Forte, Feminism in Iran, Freedom & Frequency
Performing artist Ava Koohbor on extracting rhythmic melodies, musical chaos, and redefining our concepts of musical instruments and music-making
Ava Koohbor is an Iranian American experimental poet, sound artist and instrument maker. Her works have been exhibited and performed at Audium, APICC Festival 2023: Reimagine Horizons, and RootDivision: ME in a(ME)rica. Her latest publication, a collection of her poetry, Death Under Construction has been published by Ugly Duckling Presse. She believes that each artist is a medium to transfer the world of possibilities to what is. She holds an MFA in Electronic Music from Mills College.
Follow Ava on Instagram at @avakoohbor and checkout their upcoming show at Sound Symposium in Canada, St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador from July 16-24.
Instrument Designer Ava Koohbor, photographer Benjy Young.
APICC: Hi Ava! Thank you for sharing with Shift the Script. Let's start from the beginning. Tell us about your creative process and how you got started.
AVA KOOHBOR: Creative work has been a continuous endeavor throughout my life, before I immigrated to the US, and now. Creative work is out of necessity; it has been the innermost need of my existence. It has gone through metamorphosis several times; each time a step forward while diving into the past. I can say part of this necessity has been genetics, I grew up in an artistically driven family, part of it has been life’s situation, and part of it is my curiosity about life itself and my constant desire to learn and experience new things. In whatever form my creative process manifested, as poetry, sculpture, or sound, it has always started from a question in my head, why, what, how, etc., and the answer emerged as a creative form.
I’ve found a complete form in experimental electronic music and sound. I do feel at home when I perform! It is the sum of everything I’ve learned and experienced in life, and it seems it has an answer to all my questions. My love for music is eternal. I started to play piano at a very early age (like every bourgeoisie family the piano was a symbol of status), I don’t want to get into the history of piano and the sexism around it. At some point, I knew I didn’t like playing classical piano, so I turned into Jazz, but found I couldn’t connect with the instrument. Meanwhile, I kept studying music history and theory, especially contemporary and atonal music and avant-garde. Noise and sound as a form of composition.
Then I came to John Cage, and electronic music and all women composers in this field, the rest is history. I became familiar with Eurorack modular synthesizers through a friend, J. Lee. Eurorack synthesizers made analogue synthesizers more accessible than say in the last two decades. Many people still believe that they are not affordable, which is true, and that’s why I must work full time. I started with a few modules and expanded them in time and now I am making my own synthesizers. At Mills College in James Fei’s class I learned how to make home-made circuits and since then I have tried to make sculptural electro-acoustic instruments which is fun! There are tons of videos and instructions around handmade electronic music and there is a class, Dogbotic, in Oakland which offers all different kind of classes.
I feel that loud textures and timbres generated from noise and non-tonal sound are very powerful and expressive. Especially as a woman it makes for a very political and empowering experience. And that’s the reason many women are gravitated towards working one way or another with electronic music. For example, in my own compositions I create a system with objects or sculptures and interacting with them either as a sound source or filters (processing) or speakers, transform the sound with my synthesizer and then mix them together in such a way that their individual properties is lost. For me, performance is like a ritualistic act, it’s a statement, and it's an experience, an experimental step towards the unknown.
For me, performance is like a ritualistic act, it’s a statement, and it's an experience, an experimental step towards the unknown.
APICC: Tell us about the creative work you presented as a USAAF alumni and how it’s transformed you.
AVA KOOHBOR: In the composition I performed for APICC’s USAAF Festival in 2023, “ffff: A Noise Capella”, I made four sculptures from four different metal sheets which functioned as filters, and a feedback system. I am Iranian and when I was planning for this composition it happened during the peak of the movement of Iranian women: Woman, Life, Freedom movement. I asked four of my women friends in Iran to write each day a sentence, not necessarily related to the events, read and record them, sending them to me to use in my composition.
The initial idea of this composition wasn’t about this movement, it was about acoustical properties of the metal sheets, but the meaning of this performance changed with what was going on in Iran. So, the number four and the title, “ffff”, changed its meaning. The four f’s were supposed to stand for fortissimo, signifying the loudness, but then the meaning of the title changed into forte, feminist movement in Iran, Freedom, and Frequency. To actualize the ritualistic part, I had the four sculptures (which were acting as speakers) situated in four directions around me, making a square as a symbol of earth, and the audience then walked around these sculptures listening to the sound and voices.
I envisioned it performed in an industrial environment, lacking any ornaments, decorations, or color. By receiving a grant from APICC, I was able to rent a place with these characteristics. The compromise was that the place didn’t have subwoofer speakers!
Transformation is not in the moment, but in time. You cannot predict it or even demand it, it’s dynamic and a continuous force.
Transformation is not in the moment, but in time. You cannot predict it or even demand it, it’s dynamic and a continuous force. It’s an amalgam of consciousness, subconsciousness, and unconsciousness mingling in a mystic way. At the same time, it’s dependent on the political, social, and cultural changes happening around you, positive or negative. To me using loud sound as a form of expression feels empowering
APICC: What lessons have you learned from producing your own sounds and making your own instruments?
AVA KOOHBOR: Lesson! I think every second of our life is a lesson if we are open to seeing it, to hearing it, to touching it, to smelling it, and to tasting it. And, about carrying it, I don’t think we have an undo button. After we experienced what we have experienced, we don’t have any choice but to carry it as a memory, a feeling, or thoughts. Our life is full of lessons, but the question is, are we aware of them?
The only choice we have is moving forward. For example, with the feedback system I created for my composition “ffff”, I learned that I cannot carry large sculptures with me whenever I want to use metals in my performances. After learning how to make my own handmade synthesizer, I created Simurgh, which inboxes many ideas in a portable instrument. This is the first brand for Iranian synthesizer which is made by a woman!
When I got into musical instrument making, I realized that there are no women recognized in this field, although in today’s world of labor, the mass production of western musical instruments mostly consisted of women, but there is no presence in the craft of making it in the history. It made me go back and study the history of musical instruments from its pre-history and redefine it for myself. Now, I make my own sculptural instruments outside of a perfected world imposed on me as a performer.
APICC: How has this experience broadened your heart, hopes, or outlook for the future?
AVA KOOHBOR: I think, as long as human beings are around, there will be conflicts and disappointments. I think artists can shape the future as seers. They can expand world views beyond conventional experiences. But it’s not possible without financial freedom.
I don’t think one can learn art at academia necessarily. I always hope that my art is more in the form of a question than an answer. I hope when somebody comes to my performance they don’t see or hear what they expect, free from memory, but at the same time, familiar and intimate. I think change starts from individual and then becomes collective. Art institutions are still very conservative, in terms of who they curate and how they curate. We want more chaotic art which reflects the reality of the world today.
APICC: What do you recommend to another person who wants to engage in a similar process?
AVA KOOHBOR: I would say, learn everything you can and then unlearn as much as you can. Always doubt in what you see and instead of telling yourself, “This is it.” Ask yourself, “What is this?” and take risks when it comes to the creative process. Avoid perfection!
APICC: Ava, tell us what’s to come?
AVA KOOHBOR: I will be performing at Sound Symposium in Canada, St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador, which is a week of music, on July 16-24. I’m very excited about it. My piece is called “Unchained” and I’m going to use chains as my sound source. Chain, as a symbol socially associated with jewelry and status and at the same time imprisonment and bondage. I’m also excited to announce that I’m one of the recipients of 2024 SF Arts Commission Artist Grants for a series of performances with an electro-acoustic backgammon board I’m designing in the fall 2025.
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