"Akio Suzuki is known as a pioneer of sound art, but the breadth of his activities and the form of his works far exceeds the normal boundaries of sound art. It is perhaps more as a "quester after sound and space" that he has received the most attention from artists in many fields.Suzuki's journey as an artist began in 1963 with a performance at Nagoya station, in which he threw a bucket full of junk down a staircase. The inspiration behind this performance - the idea that if one were to hurl an object down a well-balanced stairway, a pleasant rhythm might be the result - took the desire to "listen" as its subject. That desire to hear, to listen has remained the one constant in Suzuki's stance as an artist.

During the sixties, Suzuki's sense of playfulness led him to undertake a series of Self-Study Events, where he explored the processes of "throwing" and "following", taking the natural world as his collaborator. The experiences he gained in these events led him in the seventies to invent an echo instrument he named Analapos. The instrument's structure resembles that of two mirrors facing each other, reflecting into infinity. As an extension of the principles underlying Analapos, Suzuki constructed the Hinatabokko no kukan (Space in the Sun) in 1988. This space consists of two huge parallel walls, in between which the artist can sit all day and purify his hearing by listening to the reflected sounds of nature. This space leads the artist to discover a new method of listening. Suzuki himself comments, "Sound, which had been conceptually imprisoned in various spaces, is freed to circle the world."

From the late seventies and through the eighties, Suzuki also developed a form of performance he refers to as Conceptual Soundwork. Applying a number of self-imposed, simple and austere rules, he uses objects close at hand in a mode of "intellectual play". While these events do on the one hand express a critique of meaningless improvised performance, at the same time Suzuki is constantly aware of the audience's process of listening and he attempts to create contemporaneous connections with the site of performance. It was around this time that Suzuki began to travel frequently to the US and Europe, and his performances at leading music festivals, Festival d'Automne (Paris, 1978) and Documenta 8 (Kassel, 1987) were rapturously received.

As sound art enjoyed a period of prosperity in the nineties, Suzuki was given the chance to create many installations, particularly in Berlin. Worthy of special note were his soundless installations, such as Otodate (Echo point, 1996) in Berlin, Enghien-les-Bains (since 1997, http://www.insitu-enghien.org/) and Strasbourg; Hana (Flower, 1997) at the Stadtgalarie Saarbrucken; and Pyramid (1999) which involved people excavating sounds. These soundless pieces were not designed to critique the old perceptual theories of music, rather they questioned the very location of music. Through their encounter with these works, the past experiences and memories of viewers were reconstructed as new experiences. This process was fundamental to the action of "listening" to the works.

From the late seventies and through the eighties, Suzuki also developed a form of performance he refers to as Conceptual Soundwork. Applying a number of self-imposed, simple and austere rules, he uses objects close at hand in a mode of "intellectual play". While these events do on the one hand express a critique of meaningless improvised performance, at the same time Suzuki is constantly aware of the audience's process of listening and he attempts to create contemporaneous connections with the site of performance. It was around this time that Suzuki began to travel frequently to the US and Europe, and his performances at leading music festivals, Festival d'Automne (Paris, 1978) and Documenta 8 (Kassel, 1987) were rapturously received.

As sound art enjoyed a period of prosperity in the nineties, Suzuki was given the chance to create many installations, particularly in Berlin. Worthy of special note were his soundless installations, such as Otodate (Echo point, 1996) in Berlin, Enghien-les-Bains (since 1997, http://www.insitu-enghien.org/) and Strasbourg; Hana (Flower, 1997) at the Stadtgalarie Saarbrucken; and Pyramid (1999) which involved people excavating sounds. These soundless pieces were not designed to critique the old perceptual theories of music, rather they questioned the very location of music. Through their encounter with these works, the past experiences and memories of viewers were reconstructed as new experiences. This process was fundamental to the action of "listening" to the works."

