Key details
Dr Hadi Bastani
Independent Researcher
Hadi Bastani is a sound artist, anthropologist, and electroacoustic composer. His work examines relationships between creative practice in sound, developments in digital technology, processes of sociality, and notions of spatiality. His interdisciplinary investigation of the experimental electronic music scene in Iran has formed the first comprehensive research of the scene within academia. His broader academic work engages with aesthetics and politics of material flows of cultural production, with an emphasis on the unique capacity of sound-based ethnography and spatial composition. As an artist, he works with computers, synthesizers, microphones, and transducers in the context of electroacoustic compositions; improvised performances; site-specific, immersive, and interactive installations.
Recognition
- Queen's University Belfast
- British Forum for Ethnomusicology (BFE)
- Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM)
- Theatrum Mundi centre for research and experimentation in the public culture of cities
- Reviewer – Contemporary Music Review (Issue 5: Improvisation and Social Inclusion)
- Invited Jurist – Arts Council: Iran-UK Sonic Residency
Recent publications
Journal articles:
[Forthcoming] Bastani, H. & N. Soltani, ‘An Experimental Acoustemology of Ekbatan,’ Openwork.
2021 Bastani, H., A. Linardou, R. Sharafi, I. Tsioulakis., ‘Musical careers in constant crises: An asynchronous dialogue from Tehran to Athens, via Belfast,’ Critical Studies in Improvisation 14 (2–3). DOI: 10.21083/csieci.v14i2.6458.
2020 Bastani, H., ‘Experimental Electronic Sound as Playful Articulation of a Compromised Sociality in Iran’. Ethnomusicology Forum 29 (3): 379–400, DOI: 10.1080/17411912.2021.1896371.
Selected Compositions, Installations, and Performances
Bastani, H., ‘Cold Hour,’ Live electronics and live coding, Tehran Contemporary Sounds, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, Germany, Oct. 2021.
Bastani, H. & Y. Zamani, Live improvised live electronics and coding, Klangteppich festival, tak Theater Aufbau, Berlin, Germany, Jun. 2021.
Bastani, H., ‘Interference’ [multi-channel sound installation], Catalyst Art, Belfast, United Kingdom, Oct. 2019.
Bastani, H., ‘Impulse|Resonance’ [multi-channel public sound installation], Sound Park Project, Belfast, United Kingdom, Jun. 2019.
Bastani, H. & S. Horak, ‘Pendulum’ [live electronics and visuals], Sonorities Festival, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Apr. 2018.
Bastani, H. & A. Weisling, ‘Intra.view’ [electroacoustic composition presented as an immersive audiovisual performance], Sonorities Festival, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Apr. 2018.
Bastani, H., ‘#Neversame’ [multi-channel audiovisual installation], Sonorities Festival, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Apr. 2018.
Bastani, H. & P. Ehsaei, ‘Slides-zen-Dives’ [live improvised electronics], Iklectik Art Lab, London, United Kingdom, Mar. 2018.
Bastani, H., ‘Ecbatan’ [multi-channel sound and physical objects installation, Tehran Annual Digital Arts Exhibition (TADAEX), Nabshi Gallery, Tehran, Iran, Dec. 2017.
Bastani, H., ‘Sarcian Sinemass’ [multi-channel sound installation], NI Science Festival, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom, Dec. 2017.
Presentations
Conference Proceedings
Bastani, H., Samuels, K., ‘Digital Media, Live Interfaces and Inclusion: Ethnographic Perspectives,’ Proceedings of International Conference on Live Interfaces (ICLI) Porto, Portugal, Dec. 2018.