Manuel Rocha Born in 1963 in Mexico City. Manuel Rocha Iturbide studies composition at the Escuela Nacional de Música in the University of Mexico with Julio Estrada, Ratko Tichavsky and Federico Ibarra. During three years he works in the collective photography workshop of Pedro Meyer and he participates in various exhibitions in Mexico , Brazil, Cuba and Italy. His interest for electronic music, experimental video, sound installations and sound sculpture take him to the University of Mills College in the USA , where thanks to a grant from the OEA and UNAM, he studies with Alvin Curran, Anthony Braxton, David Rosenboom and Larry Polansky, and obtains an MFA in electronic music and composition (1991). Then in Paris, he takes a one-year course in composition and computer music at IRCAM, where he studies with Bryan Fernyhough (1991-92). In 1992 he starts his doctoral thesis on "Granular synthesis techniques" with Horacio Vaggione at the University of Paris VIII. In 1993 he wins a grant from the Mexican cultural foundation to compose three electroacustic pieces. In France, he works at studios UPIC, GRM and IRCAM to produce works. Besides producing music in Paris, between 1991 and 1996 he was invited to produce other compositions at different studios in different countries, such as LIEM in Madrid Spain, SFU University in Vancouver Canada, University of Herefordshire in UK, etc. He worked as a researcher at IRCAM developing GiST (1994-95) and later as a professor at the University of Paris VIII where he taught synthesis and computer programming (1995-96). In 1996 and 1997 he was nominated at the Bourges Electronic Music Contest in the categories of program tape music and tape with instruments respectively,and in 1996 and 1997 he won the 2 prize at the Russolo Electronic Music Contest in the category of composition for instruments and electronics and tape alone. He has been invited to different international conferences to present his work ( The tuning of the world, 1993; The biennial of art and technology, Connecticut 1994; ICMC 1995 , 1996, 1997) and to electronic music festivals such as ABSOLUTE MUSIK in Austria, Experimental Intermedia and REDCAT in USA, VAE in Peru, etc. Besides composing, he has realized sound installations and sound sculptures presented in galleries and museums such as Artists Space in NY NY (1997), the Crousel gallery in Paris , the 1993, The Sidney Biennial in Australia ( 1998), the ARCO art fair in Madrid Spain (1998), SURGE gallery in Tokyo (2000), Kyoto Art Center in Kyoto (2000), Avatar in Quebec Canada (2002), Bienal do Mercosul in Brazil (2005), etc. . He has also written articles published in magazines such as " New Journal of Music Research" and in the proceedings of ICMC. His music has been played in Mexico , USA, Canada, Italy, Austria, Australia, Slovakia, Greece, France, Brazil, Hong-Kong and Spain . Some of his outstanding electroacustic pieces are: "Avidya" for tape, 23'00, 1989. "Atl" for tape, 10'00, 1990. "Frost clear energy saver", for refrigerator, tape and double bass, 17'00, 1991. "Bandas de pueblo", for tape , French horn , trombone, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, trumpet, percussion, and a Mexican Village Band, 17'00, 1991. "Ligne d'abandon", tape composition for an installation, 30'00, 1993. "Transiciones de fase", interactive composition for b rass quartet and computer, 12'00, 1993-94. "SL-9", work for digital tape using granular synthesis techniques, 1994. "Móin Mór", for digital tape, 10'00, 1995. In 1998, he had a commission from the Banff Center for the Arts to compose an oboe and tape piece, and another commission from the XXVI Cervantino Festival in Guanajuato Mexico to compose an instrumental piece for violin, alto, chelo, flute, clarinet, and percussion, which was performed by the Mexican Contemporary Ensemble ONIX. In 2000 Rocha spent 7 months in Japan with a Japan Foundation Fellowship where he composed new pieces and worked on sound installations. In 2002 he did a two-month residency in Caracas Venezuela with a grant in order to compose a radio artwork. Manuel Rocha Iturbide lives currently in Mexico City, where he works as composer and sound artist, and where he is the curator of the international sound art festival. He taught at the University of Morelos State in Cuernavaca Mexico undergraduate and postgraduate courses on computer music and the history of sound in the arts. Presently he is a professor at the National School of Music in UNAM and he is a member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores (a three year scholarship for composition in Mexico). PARTICIPATION IN OUTSTANDING MUSIC FESTIVALS
2005.- Manuel Rocha Iturbide performing at the Video Arte Electronica (VAE) in Lima Peru. 2005.- Manuel Rocha Iturbide performing at the International electroacustic music festival at Bourges France. 2004.- "Arte Sonoro". Five Mexican electronic music composers-performers at the REDCAT concert series. 2004.- "Sound Trips: a travelogue through sonic landscapes". Exploratorium, SF California. 2004.- "Mutek". Fetsival of electronic music. Mexico City.
