Judith Hamann

Born in Birraranga/Narrm // Melbourne/Australia in 1983.

Judith Hamann is a cellist, performer and composer from Narrm/Melbourne, currently based in Berlin.

They have »long been recognized as one of Australia’s foremost contemporary music cellists« (RealTime Arts) as well as a composer »who destroys the fiction of the musician who lives and works outside conventional parameters and puts in its place a series of compositions that are fundamentally humane« (WIRE Magazine). Judith’s work encompasses performance, improvisation, electro-acoustic composition, field recording, electronics, site specific generative work, and microtonal/intonation systems in a deeply considered process based approach to creative practice.

Currently their work is focused on an examination of expressions and manifestations of »shaking«, a collection of new works for cello and humming, research on thinking-with geese and/as apparitions, as well as ongoing work surrounding audio »collapse« as a generative imaginary surface, and »de-mastering« of bodies (human and non-human) in European settler-colonial heritage instrumental practice and pedagogy.

Judith likes working with and thinking-with other artists which sometimes includes people like Marja Ahti, Oren Ambarchi, Dennis Cooper, Charles Curtis, Golden Fur, the Harmonic Space Orchestra, Sarah Hennies, Eiko Ishibashi, Yvette Janine Jackson, Alvin Lucier, Éliane Radigue, and La Monte Young. In the past, they mostly focused on performing as a process/practice, which took place in many contexts and locations. This included things like Tectonics, Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), Maerzmusik (Berlin/Deutschland), The Los Angeles Philharmonic Fluxus Festival (Los Angeles/USA), Tokyo Experimental Festival (Tokyo/Japan), AURAL (Mexico City/Mexico), SiDance Festival (Seoul/South Corea), and No Idea Festival (Austin/USA).

Judith’s work has previously been published by labels including Blank Forms, Black Truffle, Another Timbre, and Longform Editions.