We are sorry to announce that Rolf Julius passed away on 21st of January 2011.

In keeping with Rolf’s wishes this event will still go ahead as planned.

He had been working for some time on these new pieces and left detailed plans of how they should be installed and performed should he not be able to be present.

The pieces represent Rolf’s most recent work and we are extremely grateful to both him and his family for enabling us to show them.

We hope this event is a fitting tribute to both him and his work.

Lost Sounds collaborator Miki Yui had been in regular contact with Rolf until his death and will be present both to perform and install her own work and to oversee the installation and performance of Rolf’s pieces.

“Julius draws our attention, that is both our visual and aural attention, towards minimal things and events that we normally ignore or show only a passing interest in: dirt piled up in a corner, the surface of a pond at the point of freezing, blades of grass... But as we move towards that place, that thing, faintly irradiating sounds slowly become clearer until suddenly everything there has taken on a new importance, and even a sense of mystery.” –– Carlo Fossati, E/Static

Café Oto is delighted to present Lost Sounds in conjunction with Rie Nakajima and Soundfjord. Lost Sounds is the first UK exhibition of German artist Rolf Julius and Miki Yui, both of whom work in the fields of fine art and music.

Lost Sounds is a collaborative experiment in sound performance and installation, exploring sounds, the environment, objects and one’s visual and acoustic perception.

Split between two locations, Yui and Julius will give a concert on the 11th February, a two-day installation from 12th to 13th February at Café Oto, and subsequently, an exhibition beginning 15th February at SoundFjord. The work will remain open to the public until 5th March.

Come celebrate the beginning of Yui and Julius’ collaboration with an evening concert that will form the foundations for an installation that will reside within the different architectural spaces of Café Oto and SoundFjord. Here, one is intimately invited to delve into their world of sound: using objects and minimal audio equipment Yui and Julius will transform the unnoticed and under appreciated within the surroundings into an unforgettable and intense experience.

Utilising sounds collected during their performance as a point of departure, artefacts found within Café Oto’s four walls will be given unfamiliar lives. During the hubbub of usual café life, furniture, cutlery, utilitarian objects and other items still to be imagined will be reinvigorated to those that care to listen. And listen you should, for this innovative duo is renowned for its unorthodox work with sound and intense experience.

The installation will further develop in a migration to SoundFjord, after the two-day settlement at the café, and following on from the concert.

Read an interview with Rolf Julius on THE WIRE magazine website from 2005
Miki Yui website
Info on Rolf Julius
www.estatic.it (Gallery representing Yui and Julius)

Produced by Rie Nakajima in collaboration with Helen Frosi of SoundFjord

Rie Nakajima website
Soundfjord website
Rolf Julius page on the Western Vinyl website

Image: Rolf Julius, "boiling" performance, 13/5/10, blank, Torino (Photo by Miki Yui, courtesy of e / static)

SAM/OTO

SAM/OTO is a pilot commissioning project providing grass-roots event organisers with the resources and opportunity to produce bold new programming for Café Oto - London's premier venue for adventurous music.

In spring 2010 we issued a public call for new event proposals that could be of any genre, format or description, with the only stipulation being that they must have a leaning towards experimental/fringe/underground activity and feature artists from outside the UK who have not previously performed at Café Oto.

After receiving almost 200 submissions from all over the globe, four were selected and awarded £2000 towards their development and realisation at Café Oto between January and April 2011.


Balloon & Needle The New Korean Avant-Garde : 20, 21 & 22 January 2011 (Hong Chulki/LIG Arts Foundation)
Miki Yui and Rolf Julius : 11, 12 & 13 February 2011 (Rie Nakajima / Soundfjord)
Michel Chion and Ghédalia Tazartès : 24 & 25 March 2011 (Cenatus/Penultimate Press)
Keiji Haino : 9 & 10 April 2011 (Miles of Smiles)

Sound and Music website