2003.- "Puddles Festival". Tokyo Japan.
2003.- "CCM Songline Series". SF California. USA.
2002.- "MexArtFest". Kyoto Japan.
2001.- "Experimental Intermedia". NY, NY.
2001.- "International conference for computer music" ICMC La Habana Cuba.
2001.- "Festival internacional de Bourges". Bourges France.
2000.- The bridge between artificial language and natural. Hill Side Terrace, Toko Japan. 1999. - "XI Festival Internacional de Música de Morelia". Morelia Mexico.
1998. - "SEAMUS Electroacustic week Concert". North Carolina State University. 1998. - "Foro internacional de música nueva". Mexico City.
1998. - XVI FESTIVAL CERVANTINO. Guanajuato Mexico.
1998. - "Seventh Annual Florida Electroacustic Music Festival". University of Florida. 1997. -"International conference for computer music" (ICMC) in Salonica Greece. 1997. -"Bourges International festival of electroacustic music ". Bourges, France. 1997. - "Foro internacional de música nueva". Mexico City.
1996. -"Bourges International festival of electroacustic music ". Bourges, France. 1996. - ABSOLUTE MUSIK electroacustic music festival, Allenstaig Austria.
1996. - "International conference of computer music" (ICMC) in Hong Kong.
1995. - "International conference for computer music" (ICMC) in Canada in collaboration with the Banff arts festival. Performance of "Transiciones de Fase". 1994. - Paralelo Madrid. Madrid Spain. Otras músicas, "Música y realidad". Performance of compositions "Atl" for digital tape and "Frost clear" for double bass, tape and refrigerator. 1994. - Concert at IRCAM. . Performance of "Transiciones de fase" by the ensemble Court circuit directed by Pierre André Valade. 1994. - "A Wrinkle in the air". A concert of electroacustic music presented by "The school of contemporary arts" at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver Canada. 1993. - "The tuning of the world". Electroacustic music concert in Banff Canada during the international conference of acoustic ecology. 1991. - "Contemplation and Action" Multimedia concert of electroacustic music at Mills College Concert Hall. Oakland, CA. 1991. - Mills College concert Hall in Oakland California, with the "Magellan string quartet". 1990. - "Seventh Species composer group". Sherman Clay Recital Hall at SF California, USA. 1989. - Final exam to receive composition diploma at "ENM "UNAM.
INDIVIDUAL ART EXHIBITIONS
2004.- "Intervención en el fuerte de san martin". 23 zonas
project. Campeche, Campeche.
2003.- "Recognition of Space". In collaboration with Luciano Matus.
Instituto de Mexico. Miami, Florida, USA. A parallel activity of Art Bassel
Miami.
2002.- "Reconocimiento del espacio". In collaboration with Luciano
Matus. Templo de San Agustín, Centro Histórico, Mexico DF.
2002.- "Offbeat Japan". An internet exhibition at ZoneZero.com
2002.- LASCAS, un arte mexicano actual. Espacio AVATAR, Québec Canada.
2000.- "Rebicyling". Surge Galery. Tokyo Japan.
1999. - "Reconstrucción de los hechos". Casa de la Cultura.
Juchitan Oaxaca.
1999. - "Reconstrucción de los hechos". Sixth international
contemporary music festival of Bogotá Colombia.
1999. - "In a fraction of a friction". ARCO 99. Project Rooms. Madrid,
Spain.
1998. - "Impasse". A one-person exhibition at the alternative space
"Regina 51", Curated by Santiago Sierra.
