Carsten Nicolai (* 18 September 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, now Chemnitz) is a German artist, musician and label owner. As a musician he is known under the pseudonym Alva Noto.
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Carsten Nicolai was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz) of Saxony, GDR in 1965. He studied architecture and landscape design before pursuing art. In 1994 he founded the label NOTON, following which a collaboration with RasterMusic began and by 1999 the two labels had merged into Raster-Noton, which operated until 2017.
Returning to the labels origin in 2017, Nicolai runs NOTON separately.[2]
In 2009 Nicolai wrote the opera Sparkie: Cage and Beyond in collaboration with Michael Nyman.[3]
Nicolai performed and created installations in many of the world's most prestigious spaces including the Guggenheim, New York, the SF MoMA, Modern Art Oxford, NTT Tokyo, Tate Modern and Venice Biennale, Italy. As a member (and co-founder) of the Raster-Noton label he was responsible for the acclaimed CD series 20 to 2000 that went on to win the Golden Nica prize at Prix Ars Electronica, 2000.[4]
Carsten Nicolai also works as a visual artist. In 2013, Nicolai participated as a visual artist in Biennale Documenta, an official collateral show of the 55th Venice Biennale of Art.[5]
Nicolai started his professorship in art with focus on digital and time-based media with Dresden Academy of Fine Arts since 2015.
Nicolai co-scored the music for Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant, along with Ryuichi Sakamoto. The score was nominated for a Golden Globe, BAFTA, Grammy and Critics' Choice Movie Awards.[6] In 2018 he created the sound design for Iñárritu’s groundbreaking VR project "Carne y Arena" Flesh and Sand.[7]
- 2022: Grau, with Albert Oehlen, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Berlin, Germany[8]
- 2022: transmitter / receiver − the machine and the gardener, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany[9]
- 2019: Parallax Symmetry, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany[10]
- 2019: rota, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
- 2018: formula, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Berlin, Germany[11]
- 2018: tele, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany
- 2017: organ, St. Anne's chapel in Krobitz, Weira, Germany[12]
- 2017: parallex, Ichihara Lakeside Museum, Japan
- 2016: unidisplay, Copenhagen Contemporary, Kopenhagen, Denmark[13]
- 2016: reflektor distortion, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Berlin, Germany[14]
- 2016: black absorb pol, Seibu Shibuya, Tokio, Japan
- 2015: unicolor, The Vinyl Factory, London, Great Britain[15]
- 2015: Strange Attractors, Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey
- 2015: ur-geräusche, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany[16]
- 2015: unidisplay. Sound in Motion, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany[17]
- 2015: unitape, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany[18]
- 2014: alpha pulse, International Commerce Center Hong Kong, Art Basel, Hong Kong, China[19]
- 2014: unidisplay, SonarPLANTA, The Sorigué Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
- 2013: crt mgn, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Berlin, Germany
- 2013: unidisplay, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany[20]
- 2012: unidisplay, HangarBicocca, Milan, Italy
- 2012: unidisplay, Musée d'art contemporain, Montréal, Canada[21]
- 2011: pionier, Pace Gallery, New York, USA
- 2010: polar m [mirrored], YCAM Yamaguchi, Japan
- 2010: moiré, Pace Gallery, New York, USA[22]
- 2010: autoR, Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin, Germany
- 2010: rota, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Germany
- 2009: pionier II, Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples, Italy
- 2009: rota, Schering Stiftung, Berlin, Germany[23]
- 2008: anti reflex, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany[24]
- 2008: tired light, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Berlin, Germany[25]
- 2007: static fades, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2007: static balance, Pace Gallery, New York, USA
- 2006: inver, shown at Frieze Art Fair, London, Great Britain and at Galerie EIGEN + ART, Leipzig, Germany
- 2006: polylit, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany
- 2005: audio visual spaces, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium
- 2005: anti reflex, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- 2005: syn chron, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, as well as in Bern, Switzerland and in Yamaguchi, Japan
- 2003: funken, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Berlin, Germany
- 2002: International Art Biennial, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- 2001: frozen water, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany
- 2000: Ystad Art Museum, Sweden
- 1999: 1% space, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 1998: polyfoto, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, Germany
