Tuesday, February 15, 2021; 12pm PST
40-minute talk followed by 30 minutes of Q&A broadcast live at thelab.org
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Suzanne Ciani and Lisa Rovner will discuss Sisters with Transistors, a documentary film about electronic music’s female pioneers. The film maps a new history of electronic music through the visionary women whose radical experimentations with machines redefined the boundaries of music, including Clara Rockmore, Daphne Oram, Bebe Barron, Pauline Oliveros, Delia Derbyshire, Maryanne Amacher, Eliane Radigue, Suzanne Ciani, and Laurie Spiegel. The film is now available via online streaming services.

Suzanne Ciani is a five-time Grammy award-nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and new age recording artist. While in grad school in Berkeley, Suzanne became entranced with the ability to produce music with a machine and devoted herself to the Buchla synthesizers for the next two decades, pioneering live electronic performances in quadrophonic sound. Alongside a successful artistic career, she was also responsible for scoring TV spots and crafting iconic sound bites for some of America’s largest corporations throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s. The sound effect of a Coca-Cola bottle being opened and poured is one of her most famed achievements. Ciani was also the first woman to score a major Hollywood film (Lily Tomlin’s ‘The Incredible Shrinking Woman’ in 1981). A Life in Waves, a documentary about Ciani’s life and work, debuted at SXSW in 2017 and is available to watch on all digital platforms.

Lisa Rovner is an award winning French American writer and filmmaker based in London who got her start directing arty adverts for the likes of Opening Ceremony and Margiela. In 2021, she released her acclaimed debut feature documentary Sisters with Transistors with Modern Films (UK) Metrograph Pictures(US) and KinoSmith (Canada). Narrated by Laurie Anderson it premiered at SXSW 2020, won a special mention at CPH:DOX 2020, the Indie Music Award at Indie Lisboa and Grand Prize Music Documentary at FIPADOCS. It was long listed for Best Documentary by British Independent Film Awards. The Guardiangave it 5 stars, NYtimes called it "Bewitching", LAtimes "Fascinating". Wall Street Journal "Hallucinogenic". Rovner has collaborated with some of the most internationally respected artists and brands including Pierre Huyghe, Liam Gillick, Sebastien Tellier, Maison Martin Margiela and Acne. When she's not working on feature projects, she makes short films and filmed portraits about and with the people and things she cares about. Instagram: @lisarovner @sisterswithtransistors

The Forum is an experiment in creating discourse within the context of isolation. Art creates a space for reconsidering our knowledge across various social and professional fields. It asks us: Why do we perceive things the way we do? What are we living for? How can we reimagine our relationships to the human and non-human world? The Forum proposes that the project of freedom is a project of making a world with others. So, we invite you to help us answer: what can we do now?

Please bring your ideas, proposals, questions to discuss following the talk.

Photo of Suzanne Ciani by Eriver Hijano