Elías Merino is a composer, sonic artist and researcher based in Madrid. His practice includes installation, composition, and live performance. His work drifts from algorithmic abstract computer music, to contemporary experimental electronics, and instrumental music; and explores time-perspective shifting, fractured narratives, immersive contemplation, states of bewilderment, otherness, and the uncanny.
He is also interested in different approaches related with speculative futures and fiction, post-digital materiality, object-oriented composition, and Posthumanities. Combining his personal activity, he is involved in collaborative projects. Elías is one half of the audiovisual duo SYNSPECIES.
His work has been exhibited across Japan, the US, UK, Spain, France, Czech Republic, South America, Serbia, Romania, Italy, Canada, Germany, South Korea, Portugal, Taiwan, Sweden, Poland, Finland or The Netherlands. He has performed in festivals and venues such MUTEK (Montreal and Mexico), Philharmonie de Paris (NEMO Biennale), L.E.V. Festival, Semibreve, Cafe OTO, Lunchmeat Festival, HCMF (Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival), Sonica Glasgow, MNAC - National Museum of Contemporary Art Rumania, La Casa Encendida, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Matadero Madrid, or MNCARS to mention a few. His recorded albums have been released in different labels including Room40, SUPERPANG or leerraum among others.
Elías Merino holds a Masters Degree in sonic arts and PhD in experimental composition at CeReNeM (Centre for Research in New Music).
This video is an excerpt from a new live work by Grievous Bodily Harmonics which was developed throughout a series of residences at Gnration Braga, Etopia Zaragoza & unusual spaces in South Yorkshire throughout 2022-2023.
Works
Turmoil of Vehemence
L.E.V. Festival-MAD (Madrid Artes Digitales) Matadero Madrid. Madrid, Spain.
L.E.V. Festival-MAD (Madrid Artes Digitales) Matadero Madrid. Madrid, Spain.
2022
Spatial-Deviation Geometries
Etopia Centre for Art and Technology (Spain) and Gneration (Portugal)
Etopia Centre for Art and Technology (Spain) and Gneration (Portugal)
2022-ongoing
Synthesis of Unlocated Affections for ambisonics
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Taichung, Taiwan. 2020
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Taichung, Taiwan. 2020
Causal variations for something like
The National Museum of Contemporary Arts. Bucharest, Romania.
The National Museum of Contemporary Arts. Bucharest, Romania.
2017
Synthesis of Unlocated Affections
SUPERPANG. DIGITAL
SUPERPANG. DIGITAL
2020
Paisajes Absolutos
ZAWP RECORDS. Limited edition 100 copies Cdr Digipack and digital.
ZAWP RECORDS. Limited edition 100 copies Cdr Digipack and digital.
SOLD OUT
2013
Environment
AUDIOTALAIA. DIGITAL
AUDIOTALAIA. DIGITAL
2012
The self-titled audiovisual performance SYNSPECIES explores unnatural oneiric fields inhabited by multi-scaled audiovisual objects that are cross pollinating, mutating, adopting and fighting for their space and existence. They co-create a world of unreal physicality that is constantly kneaded by violent forces. Their existence appears to us as fractured narratives in the perceptual phenomena that resemble a chain of synchronised chaos.
SYNSPECIES feed on tangles made by computer-based code and analogue signals. They originate from algorithmic computer-generated sound, Stockholm’s EMS Buchla and Serge modular systems, and 3D geometry synthesis. The vivid abstract architectures of SYNSPECIES fluctuate in an ambiguous pulsating time, hybridising and shaping new spaces confined in a perpetual disintegration process. This project explores the states of bewilderment and the viscerality, framed in an sacred vastness.
Production: L.E.V. Festival
Support: Arcadi Île-de-France, ENCAC (The European Network for Contemporary Audiovisual Creation), CeReNeM (Centre of research in New Music), Consortium OSMO/ZA.
