The composer and sound artist Hardi Kurda studied music in Slemani and composition in Gothenburg and Leipzig, and is a PhD candidate at Goldsmiths, University of London. In his performances and compositions he uses the radio as an instrument with which he explores the frequency spectrum as sound material. Hardi’s works have been performed at the Irtijal Festival, Beirut, Berliner Festspiele MaerzMusik, and Sound Place exhibition, London, and have been commissioned by the Department of Public Art in Gothenburg and the Swedish Art Grants Committee and Goethe Institute. In 2017 Hardi founded the Space 21 festival for sound art and experimental music, which takes place annually in the autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq. Hardi is the fifth scholarship holder of the Radio Art Residency in Halle, Germany in 2020. Recently, he received a new commission from the Swedish Art Council for his project The Illegal Performance.
Listening’s Urgency
LISTENING’S URGENCY ON RADIA.FM For the second performance in the course of his project “Listening’s Urgency”, Hardi Kurda asked musicians, artists and writers from different parts of the world to comment on the meaning of illegality and noise: Do we overstep the borders of legality by listening? What does illegality mean? Can illegality make noise? Is noise illegal? The recorded voices and narrations were the basis for a one hour live radio performance with a six-member radio ensemble which came together on Radio Corax on April 26, 2020. For the radio art network Radia.fmKurda made an edited version of the live
Hammams’ Maqam
Sound Place in Kurdistan Hammam. The hammam as an architectural space of freedom. There is no other situation we can imagine where people are more unprotected, but free and protected at the same time like a hammam. Here people lay down all their symbols of hierarchy – people become equal. This creates a special place where people get to know each other, can discuss all topics (even political topics) – A hammam or a bath house offers the possibility of a free space. This is also linked to other middle eastern countries with autocratic systems. Bath houses or hammams are
313 Beirut
313 Beirut (2019) from the project conversations. The project documents time and place of the moment that the performer hear before the concert and apply into the improvisation, which is flexible in its construction. The aim is for to create a space for listening by not knowing, the unexpected moment. Beirut Irtijal Festival at Zoukak Theatre 31 March 2019, Solo performance for sound score, radio, tv news and heart pulse oximeter and objects. info1 info2
The Latest News
The Latest News (2019), for map and newspaper, asks how the politics of the media are changing our perception of place. His compositions seek to create an unprejudiced critical listening in which sounds and objects are perceived only in the hear and now, not through received or traditional understandings about what they might or ‘should’ mean. Freiburg at Morat-Institut für Kunst und Kunstwissenschaft Stiftung. 25.01.2019 performed by ensemble recherché world premier. article
Diagnosis Machine
Gothenburg Angered Hospital 07 December 2018 – 07 March 2019 and 29 April 2016. Exhibited Diagnosis Machine, an interactive sound artwork for hospital.
Sounding Carpet
Sounding Carpet (2018) A traditional Kurdish woven carpet as a cultural heritage. The listener begins to explore sounds from the carpet by touch, revealing aspects of Kurdistan’s untold history of people and their relation to places and maps. Sounding Carpet Exhibited at Space21 Festival, Erbil. Slemani, Amna Suraka museum, and Erbil, Citadel the old Hammam. Space21 Exhibition for sound art 21-26 April 2018.
The Process
Berlin, Acker Stadt Palast. 10 April 2017. Improvisation The Process. Khabat Abas, prepared cello, Hardi Kurda, electronic and objects in collaboration with video artist Isabel P. Del Pulgar. info
The Vibration of Books
Gothenburg, City Library 14-20 September 2016. The Vibration of Books, for string instruments, plastic cubs, and wires performed by MalvaQuartet, Khabat Abas, and Hardi Kurda.
Recycling Objects
Cartographic Notation of Recycling Objects (2016) consists of the design of a new score based on a cartographic method. A composition of recycled objects, this score method begins with a geographical position and an interactive public meeting. The project seeks answers to how people, environment, and art can work together to create a wider understanding of each other that together creates other compositions. Science Festival, Universeum Gothenburg. Performed by Hardi Kurda and Adam Bohman. Universeum Science festival 14 April 2016.
The Conversation
Berlin Madame Claude 04 April 2016. Gothenburg Improfest festival 30 June 2015. London Deptford town hall, PureGold Festival, Goldsmiths. 16 May 2015. Performed The Conversation, sound score for flexible instruments.
Open Ensemble
Open Ensemble (2015) for object and headphone. What happens when a performer plays on an instrument without hearing it? How do a body and a mind respond to each other? What does it sound like when the performer excludes him or herself from the existing medium in order to explore a new medium? Sound Place Exhibition, Goldsmiths, London 10-18 May 2015.