1991. - "Contemplation and Action". Mills College Concert Hall,
Oakland, CA. Presentation of Video Art and a Video-Sound-Installation.
COLLECTIVE ART EXHIBITIONS
2005.- "Mercosul Art Bienale". Porto Alegre Brazil.
2005.- "Mano a Mano". Cultural Spain Center. Mexico City.
2004.- "La Colemena". Colección Jumex. Mexico City.
2003.- "I Cube Project. Puddles". Tokyo Japan.
2003.- "Sound-Image". Laboratorio de Arte Alameda. Mexico City.
2003.- "El Sentido y los sentidos". Gallery of the Universidad Latinoamericana,
Mexico City.
2003.- "Salon de Arte Bancomer". Modern Art Museum. Mexico City.
2003.- Winners of the Bienal Monterrey Femsa. Amparo Museum. Puebla Mexico
and Museo de Arte de Zapopan. Guadalajara Mexico.
2002.- Experiencia Sonora. Museo de Bellas Artes. Caracas Venezuela.2001.-
Nothing. Roseeum art building. Malmo Suiza. Curated by Graham Gussin.
2001.- 4th FEMSA Biennale. Monterrey, Mexico.
2001.- Asamblea. Centro Cultural de Mexico. Paris France.
2001.- Eso…Third international sound art festival. Ex-teresa Arte Actual.
Mexico DF.
2001.- Channel n. Kyoto Art Center. Kyoto Japan.
1999. - "Sloan Galery ". Ruido...First International Sound Art Festival.
Mexico City.
1998. - "11th Biennial of Sidney". Sidney Australia.
1998. - "DOMESTICA". Project involving 9 artist's interventions
in 9 houses of La Condesa in Mexico City. Curated by Tomás Rivas.
1997. - "Lines of Loss". Art exhibit of 5 Mexican artists at Artists
Space in New York. Curated by Gabriel Orozco. Participation with Sound installation
in situ and music performance.
1997. - "La resurrección del San Martín". San Martín
building. México, DF. Sound installation in situ.
1997. - "Third biennial of three-dimensional art". National Center
for the Arts. Mexico City.
1995-1996. - "Distant Relations". Itinerary Art exhibition presented
at Icon Gallery, London. The Dublin Museum of Modern Art, Ireland. The Santa
Monica Museum of contemporary Art, Sta. Monica, CA. The Carrillo Gil Museum.
Mexico City.
1996. - "En torno a Luis Buñuel". Art exhibition celebrating
Luis Buñuel at Museo del instituto cultural de Morelos, Jardín
Borda. Cuernavaca Mexico.
1996. - "En otro lugar muy lejos de aquí". World trade center,
Guadalajara MEXICO. Art exhibition at the international Art Faire FITAC. Curated
by Guillermo Santamarina.
1995. - Cultural Center of Mexico. Paris France.
1995. - Filth biennial of art and technology in the University of Connecticut.
1995.
1994. - "Figures d'origines". Chapelle de la Salpetrire, Paris France.
Realization of a sound score for a multimedia luminografic concert by Jorge
Orta.
1994. - Gallery Chantal Crousel, Paris France. Presentation of the sound installation
"Ligne d'abandon" in collaboration with Gabriel Orozco.
1990. - "The Day of the Dead". Galería de la Raza. San Francisco,
CA. Art exhibit. Presentation of Performance "El Rey del Mambo".
1989. - "Siete fotógrafos Latinoamericanos", in Festival
Latinoamericano de Arte y Cultura" at Brasilia Brazil. Collective Photo
exhibition.
1989. - "A PROPOSITO. 14 obras en torno a JOSEPH BEUYS". Art installations
exhibit in Convento del desierto de los Leones. Mexico City. Curated by Guillermo
Santamarina.
1988. - "Taller de los lunes". Collective photo exhibition at the
Consejo Mexicano de fotografía (CMF) in Mexico City.
1987. - "Ojos que no ven" at the Fototeca in Havana Cuba. Collective
Photo exhibition.
1986. - "A un año del temblor", Milan Italy. Collective photo
exhibition.
