Simon Berz

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Simon Rainer Berz (born January 26, 1967 in Baden AG ) is a Swiss drummer and experimental sound artist .

Simon Berz, 2018

Live and act

Childhood, youth and education

Simon Berz grew up as the youngest of three sons in Wettingen . The recorder teacher discovered his rhythmic talent in primary school, whereupon he switched to the drum group of the Wettingen youth music group. He received his first drum lessons at the age of 12 from Chris von Hoffmann, the drummer of the Pepe Lienhard Orchestra. After attending elementary school, he trained as a primary school teacher at the St. Michael teacher training college in Zug . At the curative education seminar in Zurich , he completed the basic course in curative education.

Simon Berz played drums in various rock and punk bands , but became interested in improvised music from an early age . He trained in percussion and electronic music in several study visits and began to explore percussion with analog electronics. For this purpose, he builds his own instruments from everyday objects and found objects from nature, which he makes to sound in new ways. The lithophone, for example, consists of stones whose sound is electrically amplified and alienated. Simon Berz graduated from the Zurich University of the Arts in 2015 with a master's degree in transdisciplinarity.

BADABUM and Schepperkids

Simon Berz set up a music school in Zug, which he has now handed over to his successor. With his students, the Schepperkids, he took the public space acoustically in a surprising way.

The artist platform BADABUM also owes its initiative. Based on improvised music, visual arts , dance , film , performance and research come together here . The sound installations and artistic experiments take place in clubs, galleries and concert halls, but also do not stop at offspaces and public spaces.

Other Projects

Simon Berz toured solo and with changing formations through Europe , Asia , Cuba and the USA . He worked with the Berlin electronics company Apparat and is a regular guest of the Zurich group Superterz . In 2011, he founded the band Fell with the Dutch electronics engineer toktek . In New Orleans , Simon Berz was part of the sound art project 10x10 => 11 and realized the documentary and CD Liquid Land in collaboration with filmmaker Michelle Ettlin . With sound art objects he designs exhibitions and creates interactions in public space. With the first solo record CUT OUT , he developed a transdisciplinary performance between improvisation and installation. In July 2018, Simon Berz organized the Monster Groove for the sixth time in the Chollerhalle, Zug .

Music for the silent film Metropolis

Simon Berz also composes soundscapes and music for theater and film productions. For the Institute for Incoherent Cinematography IOIC he composed a soundtrack for Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis .

Scholarships and Awards

  • 1996 Cultural funding contribution from the Canton of Zug
  • 1998 Contribution to further education by the Canton of Zug: Collective School of Music, Drummers Collective New York
  • 2003 Art studio of the Canton of Zug: Berlin
  • 2004 Contribution to further education from the Canton of Zug: University of the Arts Berlin
  • 2008 DIY Festival, Zurich : Award for sound installation "TROPF"
  • 2010 10 years of BADABUM
  • 2011 Work year 2011 Zug: Award for sound installation "TROPF"
  • 2012 Recognition Prize from the Ernst Göhner Foundation, Landis & Gyr Foundation, City and Canton of Zug
  • 2014 Freiraum grant from the Culture Department of the Canton of Zurich : Iceland
  • 2014 Freiraum grant from the Aargau Board of Trustees: New Orleans

Filmography

  • 2012 Liquid Land (DVD + CD)

Discography

Solo album

  • 2014 CUT OUT (2 × 7 ″ inch vinyl)

Album with Aerodrum

  • 2004 Virtual anything .

Albums with fur

  • 2012 FELL (vinyl)
  • 2014 Kidsorchestra (EP)

Album with Klaus Janek

  • 2010 ige * timer

Album with the artist collective Bahnhof Zug

  • 2012 Resuscitation (CD)

Selected literature, sorted by time

  • Gergina Hristova, Zug Berlin: Return! With «Apparat» to another galaxy . In: Neue Luzerner Zeitung March 15, 2004, page 9.
  • Jann Cherix, Modern Alchemy. Do-it-yourself electronics . In: Züritipp No. 50 of December 14, 2006, page 31 online
  • Interventions in private and public space. The Stromerei performance festival is taking place for the tenth time. In: NZZ 230. Vol., No. 172 from July 28, 2009, page 41. online
  • Christoph Merki, Fascinating sound cosmos from Superterz . In: Tages-Anzeiger Volume 119, No. 40 of February 17, 2011, page 26.
  • Yvonne Lichtsteiner, music with a penchant for madness - the band Fell stops at Royal Baden. In: az Aargauer Zeitung April 10, 2013, page 33. online
  • Markus Ganz, electro sounds around the campfire. Damo Suzuki meets Superterz. In: NZZ 234th vol., No. 229 of October 3, 2013, page 19. online
  • Bjørn Schaeffner, Damo Suzuki - punk and samurai. Can singer Damo Suzuki honors Zurich. Thanks to an invitation from the techno jazz punk Superterz. In: Züritipp No. 40 from Sept. 26, 2013, page 21. online
  • Christoph Merki, then suddenly the storm of happiness comes. In: Tages-Anzeiger 125th year, No. 7 from Jan. 10, 2017, page 33.
  • Ueli Bernays, art against chaos. The Insomnia Sessions of the Zurich electro group Superterz. In: NZZ 238th year, No. 10 from Jan. 13, 2017, page 39. online
  • Christoph Merki, was the whole Steiss worth it? [Insomnia Sessions by Superterz in the Zurich Photobastei] . In: Jazz 'n' more 10 (2017), No. 2 (March / April), page 10. online
  • Nils Rogenmoser, 70 musicians in a circle. In: Zuger Zeitung (head of the Luzerner Zeitung ) No. 151 of July 3, 2017, page 10. online

Web links

Commons : Simon Berz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Simon Berz's website - Info. Retrieved December 26, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Dominik Dusek, Insomnia Sessions Zurich: Always in a circle. In: Züritipp December 21, 2016
  3. ↑ by Ueli Bernays, Superterz: Art against Chaos. In: NZZ January 13, 2017
  4. ↑ Monster Groove - A rousing, social sculpture
  5. ↑ Nils Rogenmoser, 70 musicians in a circle. In: Zuger Zeitung (head of the Luzerner Zeitung ) No. 151 of July 3, 2017, page 10
  6. ↑ Catalog entry in swissbib
personal data
SURNAME Berz, Simon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berz, Simon Rainer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss drummer and sound artist
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Wettingen , Switzerland