Awards: EDIGMA Semibreve Award 2018 (Spaceless Latitudes), Shortlisted in Lumen Prize 2018 (Spaceless Latitudes)
Exhibitions
SELECTED RESIDENCIES/AWARDS
01-06/07/2022. Artistic Residency with Rian Treanor at Gnration, Braga. Portugal. 20-27/06/2022. Artistic Residency with Rian Treanor at Etopia (Center for Art and Technology), Zaragoza. Spain. 07-20/03/2020. Artistic residency at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Taichung, Taiwan. 07/2019-2020. ARCADI Ile-de-France Arts Numériques project support. Paris, France. 04/2019. Residency at L.E.V. Festival. 09/2018. EDIGMA Semibreve Award. Portugal. 09/2018. Finalist Lumen Prize (Moving Image category). UK. 2018-SYNSPECIES. ENCAC artist roster. EU. 20-26/05/2018. Residency at LEV Festival. LABoral, Gijon. Spain. 17-22/10/2016.Selected for MusicHacklab. MUTEK.Mexico [Cancelled for external reasons]. 01-10/11/2016. Artistic Residency.The Game of Life Foundation. (Wave Field Synthesis). The Hague, Netherlands. 15-25/06/2016. Artistic Residency (Guest Composer). EMS Elektronmusikstudion. Stockholm, Sweden. 11/2015. Selected and awarded with a scolarship by ICMC (International Computer Music Conference). University of North Texas. US. [Cancelled for external reasons]. 01/2015. Awarded with PhD full scholarship in Computer Music. University of Huddersfield. Uk. 09/2014. Artistic residency commissioned by Trendelenburg collective. LABoral, Gijón. Spain. 2013. Artistic Residency in CMMAS. Morelia, Mexico. [Canceled for external reasons].
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS/PERFORMANCES
15/06/2023. Grievous Bodily Harmonics [AV Performance], Sónar Barcelona. Barcelona, Spain. 27/04/2023. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], Sónar Istambul. Istambul, Turkey. 26/11/2022. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], MUTEK Mexico. CDMX, Mexico. 12/11/2022. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], WeSA Festival. Seoul, South Korea. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance] w/ Lucy Railton, Abul Mogard, Anthony Linell, Aho Ssan. OSA Festival, Sopot. Poland. 23-26/10/2022. SYNSPECIES [Turmoil of Vehementia, inmersive installation], LEV Matadero. Madrid, Spain.27/08/22. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], MUTEK Montreal. Montreal, Canada. 24/26/03/2022. SYNSPECIES [Spaceless Latitudes], Luna Nights (MAF), Leeuwarden. The Netherlands. 15/01/2022. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], European Capital of Culture opening ceremony. Novi Sad, Serbia. 13/11/2021. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], Volumens. Valencia, Spain. 20-21/09/2021. Tatuar es cictrizar juntas [Comissioned light-sound installation for Proyecto Memento] Los Veranos de la Villa, Conde Duque. Madrid, Spain. 08-25/07/2021. Heterotopies [ Interactive Audiovisual Installation]. LEV Festival. Gijon, Spain. 20-27/06/2021. SYNSPECIES [Screening]. NeoshibuyaTV x New Media Art. Tokyo, Japan. 20/11/2020. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], Mapping Festival. Geneva, Swtizerland (cencelled due COVID-19). 03/10/2020. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], Curtocircuito, Galicia. Spain. 24-27/09/2020. Heterotopies [ Virtual audiovisual installation]. Matadero Madrid-Online-Steam. L.E.V. Festival. 