BIO
In 2012 Jascha Dormann (*1986, Basel) graduated from Electronic Studio Basel (part of the University of Music Basel, Switzerland) earning his master's degree in Audio Design.
During his studies at Electronic Studio Basel Jascha Dormann delved into the composition and performance of experimental electronic music and played various concerts e.g. as a part of the Nachtstrom concert series at Gare du Nord Basel.
Together with Simon Hauswirth he founded the duo laFayette with which he released two albums on vinyl and played various concerts all over Switzerland. In collaboration with Ralph Tharayil he initiated the art project Ghostly Parachute, whose album was exclusively sent out per post to 50 recipients with the invitation to pass it on to one more person of their choosing.
In Jascha Dormann's work in the field of spatial audio, he creates and composes sound for specific spaces, turning them into auditive environments. Deliberately incorporating their acoustic characteristics, Jascha Dormann treats spaces as musical instruments, which he excites by means of sonic events. In this manner, sound sculptures are created that can be explored in three-dimensional space. The relation between sound and space is sometimes symbiotic and subversive, sometimes contrasting or even invasive.
Jascha Dormann's work in this field reaches from binaural audio walks e.g. for the exhibition Was Werden Wird at Museum der Kulturen Basel to complex multichannel compositions played back on expansive sound systems e.g. for the Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang close to Seoul. Their common thread is the inseparability of sound and space. Without space there is no sound and conversely sound can create and define space and spatiality, whose depth and materiality can be can be grasped by auditive perception alone.
While he was still studying, Jascha Dormann started working as a Sound Designer for Film Sound Studio Digiton GmbH based in Zürich, Switzerland. He has contributed to the soundtrack of films of various genres since then. In his work in film Jascha Dormann creates atmospheres made of noise and turns them into emotional auditive settings, which the viewer perceives as "real" and is subconsciously guided by. An example for this is the sound design he created (together with Tobias Koch) for the experimental film Wintergast by Matthias Günter and Andy Herzog. The film thrives in the gray area between documentary and feature film. In their sound design Dormann and Koch open a field of experimentation between realism and hyperrealism in which incidental ambient noise such as the hum of a ventilation system for example are being stylized and turned into the main design medium.
Jascha Dormann's work has been honored with several awards such as the International Sound Award, the Grand Prix Nova and the Award of the Berliner Hörspielfestival.
When he’s not somewhere on the road, Jascha Dormann works and lives in Basel and Berlin.