluralism – UNESCO Digital Arts Award and uses sensor-equipped rubber boots to explore digital variations of a traditional South African dance form.
• 2003: Scholarship awardee at the 2003 International Composers Indaba South Africa(ICISA) at the National Arts Festival, in Grahamestown, SA.

 

September, 2009