18/03/2020. [Sound Performance]. C-Lab,Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab Taipei, Taiwan (canceled due Covid-19 outbreak). 15/03/2020. Synthesis of Unlocated Affections: thingness. [Sound Performance]. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Taichung, Taiwan. 12/03/2020-07/2020. Synthesis of Unlocated Affections for ambisonics. [Sound installtion for ambisonic system]. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Taichung, Taiwan. 07/02/2020. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], NEMO Biennale. Philharmonie de Paris. Paris, France. 10/12/2019. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance]. Kino Šiška, Ljubljana. Slovenia. 23/11/2019 SYNSPECIES [AV Performance] w/Holly Herdon, Martin Messier. Festival Tentacular. Madrid, Spain. 31/10/2019. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance] w/Klara Lewis, Sonica. Glasgow, Scottland. 01/ 10/ 2019. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], Lunchmeat Festival. Prague, Czech Republic.11/08/2019. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance]. Kamfest, Slovenia. 03/05/2019. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance] , World premiere.L.E.V. 2019. Gijon, Spain. 21/11/2018. HCMF (Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival), Yorkshire, UK. 03-06/11/2018. SYNSPECIES [Spaceless Latitudes] Luza Festival. Algarve, Portugal. 26-28/10/2018. SYNSPECIES [Spaceless Latitudes] Semibreve Festival. Braga, Portugal. 26-29/04/2018. SYNSPECIES [Spaceless latitudes] L.E.V. Festival. Gijon, Spain. 29/04/2018. Ogive [Folds] Festival Ensems. Valencia, Spain. 06/10/2017. Causal variations for something like. [Sound installation] Centrul de Interes Museum. Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 08/09/2017. Causal variations for something like [Sound installation]. BIDFF, MNAC (The National Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest). Bucharest, Romania. 06/09/2017. Akusmata Festival. [Sound Performance]. Akusmata Gallery. Helsinki, Finland. 26/02/2017. Electric Spring Festival. [Sound Performance]. With Richard Scott, Beatriz Ferreyra and Alex McLean. Huddersfield, UK. 11/02/2017. transmediale/CTM Vorspiel. Spektrum. [Sound Performance]. With Stefan Tiefengraber. Berlin, Germany. 03/12/2016. SONIKAS, International festival of experimental music With Roland Kuit and Peter Kutin. Auditorium Lope de Vega. Madrid, Spain. 16-17/07/2016. The Nothing, Seeking Answers: indivisible streams. Installation. Cafe OTO. With Francisco López, Olivier Pasquet, Daniel del Río and Rian Treanor. London, Uk. 05/2016. Multichannel presentation. leerraum showcase. With Zimoun, Richard Garet, D'incise, Collinding Fields and Yuzo Kako. CT-SWam, New York. US. 05/2016-06/2016. Hypergradients A/V installation in collaboration with Esstro9. Estado Abstracto. Ex Convento del Carmen. Guadalajara. Mexico. 4/2016. AVLab. Medialab Prado. Curated by GRS. Madrid, Spain. 03/2016. FUSE Art Space. With Tomoko Sauvage. Bradford, Uk. 11/2015. Medialab Prado. Commissioned by CNI. Madrid, Spain. 12/2015. Processing. 43 Inverness street Gallery. With Jung in Jung, Sandra Ka and Phil Maguire. London, Uk. 02/2015. Electric Spring. With Robert Henke, Kasper Toeplitz and Isnaj Dui. Uk. 01/2015. The Nothing, Seeking Answers. Call and Response. With Rian Treanor and Daniel del Río. London, Uk. 12/2014.The Nothing, Seeking Answers. CADS. With Rian Treanor and Daniel del Río, Sheffield. Uk. 11/ 2014 – 03/2015. Diffused piece in ambisonic system curated by Audiotalaia . Gap in the Air VVAA. Talbot Rice Gallery. Edinburgh. 