Nicolas Bernier

• Born: Ottawa, Canada, 1977• Lives: Montréal, Québec

"Nicolas Bernier creates audiovisual performances and installations aiming to carve a dialogue between sound and tangible matter. Shaped by his work within the fields of cinema, literature, dance and theatre companies, his own language blend together elements of music, photography, design, science, video art, architecture, light design and scenography. In the midst of this eclecticism, his artistic concerns remain constant: the balance between the cerebral and the sensual, and between organic sources and digital processing.

Awardee of the prestigious Golden Nica at Prix Ars Electronica 2013 (Austria), his work widely recognize, presented all over the world: SONAR (Spain), Mutek (Canada), Elektra (Canada), ZKM (Germany), Transmediale (Germany) and LABoral (Spain) to name a few. His sound compositions are widely published on electronic music labels: 901 Editions (Italy), LINE (US), leerraum (Switzerland), Entr'acte (UK) and empreintes DIGITALes (Québec).

He holds a PhD in sonic arts from the University of Huddersfield (UK). He is a member of CIRMMT and Hexagram media arts research and development centres based in Montreal. He is teaching in the Digital Music program of the Université de Montréal."

"Erdem Helvacıoğlu is one of the most renowned contemporary music composers of his generation in Turkey. His music has been broadcast on international radio stations such as BBC, ABC, WDR, SWR, HDR2, WNYC, SR P2 and Radio France, among others. His compositions have been included in festivals in USA, Europe, Argentina, New Zealand, Canada, Korea and many other countries. He has received commissions from the 2006 World Football Championship, 2009 Novelum Contemporary Music Festival, Museum of Mediterranean and European Civilisations, Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vehbi Koç Foundation, The Association for the Art of the Harp, Borusan Center for Culture&Arts, and the world famous new music ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars.

For his electroacoustic works, Helvacıoğlu has received awards from the Luigi Russolo, MUSICA NOVA and Insulae Electronicae Electroacoustic Music competitions.

His sound installations have been included in museums and galleries including the 10th International Istanbul Biennial, Los Angeles Track 16, Indonesia Soemardja, Köln Museum für Angewandte Kunst, ARTER - space for art and London Menier Gallery.

His solo and duo albums with Per Boysen, Ros Bandt, Şirin Pancaroğlu, Bill Walker, Ulrich Mertin, Bruce Tovsky, Stuart Gerber have been included in the "best albums of the year" listed by magazines such as All About Jazz, Textura, Cyclic Defrost, Blogcritics, Guitar Player, Audio Video, Culture Catch, Exclaim! and Perfect Sound Forever. His latest filmscore to Seaburners (directed by Melisa Önel), which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival 2014,was referred to by the Hollywood Reporter as an "outstanding soundwork".

His compositional output has been discussed in long articles on prestigious magazines such as Musicworks, Signal to Noise, Electronic Musician, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik and Guitar Player.

Helvacıoğlu's music has been referred to as "well crafted and vivid" (The Wire), "groundbreaking" (All About Jazz), "challenging yet always beautiful" (Exclaim!), "emotionally evocative soundscapes with remarkable beauty" (Montreal Mirror), "uncommonly deep, intelligent, and beautiful" (Guitar Player), "luscious and unique" (Alternate Music Press), "completely arresting and disarmingly beautiful" (Luna Kafe), "stimulating and provocative" (Blogcritics), "outstanding" (ARRAY), and "extraordinarily inventive and fascinating" (Fanfare).

Currently Helvacıoğlu is working on a new cello and electronics piece commissioned by Ashley Bathgate, cellist for Bang on a Can All-Stars, and a qanun and electronics piece commissioned by Esra Berkman. Furthermore he is working on the upcoming albums Eleven Short Stories Volume 2 and Marseille Listens to Marseille which will be released by the American record labels Innova Records and Starkland Records.

His work is published by Bosworth Music GmbH, a division of MUSIC SALES GROUP.

Helvacıoğlu lives and works in New York and Istanbul."