- 1992: running sap, Galerie Springer, Berlin, Germany
- 1991: magica II, Lichtinstallation, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
- 1986: der keller, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Leipzig, Germany
- 2023: Synesthetic Immersion, 0xCollection, Prague, Czech Republic[26]
- 2023: Glitch. Die Kunst der Störung, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany[27]
- 2023: Art in Motion, Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MOCAUP), China
- 2022: Broken Music Extended, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany[28]
- 2022: Art and Industry, Ulsan Art Museum, Korea[29]
- 2022: Homosphäre, Kunsthalle Mainz, Germany[30]
- 2022: Freezing Point - Kunst unter Null Grad Celsius, Villa Merkel, Esslingen, Germany
- 2021: Calder Now, Kunsthalle Rotterdam, Netherlands
- 2021: Ti Zero, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy[31]
- 2021: Orchestral Manoeuvres: SeeSound. Feel Sound. Be Sound, ArtScience Museum, Singapore[32]
- 2021: Sound and Silence, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany[33]
- 2020: Audiosphere. Sound Experimentation 1980-2020, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
- 2020: Technology Transformation. Fotografie und Video in der Kunstsammlung, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany[34]
- 2020: STUDIO BERLIN, Berghain, Berlin, Germany
- 2020: Doppelleben, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Germany[35]
- 2019: SWEET HARMONY: RAVE | TODAY, Saatchi Gallery, London, Great Britain[36]
- 2019: BIG ORCHESTRA, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
- 2019: ELECTRO, Philharmonie de Paris, France
- 2018: RASTER-NOTON: WHITE CIRCLE, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany
- 2018: Doppelleben, mumok, Vienna, Austria[37]
- 2017: How beautiful it is and how easily it can be broken, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium
- 2017: Fishing for islands, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
- 2016: Wrap around the time, Nam June Paik Art Center, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
- 2015: "Geniale Dilletanten". Subkultur der 1980er-Jahre in Deutschland, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
- 2015: Quantum of Disorder, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2014: Art on Sound, Fondazione Prada, Venice, Italy
- 2013: Soundings. A Contemporary Score, MoMA, New York, USA[38]
- 2013: The magnetic north, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2012: Echigo Tsumari Triennial, Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Contemporary Art Museum, Tokomachi, Japan
- 2011: Yokohama Triennale, Japan
- 2010: Ruhrtriennale, Dortmund, Germany
- 2010: Julia Stoschek Collection – I Want To See How You See, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
- 2009: The Kaleidoscopic Eye: Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
- 2008: Tonspur_expanded: Vom Klang der Kunst. The sound of art, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria[39]
- 2007: 2nd Moscow Biennal, Moscow, Russia
- 2007: Konstellationen II. Von Gerhard Richter bis Carsten Nicolai, Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
- 2007: Space for Your Future, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
- 2006: Singapore Biennale, Singapore
- 2003: Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
- 2003: Berlin-Moskau / Moskau-Berlin 1950–2000, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany and Moscow, Russia
- 2002: Frequenzen [Hz], Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
- 2001: Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
- 2001: Quobo, Art in Berlin 89-99, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
- 2001: Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
- 2000: Volume. Bed of Sound, MoMA PS1, New York, USA[40]
- 1999: Liverpool Biennal, Great Britain
- 1997: documenta x, Kassel, Germany[41]
- 1997: P, S. 1 Reopening, MoMA PS1, New York, USA
Alva Noto solo studio albums
Alva Noto as Aleph-1 solo studio album
Alva Noto extended plays (EP)
Alva Noto as noto solo studio albums
- spin — 1996 (Noton)
- infinity — 1997 (Noton)
- infinity (endless loop edition) — 1997 (Noton)
- kerne — 1998 (Noton)
- polyfoto — 1998 (Noton)
- time..dot — 1999 (Noton)
- empty garden, inside out '— 1999 (Noton)
- telefunken — 2000 (Noton)
- endless loop (e, f, g, h) — 2002 (Noton)
- autorec — 2002 (Noton)
- sonar endless edition — 2003 (Noton)
Compilation albums
- For— 2006 (Line)
- For 2— 2010 (Line)
Collaborations
- With Ryuichi Sakamoto, as alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto
- Vrioon — December 2002 (Raster-Noton)
- Insen — March 2005 (Raster-Noton)
- Revep — March 2006 (Raster-Noton)
- Insen Live — October 2006 (Raster-Noton). DVD release
- utp_ — September 2008 (Raster-Noton)
- Summvs — May 2011 (Raster-Noton)
- Live 2002 (with Mika Vainio) — 19 January 2018 (Noton)
- "Glass" — February 2018 (Noton)
- Two (Live At Sydney Opera House) — November 2019 (Noton)
- With Ryoji Ikeda, as "Cyclo."