09/2014. Study#1 for Non-Objectified behaviour. Trendelenburg. Digital culture in public spaces. Old Oviedo’s jail. Asturias, Spain. 11/2014. SOUNDKitchen. Vivid Projects. With Nic Bullen, Chris Herbert, Antonio Roberts and Samuel Rodgers. Birmingham, Uk. 03/2014. A few grams of red, yellow, blue. Centre for Contemporary Art Zamek Ujazdowski. Warsaw, Poland. 2013 - Cine casi mudo. Casyc auditory. Santander, Spain. 2013 - AE_Phenømenae. Con SAGAAN. VAciador34. Madrid, Spain. 2013- La Escucha Errante. Zawp. Bilbao, Spain. 2012- Klangmaschine. With Esstro9. Espacio Trapecio. Madrid, Spain. 2012- NIños Consentidos . With Otra Carpeta and Leo Betinelli. Vaciador34. Madrid, Spain. 2012. MNCARS (Museo Nacional y Centro de Arte Reina Sofía). Madrid, Spain. 2012 - LPM. Planet Alpheus. Roma, Italy. 2012- La Justa Entropía. Convent Sant Agustí. Barcelona, Spain. 2012 - Uno Nueve Gallery. Madrid, Spain. 2012- Piovra. Utopic Us. Madrid, Spain. 2012- LaboratorioKlem. Conservatorio de Música Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga Bilbao. Spain. 2012- El Sol St Gallery. Santander. Spain. 2012 - Simbiosis (MAS+) La Casa de los Jacintos. Madrid, Spain. 2012 - Artefactos (Nuhg + Grassa Dato) Eureka. Santander, Spain. 2011. Off_Hz. Valle Ortí Gallery. Valencia, Spain. 2011 - La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain. 2011 - Trendelenburg A/V Fest. (Nuhg + Ann Deveria + Proyecto Kevlar).Museo del ferrocarril. Gijón, Spain. 2011 - Fungus Cerebri Fest. (Nuhg + Astro (C.C.C.C.) + Scumearth + Vril Noise + Grassa Dato).Taberna Alabanda. Madrid, Spain. 2011 - Zeith (Nuhg + Grassa Dato + Equipo Elevador). La Faena II. Madrid, Spain. 2010 - Tabacalera. Madrid, Spain. 2009 - Paradis Artificiels ( Nuhg + Narcoléptica + Shorai) Coppola Club. Madrid, Spain.
01-06/07/2022. Artistic Residency with Rian Treanor at Gnration, Braga. Portugal. 20-27/06/2022. Artistic Residency with Rian Treanor at Etopia (Center for Art and Technology), Zaragoza. Spain. 07-20/03/2020. Artistic residency at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Taichung, Taiwan. 07/2019-2020. ARCADI Ile-de-France Arts Numériques project support. Paris, France. 04/2019. Residency at L.E.V. Festival. 09/2018. EDIGMA Semibreve Award. Portugal. 09/2018. Finalist Lumen Prize (Moving Image category). UK. 2018-SYNSPECIES. ENCAC artist roster. EU. 20-26/05/2018. Residency at LEV Festival. LABoral, Gijon. Spain. 17-22/10/2016.Selected for MusicHacklab. MUTEK.Mexico [Cancelled for external reasons]. 01-10/11/2016. Artistic Residency.The Game of Life Foundation. (Wave Field Synthesis). The Hague, Netherlands. 15-25/06/2016. Artistic Residency (Guest Composer). EMS Elektronmusikstudion. Stockholm, Sweden. 11/2015. Selected and awarded with a scolarship by ICMC (International Computer Music Conference). University of North Texas. US. [Cancelled for external reasons]. 01/2015. Awarded with PhD full scholarship in Computer Music. University of Huddersfield. Uk. 09/2014. Artistic residency commissioned by Trendelenburg collective. LABoral, Gijón. Spain. 2013. Artistic Residency in CMMAS. Morelia, Mexico. [Canceled for external reasons].
