An evening of charmed song and sound with Lau Nau (aka Laura Naukkarinen) over from Finland and Rie Nakajima doing a special solo performance incorporating the Cafe OTO pianos alongside her customary collection of sounding objects.

LAU NAU

Lau Nau is a moniker for the free spirited Finnish artist Laura Naukkarinen. Since the release of her celebrated debut full length album Kuutarha on Chicago’s Locust Music in 2005, and the follow up Nukkuu (Locust, Fonal 2008), Lau Nau has enjoyed considerable recognition for her intimate and playful blend of ethnic tinged experimental folk songs. In recent years, her live shows have earned her a special place among a legion of fans. This was further cemented when a Lau Nau performance in Philadelphia was counted among The Wire magazine’s “60 Concerts that shook the world” in its February, 2007 issue.

As a live performer, Laura has enjoyed opportunities to perform in a wide array of venues from various contemporary art centres and small informal spots like Tokyo's Super Deluxe to larger spaces like New York’s Anthology Film Archives and Knitting Factory, Bush Hall in London, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Shanghai world expo and the Avanto festival in Helsinki.

She is also known for playing live musical scores to silent films with Matti Bye ensemble, for example "Häxan" and "L'heureuse mort" in Castro Theatre, San Francisco Silent Film Festival. She has done music for Magnum photo, Daido Moriyama's exhibition, documentary films, tv-series and dance pieces. Recently Lau Nau has been active making sound installations.

Naukkarinen has been an active presence in the Finnish underground for the last decade playing in groups like Kiila, Hertta Lussu Ässä, Päivänsäde, Avarus and the Anaksimandros, organizing concerts, publishing a magazine and running a handful of small labels starting with Winter cow, POK and, more recently, the Peippo label.

www.launau.com



RIE NAKAJIMA

Rie Nakajima is an artist working with installations and performances that produce sound. Her works are most often composed in direct response to unique architectural spaces using a combination of audio materials and found objects.

The works created for the purposes of "playing" the sounds she has in mind are often placed matter-of-factly on the floor or take the form of assembled objects that serve as sound makers, 
giving rise to inorganic spaces. Listening to the works in such finely honed environments brings to the surface in a pure way people's imagination, memories, and deepest thoughts. 



Nakajima graduated from the Department of Aesthetics and Art History at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and received a BA in Sculpture at the Chelsea College of Art and Design and an MA in Sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. Since then Nakajima has exhibited and performed widely both in the UK and overseas.

"Diverse objects such as marbles, whistles, nails, toys, ping-pong balls, paper cups and glass bottles were casually yet deftly moved around the surface of one of the cabaret tables. Random sounds resulted from their chance confrontations, her quiet concentration induced a spellbound gaze from surrounding spectators, simply awaiting the next sound." - Virginia Whiles