- Cyclo. — 2001 (Raster-Noton)
- Cyclo.id — 2011 (Raster-Noton)
- Cyclo. — 2017 (Noton)
- Cyclo.id — 2017 (Noton)
- With Mika Vainio, as "noto"
- Ø + noto - mikro makro - 1997 (Noton)
- Ø + noto - wohltemperiert - 2001 (Noton)
- With Scanner (Robin Rimbaud)
- With Blixa Bargeld, as ANBB
- Ret Marut Handshake — 2010 (Raster-Noton)
- Mimikry — 2010 (Raster-Noton)
- With Opiate (Thomas Knak), as Opto
- Opto Files — 2001 (Raster-Noton). Limited CD release. Number 6 in the raster.static series. CD Comes in a silver anti-static bag with green card insert.
- Opto: 2nd — June 2004 (Hobby Industries). The CD contains ten tracks, all titled with times of the day. The collaboration was created in a 48-hour period and was inspired by the restored recording from a cassette found in a forest in Eastern Germany.
- With Zeitkratzer
- Zeitkratzer & Carsten Nicolai: Electronics — 2008 (Zeitkratzer Records)
- With Anne-James Chaton and Andy Moor
- Anne-James Chaton With Alva Noto And Andy Moor - Décade (CD, Album, Ltd, Boo), Raster-Noton, R-N 135, 2012
- With Anne-James Chaton as Alphabet
- Alva Noto & Anne-James Chaton - ALPHABET (CD, Digital Album), Noton, 2019
- With Olaf Bender (Byetone), as Diamond Version
- EP1 — 2012 (Mute)
- EP2 — 2012 (Mute)
- EP3 — 2013 (Mute)
- EP4 — 2013 (Mute)
- EP5 — 2013 (Mute)
- CI — 2 / 3 June 2014 (Mute)
- With Iggy Pop and Tarwater
- Leaves of Grass — February 2016 (Morr Music). A seven-track EP on which Iggy Pop performs the poetry of Walt Whitman to music composed by Alva Noto and Tarwater.
