The Węże Kobro was created as a necessary reaction to the space of Musicalia at the University of Lodz Library. Aleksandra Chciuk (piano), Paweł Sokołowski (saxophones) and Michał Rupniewski (violin) have decided to fill this unique place with the sounds of freely improvised music.
The band is inspired not only by the tradition of Broztmann and Gayle, but also (especially Lodz) avant-garde in the fine arts, minimalism and unism. The band's call is “wildness and abstraction,” though you never know which direction it will go.
Aleksandra Chciuk is a multimedia artist, a composer and an improviser. She graduated from the Lodz Film School (Cinematography Department) and the University of Lodz (Faculty of Geography). In her installations and videos she focuses on the approximation of the phenomenon of the relationship between sound and image in the organicity of phenomena and her performative audiovisual experiments have an immersive and intimate dimension. She also implements site-specific interactive sound objects. She is happy to undertake collective activities. Currently, apart from the Węże Kobro, she co-creates the women's collective Pełnia. In improvisation, the main role is played by the ensemble, which is treated as an organism and the voice of intuition. Sometimes there are motifs characteristic of unism. She plays a prepared piano, small instruments and everyday objects in various constellations and she also sings. She runs the Audiosphere Studio at the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts Łódż.
Paweł Sokołowski is an improviser, a saxophonist, a co-creator of the festival and the initiative Musica Privata in Lodz. For improvised activities on the border between noise music, experiment and concrete music, he uses a modular synthesizer, samples, prepared instruments and objects. He has performed with the following bands: Dźwięk-bud, Widzicie, Octopus Paganini, Fale Theta, Na Ulicah Polskich Miast Nie Ma Już Białych Niedźwiedzi, Węże Kobro and in numerous duos and larger Polish and international ensembles.
Michał Rupniewski is a violinist. he has performed with Suture Navigator, Purga, Dźwięk-bud, Lubieniecki-Rupniewski, Niepokój/Disquiet, Bogusz Rupniewski. He bases his creative strategy mainly on spontaneous responses. He is an academic lecturer by profession. Michał Rupniewski has been associated with the University of Lodz for years, he is a holder of a postdoctoral degree in Legal Sciences.
Musicalia are located on the 3rd floor of the old University of Lodz Library building.
