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Carsten Nicolai

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Carsten Nicolai
Carsten Nicolai performing as Alva Noto at the Berlin Philharmonie, 2026
Carsten Nicolai performing as Alva Noto at the Berlin Philharmonie, 2026
Background information
Also known asAlva Noto
Born (1965-09-18) 18 September 1965 (age 60)
Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz), former GDR
Genreselectronic music · glitch · microsound · minimal techno · ambient
LabelNOTON
Websitewww.carstennicolai.de

Carsten Nicolai (born 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.

Life and career

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Carsten Nicolai was born in 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz) in Saxony in the former GDR. He studied landscape architecture at the Technical University of Dresden and graduated with a diploma in 1990.[1]

While still a student, Nicolai began exhibiting as a self-taught visual artist in informal, artist-run contexts, at a time when private galleries were effectively not permitted in the GDR.[2] These early presentations laid the groundwork for his first connection with Galerie Eigen + Art, which would later become one of his longstanding gallery relationships.[3]

In the immediate post reunification years, Nicolai also became an active cultural organiser. Together with other cultural practitioners, he co-founded and for many years ran the Chemnitz art and culture centre VOXXX on the Kaßberg, widely regarded as one of the city's earliest independent cultural initiatives of the period.[4]

In 1994, Nicolai founded the label noton.archiv für ton und nichtton, later known as NOTON. In 1999, NOTON merged with the Chemnitz label RasterMusic under the name Raster-Noton, operating until 2017.[5] Within a few years, the label became internationally recognised and, alongside A Musik and Mille Plateaux, was regarded as a key German platform for experimental electronic music.[6] 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 at Prix Ars Electronica in 2000.[7] In 2017, Raster-Noton was announced to split back into its predecessor labels, and Nicolai has since again released his musical work and collaborations independently via NOTON.[8]

Under the moniker Alva Noto, Nicolai is regarded as one of the best known figures in contemporary electronic music. His musical work reflects aspects of his broader artistic practice, particularly its reductive approach and its engagement with signs, acoustics, and visual structures.[9] Nicolai has performed and created installations at many of the world's most prestigious spaces including the Guggenheim in New York, the SFMOMA in San Francisco, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Modern Art Oxford, the NTT in Tokyo, the Tate Modern in London and the Venice Biennale. His musical projects include collaborations with Ryōji Ikeda, Mika Vainio, Iggy Pop, Blixa Bargeld, Michael Nyman, and Ryūichi Sakamoto. In 2009, Nicolai wrote the opera Sparkie: Cage and Beyond in collaboration with Michael Nyman.[10] In 2015, Nicolai co-scored the music for Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant, together with Ryūichi Sakamoto. The score was nominated for a Golden Globe, BAFTA, Grammy and Critics' Choice Movie Awards.[11] In 2018, he created the sound design for Iñárritu’s groundbreaking VR project "Carne y Arena" (Flesh and Sand).[12] In 2022, he received the German Documentary Film Music Award at DOK.fest Munich.[13]

Parallel to his formative work in experimental electronic music, Carsten Nicolai also established himself internationally as a visual artist. Drawing on scientific reference systems, Nicolai explores mathematical patterns such as grids and codes, error and random structures, as well as the phenomenon of self organization. His work spans visual art, sound, and installations based practices.[14] Following his participation in documenta X (1997) and the 49th and 50th Venice Biennale (2001 and 2003), his works entered private and public collections and were presented in exhibitions at major museums and galleries worldwide. Notable solo exhibitions include Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (anti reflex, 2005), Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin (syn chron, 2005), Berlinische Galerie (tele, 2018), Kunstsammlungen Nordrhein Westfalen (parallax symmetry, 2019), and Haus der Kunst Munich (transmitter / receiver – the machine and the gardener, 2022). In 2007, on the occasion of his solo exhibition at Zurich’s Haus Konstruktiv, he received the Zurich Art Prize, and in the same year he was awarded a fellowship at the Villa Massimo in Rome.[15] In 2013, Nicolai participated as a visual artist in Biennale Documenta, an official collateral show of the 55th Venice Biennale.[16]

Nicolai has held a professorship in art with a focus on digital and time-based media at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts since 2015.[17] He lives and works in Berlin.

Solo exhibitions (selection)

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Group exhibitions (selection)

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Discography

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Alva Noto solo studio albums

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Alva Noto as Aleph-1 solo studio album

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Alva Noto extended plays (EP)

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Alva Noto as noto solo studio albums

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  • 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

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  • For— 2006 (Line)
  • For 2— 2010 (Line)

Soundtrack albums

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Collaborations

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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)

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  • "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 No. 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

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  • 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)[52]
  • Spyweirdos – Wiesbaden (Already Happened Tomorrow) (Schwarzer Bock Mix)

Installations, etc.