Compilation appearances (exclusive/non-albums tracks)
- "Monophaser 4" from "V.a. – :2" (2008)
- "Garment" from "Sound Canvas | 1" (2008)
- "Planet Rock" from "Recovery" (2008)
- "Stalker" from "In Memoriam Andrey Tarkovsky" (2008)
- "Haloid Xerrox Copy 3 (Paris)" from "Mind The Gap Volume 70" (2007)
- "06.1 Quanta Random" from "Tribute to Iannis Xenakis" (2007)
- "Sonolumi (For Camera Lucida)" from "Camera Lucida" (2007)
- "Odradek (Music to Play in the Dark)" from "It Just Is In Memoriam Jhonn Balance" (2005)
- "Re10" from "Landscape 2" (2005)
- "Post-Remo" from "Richard Chartier + Various – Re'Post'Postfabricated" (2005)
- "Party Plasibenpuis (for Rune Lindblad)" from "The Hidden City: Sound Portraits from Goteborg" (2004)
- "Time...Dot (3)" from "An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music Third A-Chronology 1952-2004" (2004)
- "m6re" from "SoundxVision 2004" (2004)
- "Obi 2 Min." from "Frecuencies [Hz]" (2003)
- "60 sec" from "Soundcultures" (2003)
- "Strategies Against War 1.0—Covering All Information with White Noise" from "60 Sound Artists Protest the War" (2003) as Carsten Nicolai
- "MM", "Time Dot" from "Raster-Noton. Archiv 1" (2003) as Noto
- "Obi_2.3" from "Electrograph 02 – Athens Sound Media Festival 02" (2002)
- "Menschmaschine" from "Klangmaschine_Soundmachine" (2002)
- "Crystal R" from "Various – Live Sets At Ego 1998-2000" (2002) as Noto
- "M 06 Short" from "Electric Ladyland Clickhop Version 1.0" (2001)
- "Neue Stadt (Skizze 8)" from "Clicks & Cuts, Vol. 2" (2001)
- "Modul 4", "Impulse" from "Raster-Noton.(O)acis Box" (2001) as Noto
- "Neue Stadt Skizze 1" from "Between Two Points" (2001) as Noto
- "Sound Mobile" from "Ringtones" (2001)
- "Prototyp P" from "Raster-Noton. Oacis" (2000)
- "Prototype n." from "Clicks & Cuts" (2000)
- "Crystal s 10 60 sec." from "Computer Music Journal Sound Anthology, vol. 24" (2000) as Noto
- "Crystal.s2" from "Microscopic Sound" (1999) as Noto
- "∞ [Radio Teeth Edit]" from "Various – Because Tomorrow Comes #2" (1999) as Carsten Nicolai
- "Polyfoto 1a-1" from "Modulation & Transformation 4" (1999) as Noto
- "Zeit T3" from "Effe 1999" (1999)
- "POL .Motor", ".Test", ".Versuch", ".Anordnung", ".Variation", ".Modell" from "Just About Now" (1998) as Carsten Nicolai
- "Chemnitz" from "Decay" (1997) as Noto
Remixes
- Björk – Innocence (Alva Noto Unitxt Remodel 12" Remix)
- Björk – Dark Matter (Alva Noto Remodel)
- Byetone – Plastic Star (Alva Noto Remix)
- Greie Gut Fraktion – Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt (Alva Noto Remodel)
- Hauschka – Radar (Alva Noto Remodel)
- John Cale – Catastrofuk (Alva Noto Remodel)
- Kangding Ray – Pruitt Igoe (Rise) (Alva Noto Remodel)
- Ludovico Einaudi – Divenire (Alva Noto Remodel)
- Machinefabriek – Stofstuk (Alva Noto Remix)
- Modwheelmood – Things Will Change (Remodeled by Alva Noto)
- Opiate – 100301 (Re-Model by Alva Noto)
- Pantha Du Prince – Frau Im Mond, Sterne Laufen (Alva Noto Remodel)
- Pomassl – Sol (Alva Noto Rmx)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto – Insensatez (Re-model by Alva Noto)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto – Undercooled (Alva Noto Remodel)
- Sōtaisei Riron + Keiichirō Shibuya – Our Music (Remodel Light)[42]
- Spyweirdos – Wiesbaden (Already Happened Tomorrow) (Schwarzer Bock Mix)
Installations, etc.
- Audio installation in the Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples, Italy, December, 2009
- Opening performance for "010101: Art in Technological Times" at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) on 3 March 2001
- Lovebytes Digital Festival, Sheffield, England, 2003
- Sónar Music Festival, 2004 and 2009
- Netmage, Bologna, Italy, 2006
- BBmix Festival, 31 October 2008
- Club Transmediale, Berlin, Germany, 2009, 2008 and 2000
- Pace Gallery, New York, 2010[43]
Sollihøgda, Åsmund (18 November 2019). "Carsten Nicolai". Copenhagen Contemporary. Retrieved 26 June 2023. "Carsten Nicolai". SAK Sächsische Akademie der Künste (in German). Retrieved 3 November 2020.