ORGANIZATION OF SOUND
ART SHOWS AND
ELECTRACOUSTIC MUSIC CONCERTS
selection:
2003.- II Festival Radar. Curator of the first retrospective of electroacustic
music in México.
2002.- Generación espontánea. Curator of a electroacustic music
concert with insect sounds for the international congress: Conocimiento Antiguo/Mundo
contemporáneo in Oaxaca México.
2002.- Habitat Sonico…Cuarto Festival internacional de arte sonoro. Sound
art festival co-organized with Guillermo Santamarina, director of the Ex-Teresa
Museum in Mexico City.
2001.- Eso…Tercer festival internacional de arte sonoro. Sound art festival
co-organized with Guillermo Santamarina, director of the Ex-Teresa Museum
in Mexico City.
2000.- Humor y Aliento…Segundo festival internacional de arte sonoro.
Sound art festival co-organized with Guillermo Santamarina, director of the
Ex-Teresa Museum in Mexico City.
2000.- XII Festival Internacional de Música de Morelia. Curator of
a international electroacustic music concert in Morelia Michoacan.
1999. - Ruido… Primer Festival Internacional de Arte Sonoro. Sound art
festival co-organized with Guillermo Santamarina, director of the Ex-Teresa
Museum in Mexico City.
1999. - "ACOUSMONIUM". Two Electroacustic Concerts at the "XI
Festival Internacional de Música de Morelia". Morelia Mexico.
1998.- Encounter of Sound Art. A small festival of sound art in San Miguel
de Allende Guanajuato, co-organized with Michael Bock.
1998. - Vox Electroacústica. A mega sound-installation acusmonium for
diffusing sound poetry and electroacustic music based on language sounds.
Antiguo Colegio de San Idelfonso Museum, Mexico City.
1997. - Distant Relations. Electroacustic Music of Mexican and Irish composers.
Two concerts at the Carrillo Gil Museum of contemporary art.
CD's
o RAS No. 7. Revista de arte sonoro. Centro de creación de música
experimental. Universidad de Castilla la Mancha. Cuenca España.
o A través otra vez. CD of the sound installation presented in Centro
cultural de España. Limited Edition, 50 CD's.
o Computer music journal. DVD Anthology. Volume 27 (4), 2003. DVD edited by
the magazine Computer Music Journal. USA.
o Histories of the Future. Cabinet Magazine, NY EUA.
o Boom Box Project. Compositions of electroacustic soundscapes by Manuel Rocha
Iturbide. Produced by the art foundation BVA Bancomer. México 2003.Limited
edition, 300 CD's.
o Machin1. Obras electroacústicas de Manuel Rocha Iturbide, Salvador
Rodríguez, Guillermo Acevedo, José Manuel Mondragón,
Miguel Hernández y Víctor Romero.
o Eso. Antología de obras sonoras del tercer festival internacional
de arte sonoro. Ex-Teresa Arte Actual. México 2001.
o Humor y Aliento . Antología de obras sonoras del segundo festival
internacional de arte sonoro. Ex-Teresa Arte Actual. México 2000.
o Ruido ... . Antología de obras sonoras del primer festival internacional
de arte sonoro. Ex-Teresa Arte Actual. México 1999.
o Ver. Revista audiovisual. No.2. Namdee Publishing Station. Bangkok Tailandia.
2001.
o Computer music journal. Sound Anthology. Volume 23, 1999. CD editado por
la revista Computer Music Journal. USA.
o XIX CONCORSO INTERNAZIONALE LUIGI RUSSOLO DI MUSICA ELETTROACUSTICA. 1997.
o XVIII CONCORSO INTERNAZIONALE LUIGI RUSSOLO DI MUSICA ELETTROACUSTICA. 1996.
o "Ligne d'abandone". Electroacoustic Sound Art Work in collaboration
with Gabriel Orozco. CD Edited by the gallery Crousel. Paris, France. 1996
o "Distant Relations". Two electroacustic compositions by Manuel
Rocha Iturbide and Roger Doyle for the art exhibition "Distant Relations".
CD Edited by Curator Trisha Ziff. 1995.
o "Figures d'origine". Luminographic concert in collaboration with
Jorge Orta. CD Edited by the gallery Ivon Amor-Pallix. Paris, France. 1994.