spiritczualic enhancement center
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︎ Ventral Is Golden}

“...an infinite sphere, the center of which is everywhere, the circumference nowhere.”
- Hermes Trismegistus

Spiritczualic Enhancement Center is a nexus of musicians, travellers and artists who explore alchemical realms of meditation and sonic ritualism. Their audio/visual performances bring to life the energetic potential of art and music through a diverse range of ancient influences and experimental rhythms.

Founded in a magical Ottoman building adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem in 2017, the Spiritczualic Enhancement Center has quickly become a contemporary, ‘outer-nationalʼ project of musicians, who’s constantly evolving practices explore the effects of inducing altered states through sound and frequency.

Borrowing from the ancient customs of utilising music, vibration, frequency and art to narrate the various dimensions of mythic thought, their performances become a symbolic meeting place, where syncretic imagery is expressed through both experimental and traditional instruments.
Their diverse outlook and peripatetic approach to performing has recently grown to include live drawing projections from their inhouse artist Dima Rabik.

The collective recently undertook their second major residency at Studio Citygate (the largest developmental cultural hub of Brussels) in a 20,000m2 hall that was transformed into an echo-temple of organic sound recordings, subtly lit glass shadow projections, a communal flower mandala workshop, and large scale collage paste-ups.

“their performances become a symbolic meeting place, where syncretic imagery is expressed through both experimental and traditional instruments.”

Spiritczualic’s tapestry of musical influences are woven into their educational backgrounds and experimental aproaches to using DIY technologies in conjunction with traditional techniques. Some of their recurring collaborators have studied under masters of Andalusian Qanun music, undertaken Grammy award nominated ethno-music research into pre-civil war Somalia, as well as established a longstanding, noncommercial, underground venue of Berlin’s left-field, electronic music scene.

Spiritczualic’s debut cassette Who Corrupted Our Wave, Back in 1969?, released on Berlin's Kinship, was selected by the Attic among its favorite albums of 2018. Two more live-recorded albums are expected this summer: ‘Transporting Salt’ - a cassette release on Crash Symbols; ‘Me and My Students Have Reached Higher Levels’ - a vinyl realease on Parisian label, Akuphone.

Further Reading ︎

Spiritczualic Enhancement Center, Facebook page
Spiritczualic Enhancement Center, Website

List of the recurring members and musical collaborators:

Nicolas Sheikholeslami - a 2018 Grammy Nominee, in the category of “Best Historic Album”, for his breakthrough research in Somali music from before the Civil war, which continues to gain acclaim (e.g in a monumental concert at Haus Kulturen Der Welt, several weeks ago). An archivist and music collector, DJ and musician, performing throughout the continent for a decade with various projects.

Omri Shmulewitz - graduate of prestigious excellence programs and a hi-tech intelligence unit, a pianist turned synthesizer-aficionado, singer and composer, as well as interdisciplinary entrepreneur with activities ranging from installations to social-tech projects.

Elad "Æladin" Kalai - Sculptor, carpenter and multidisciplinary designer. Ranging from landscaping to stage and festival design and construction. Releasing his solo album this summer.

Carl J Hoffmann - interdisciplinary creator from Hamburg, member of an impressive artist collective and chief of a professional recording studio. Besides production and editing, playing bass and Russian synth, he creates audiovisual solutions for theatre and is a non-standard “problem-solver” for a spectrum of related creators.

Alexander “Sasha Lee” Liakomovich - Bezalel graduate in the Visual Communications department, a versatile creator on the cusp between art and technology, produces experimental music based on instruments and electronic circuits his self-built designs.

Alexander Paul Jovanovich - owner of an independent recording and concert space in Berlin, producer with a vast history of collaborations with prominent artists and recording studios, collector of analogue instruments and equipment, inventor of DIY sound-computer interfaces.

Yael Lavie - DJ and radio broadcaster, Qanun student from the master of Andalusian music Nino Biton, studied Oriental music in the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, played for two years in the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra and currently composing music for art performances.

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