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS/PERFORMANCES
15/06/2023. Grievous Bodily Harmonics [AV Performance], Sónar Barcelona. Barcelona, Spain. 27/04/2023. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], Sónar Istambul. Istambul, Turkey. 26/11/2022. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], MUTEK Mexico. CDMX, Mexico. 12/11/2022. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], WeSA Festival. Seoul, South Korea. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance] w/ Lucy Railton, Abul Mogard, Anthony Linell, Aho Ssan. OSA Festival, Sopot. Poland. 23-26/10/2022. SYNSPECIES [Turmoil of Vehementia, inmersive installation], LEV Matadero. Madrid, Spain.27/08/22. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], MUTEK Montreal. Montreal, Canada. 24/26/03/2022. SYNSPECIES [Spaceless Latitudes], Luna Nights (MAF), Leeuwarden. The Netherlands. 15/01/2022. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], European Capital of Culture opening ceremony. Novi Sad, Serbia. 13/11/2021. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], Volumens. Valencia, Spain. 20-21/09/2021. Tatuar es cictrizar juntas [Comissioned light-sound installation for Proyecto Memento] Los Veranos de la Villa, Conde Duque. Madrid, Spain. 08-25/07/2021. Heterotopies [ Interactive Audiovisual Installation]. LEV Festival. Gijon, Spain. 20-27/06/2021. SYNSPECIES [Screening]. NeoshibuyaTV x New Media Art. Tokyo, Japan. 20/11/2020. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], Mapping Festival. Geneva, Swtizerland (cencelled due COVID-19). 03/10/2020. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], Curtocircuito, Galicia. Spain. 24-27/09/2020. Heterotopies [ Virtual audiovisual installation]. Matadero Madrid-Online-Steam. L.E.V. Festival. 18/03/2020. [Sound Performance]. C-Lab,Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab Taipei, Taiwan (canceled due Covid-19 outbreak). 15/03/2020. Synthesis of Unlocated Affections: thingness. [Sound Performance]. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Taichung, Taiwan. 12/03/2020-07/2020. Synthesis of Unlocated Affections for ambisonics. [Sound installtion for ambisonic system]. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Taichung, Taiwan. 07/02/2020. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], NEMO Biennale. Philharmonie de Paris. Paris, France. 10/12/2019. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance]. Kino Šiška, Ljubljana. Slovenia. 23/11/2019 SYNSPECIES [AV Performance] w/Holly Herdon, Martin Messier. Festival Tentacular. Madrid, Spain. 31/10/2019. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance] w/Klara Lewis, Sonica. Glasgow, Scottland. 01/ 10/ 2019. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance], Lunchmeat Festival. Prague, Czech Republic.11/08/2019. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance]. Kamfest, Slovenia. 03/05/2019. SYNSPECIES [AV Performance] , World premiere.L.E.V. 2019. Gijon, Spain. 21/11/2018. HCMF (Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival), Yorkshire, UK. 03-06/11/2018. SYNSPECIES [Spaceless Latitudes] Luza Festival. Algarve, Portugal. 26-28/10/2018. SYNSPECIES [Spaceless Latitudes] Semibreve Festival. Braga, Portugal. 26-29/04/2018. SYNSPECIES [Spaceless latitudes] L.E.V. Festival. Gijon, Spain. 29/04/2018. Ogive [Folds] Festival Ensems. Valencia, Spain. 06/10/2017. Causal variations for something like. [Sound installation] Centrul de Interes Museum. Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 08/09/2017. Causal variations for something like [Sound installation]. BIDFF, MNAC (The National Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest). Bucharest, Romania. 06/09/2017. Akusmata Festival. [Sound Performance]. Akusmata Gallery. Helsinki, Finland. 26/02/2017. Electric Spring Festival. [Sound Performance]. With Richard Scott, Beatriz Ferreyra and Alex McLean. Huddersfield, UK. 11/02/2017. transmediale/CTM Vorspiel. Spektrum. [Sound Performance]. With Stefan Tiefengraber. Berlin, Germany. 03/12/2016. SONIKAS, International festival of experimental music With Roland Kuit and Peter Kutin. Auditorium Lope de Vega. Madrid, Spain. 16-17/07/2016. The Nothing, Seeking Answers: indivisible streams. Installation. Cafe OTO. With Francisco López, Olivier Pasquet, Daniel del Río and Rian Treanor. London, Uk. 05/2016. Multichannel presentation. leerraum showcase. With Zimoun, Richard Garet, D'incise, Collinding Fields and Yuzo Kako. CT-SWam, New York. US. 05/2016-06/2016. Hypergradients A/V installation in collaboration with Esstro9. Estado Abstracto. Ex Convento del Carmen. Guadalajara. Mexico. 4/2016. AVLab. Medialab Prado. Curated by GRS. Madrid, Spain. 03/2016. FUSE Art Space. With Tomoko Sauvage. Bradford, Uk. 11/2015. Medialab Prado. Commissioned by CNI. Madrid, Spain. 12/2015. Processing. 43 Inverness street Gallery. With Jung in Jung, Sandra Ka and Phil Maguire. London, Uk. 02/2015. Electric Spring. With Robert Henke, Kasper Toeplitz and Isnaj Dui. Uk. 01/2015. The Nothing, Seeking Answers. Call and Response. With Rian Treanor and Daniel del Río. London, Uk. 12/2014.The Nothing, Seeking Answers. CADS. With Rian Treanor and Daniel del Río, Sheffield. Uk. 11/ 2014 – 03/2015. Diffused piece in ambisonic system curated by Audiotalaia . Gap in the Air VVAA. Talbot Rice Gallery. Edinburgh. 09/2014. Study#1 for Non-Objectified behaviour. Trendelenburg. Digital culture in public spaces. Old Oviedo’s jail. Asturias, Spain. 11/2014. SOUNDKitchen. Vivid Projects. With Nic Bullen, Chris Herbert, Antonio Roberts and Samuel Rodgers. Birmingham, Uk. 03/2014. A few grams of red, yellow, blue. Centre for Contemporary Art Zamek Ujazdowski. Warsaw, Poland. 2013 - Cine casi mudo. Casyc auditory. Santander, Spain. 2013 - AE_Phenømenae. Con SAGAAN. VAciador34. Madrid, Spain. 2013- La Escucha Errante. Zawp. Bilbao, Spain. 2012- Klangmaschine. With Esstro9. Espacio Trapecio. Madrid, Spain. 2012- NIños Consentidos . With Otra Carpeta and Leo Betinelli. Vaciador34. Madrid, Spain. 2012. MNCARS (Museo Nacional y Centro de Arte Reina Sofía). Madrid, Spain. 2012 - LPM. Planet Alpheus. Roma, Italy. 2012- La Justa Entropía. Convent Sant Agustí. Barcelona, Spain. 2012 - Uno Nueve Gallery. Madrid, Spain. 2012- Piovra. Utopic Us. Madrid, Spain. 2012- LaboratorioKlem. Conservatorio de Música Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga Bilbao. Spain. 2012- El Sol St Gallery. Santander. Spain. 2012 - Simbiosis (MAS+) La Casa de los Jacintos. Madrid, Spain. 2012 - Artefactos (Nuhg + Grassa Dato) Eureka. Santander, Spain. 2011. Off_Hz. Valle Ortí Gallery. Valencia, Spain. 2011 - La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain. 2011 - Trendelenburg A/V Fest. (Nuhg + Ann Deveria + Proyecto Kevlar).Museo del ferrocarril. Gijón, Spain. 2011 - Fungus Cerebri Fest. (Nuhg + Astro (C.C.C.C.) + Scumearth + Vril Noise + Grassa Dato).Taberna Alabanda. Madrid, Spain. 2011 - Zeith (Nuhg + Grassa Dato + Equipo Elevador). La Faena II. Madrid, Spain. 2010 - Tabacalera. Madrid, Spain. 2009 - Paradis Artificiels ( Nuhg + Narcoléptica + Shorai) Coppola Club. Madrid, Spain.
Gallery
