Bean$ Collective

 Bean$ (pronounced “Beans”)  is a collective for electroacoustic improvisation based in Salzburg, Austria that started in November 2023 as an artistic project aimed at conjoining different types of sound synthesis and generation with the practice of performance and improvisation. 

The collective is made out of three members, each specialising in their own field of sound art: 

Tibor Victor Hugo Kovacs (on the right) is a german composer and sound artist, specialised in the fields of multimedia art and analog synthesis. In the collective he improvises on a largely self-assembled modular synthesiser. 

Samuele Giulio Ferrari (in the middle) is an italian composer. His main fields are instrumental composition and live electronics. In Bean$, he improvises on a 6-string and an 8-string electric guitar, with a focus on the usage of live-electronics and various FX pedals.

Nicolas Speda (on the left) is a german composer and sound artist. His main focus is on digital sound synthesis, live-coding and algorithmic composition. In this ensemble, he mainly uses SuperCollider, a powerful code-based software for various practices of sound synthesis and live-electronics in which he organises patches in a manner that allows him to access this program like an instrument.

Together, they unite three different worlds of music, connected by improvisation and live performance: the analog, the digital and the instrumental. The interdisciplinary blend is the focus point: in a world where the digital realm seems so disconnected from the physical, Bean$ seeks a collaboration between these realms, exploring their seemingly endless possibilities.

Bean$ also aims to challenge the traditional concert setting: open-space concepts, where the audience can enter the room, leave, move around, meditate, lay down and interact with the music as they please. Here the concept of live performance and sound installation meet.