Robin Rimbaud (Scanner)

b. 1964

British

Summary

British artist Robin Rimbaud traverses the experimental terrain between sound, space, image and form, creating absorbing, multi-layered sound pieces that twist technology in unconventional ways. From his early controversial work using found mobile phone conversations, through to his focus on trawling the hidden noise of the modern metropolis as the symbol of the place where hidden meanings and missed contacts emerge, his restless explorations of the experimental terrain have won him international admiration from amongst others, Bjork, Aphex Twin and Stockhausen.
Critical Acclaim
He is very experimental because he is searching in a realm of sound which is not usually used for music... he has a good sense of atmosphere. - Karlheinz Stockhausen, BBC

Biography


Robin Rimbaud, alias Scanner (1964, London, UK) is a composer whose work traverses the experimental terrain between sound, space and image, creating absorbing, multilayered sound pieces that twist technology in unconventional ways, connecting a bewilderingly diverse array of genres. Since 1991 he has been intensely active in sonic art, producing concerts, installations and recordings, the albums Mass Observation (1994), Delivery (1997), and The Garden is Full of Metal (1998) hailed by critics as innovative and inspirational works of contemporary electronic music.

Committed to working with cutting edge practitioners he has collaborated on projects with Bryan Ferry, Wayne MacGregor, Mike Kelley, Miroslaw Balka, Torres, Michael Nyman, Carsten Nicolai, Steve McQueen, Laurie Anderson and Hussein Chalayan, amongst others.

He scored the hit musical comedy Kirikou & Karaba (2007), designed the sound for the Philips Wake-Up Light (2009), and campaigns for Nike Hyperfuse (2011), Chanel’s Fall-Winter collection (2012), Sprint Telephones (2012) and FT Weekend (2014). For the UK Olympics Scanner scored The Big Dance in Trafalgar Square for 1000 dancers and the re-opening of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in the company of Queen Beatrix. He continues to tour his show Live_Transmission: Joy Division Reworked, a striking audiovisual show with Heritage Orchestra. In 2014 he was Visiting Artist at MIT in Cambridge USA.

In 2015 he premiered his score to Dutch National Ballet’s and ISH’s new production Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and in 2016 will present his Water Drops installation Rijeka Airport in Croatia.

His work can be heard on permanent display in the Science Museum London (Sound Curtains), the Raymond Poincaré hospital in Garches, France as part of the bereavement suite (Channel of Flight), The Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum London and the Northern Neuro Disability Services Centre in Newcastle UK (Turning Light).

His portrait hangs as part of the permanent collection in the National Portrait Gallery London. His work has been presented throughout the United States, South America, Asia, Australia and Europe.


News

Performances

There are no upcoming performances