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Accolades

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Source:[54]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "carsten nicolai". www.carstennicolai.de. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  2. ^ "Künstler Carsten Nicolai: "Diese Freiheit wird nie wieder zurückkehren"". www.monopol-magazin.de (in German). Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  3. ^ "eigen+art - Biografie". eigen-art.com (in German). Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  4. ^ "Künstler Carsten Nicolai: "Diese Freiheit wird nie wieder zurückkehren"". www.monopol-magazin.de (in German). Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  5. ^ "carsten nicolai". www.carstennicolai.de. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  6. ^ "Raster-Noton: Archive for sound and non-sound · Feature ⟋ RA". Resident Advisor (in German). Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  7. ^ "Digital Musics and Sound Art Golden Nica 2000". Ars Electronica Archive. Ars Electronica. 2000. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Raster-Noton company to split in two". The Wire. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  9. ^ "carsten nicolai". www.carstennicolai.de. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
  10. ^ "Linguistic budgie inspires opera". BBC News. 25 March 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  11. ^ "The Revenant - Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  12. ^ Adriano D'Aloia (12 September 2016). "Virtually Present, Physically Invisible: Virtual reality immersion and emersion in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Carne y Arena". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  13. ^ Wiese, Marc (10 October 2022), This Stolen Country of Mine, Paúl Jarrín Mosquera, Fernando Villavicencio, Rafael Correa, Dreamer Joint Venture Filmproduction, retrieved 24 February 2026
  14. ^ "carsten nicolai". www.carstennicolai.de. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
  15. ^ "carsten nicolai". www.carstennicolai.de. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  16. ^ "NOISE: an exhibition organized by De Arte Association, curated by Marisa Vescovo". Archived from the original on 13 June 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  17. ^ Internetagentur, Deutscher Tele Markt GmbH-. "Prof". Hochschule für Bildende Künste (in German). Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  18. ^ "eigen+art - Carsten Nicolai + Albert Oehlen Kopie". eigen-art.com (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  19. ^ "Carsten Nicolai. transmitter / receiver – the machine and the gardener". Haus der Kunst (in German). 3 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  20. ^ "Kunstsammlung NRW: Carsten Nicolai". 16 October 2019. Archived from the original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  21. ^ "eigen+art - Carsten Nicolai formula". eigen-art.com (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  22. ^ "IBA Thüringen". iba-thueringen.de (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  23. ^ Sollihøgda, Åsmund (18 November 2019). "Carsten Nicolai". Copenhagen Contemporary. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  24. ^ "eigen+art - Carsten Nicolai". eigen-art.com (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  25. ^ Spice, Anton (2 June 2015). "Carsten Nicolai & The Vinyl Factory present unicolor - an immersive installation at Brewer Street Car Park (24 June - 2 August)". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  26. ^ "Carsten Nicolai: Ur-Geräusch - Kunstverein Braunschweig". kunstvereinbraunschweig.de. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  27. ^ "Stuttgart: Sound in Motion". www.kunstforum.de (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  28. ^ "Carsten Nicolai". Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  29. ^ "Carsten Nicolai to light up Hong Kong's skyline with new audio-visual installation - Announcements - e-flux". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  30. ^ Hierholzer, Michael; Frankfurt (26 January 2013). "Carsten Nicolai im Museum für Moderne Kunst: Wie das Gehirn die Wirklichkeit schafft". FAZ.NET (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  31. ^ "Carsten Nicolai at the MAC". MAC Montréal. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  32. ^ "Carsten Nicolai | Pace Gallery". www.pacegallery.com. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  33. ^ "Carsten Nicolai: rota – Schering Stiftung" (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  34. ^ "Carsten Nicolai | Hamburger Kunsthalle". www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  35. ^ "eigen+art - Berlin_CN_2008". eigen-art.com (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  36. ^ "A New Digital Art Initiative Brought Composer Antonín Dvořák Back to Life in the Middle of Prague". www.culturedmag.com. 19 September 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  37. ^ "Glitch. Die Kunst der Störung | DIE PINAKOTHEKEN". www.pinakothek.de. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  38. ^ Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu. "Broken Music Vol. 2". www.smb.museum (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  39. ^ "Ulsan Art Museum (English) > Exhibitions > Exhibitions | 상세보기". www.ulsan.go.kr. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  40. ^ "Homosphäre - Kunsthalle Mainz". www.kunsthalle-mainz.de. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  41. ^ "Ti Zero | Palazzo delle Esposizioni". www.palazzoesposizioni.it. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  42. ^ "Orchestral Manoeuvres: See Sound. Feel Sound. Be Sound - Announcements - e-flux". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  43. ^ "Sound and Silence". Kunstmuseum Bonn (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  44. ^ Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kunstsammlung. "Technology Transformation. Fotografie und Video in der Kunstsammlung". Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  45. ^ Redaktion, Veröffentlicht von ARTinWORDS de (13 July 2020). "Bundeskunsthalle Bonn: Ausstellungen 2020 | ARTinWORDS". Kunst, Künstler, Ausstellungen, Kunstgeschichte auf ARTinWORDS (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  46. ^ "Sweet Harmony - Exhibition - Saatchi Gallery". www.saatchigallery.com. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  47. ^ "Doppelleben". www.mumok.at (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  48. ^ "Soundings: A Contemporary Score | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  49. ^ "Vom Klang der Kunst. TONSPUR_expanded". MuseumsQuartier Wien (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  50. ^ "Volume: Bed of Sound | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  51. ^ "Künstlerliste der Ausstellung. documenta 10, 1997". universes.art (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  52. ^ 相対性理論+渋谷慶一郎コラボ曲の高音質音源を先行配信. natalie.mu (in Japanese). 1 December 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  53. ^ alva noto: unitxt Archived 15 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  54. ^ "Carsten Nicolai". SAK Sächsische Akademie der Künste (in German). Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  55. ^ Zeitz, Lisa. "Ausstellungen im Haus Konstruktiv: Die Spuren der Schnecken". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
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