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Alejandra Cardenas (aka Ale Hop, b. Lima, Peru) is a Berlin-based artist, researcher, and experimental instrumentalist from Peru. She composes electronic and electroacoustic music, by blending strains of noise, pop, avant-garde, ambient and a complex repertoire of extended techniques for electric guitar and real-time sampling devices which she uses as her sound vocabulary to craft a performance of astonishing physical intensity, saturated of layers of distortion and stunning atmospheres.
She obtained her BA in Art History from the National University of San Marcos, Lima, an MA in Sound Studies from Berlin University of the Arts, Germany, and did further postgraduate studies in History and Culture of Science and Technology at the Technical University of Berlin.
Her solo career began when she won the Red Bull Music Academy residency in 2012 and made her first live performance in Boiler Room. Since then she has been featured in specialized music media such as Pitchfork, WIRE, VICE, Noisey, Bandcamp, Tiny Mix Tapes, and presented her work in festivals like MUTEK, CTM Festival, Heroines of Sound and NRMAL, and in concerts and exhibitions in Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, United States, UK, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Turkey in the past years.
When not working on her solo endeavors, she is engaged with creating scores for films, dance and theater projects.
Education
2018-19 – Studies in History and Culture of Science and Technology w/ concentrations in Literary Studies, Technische Universität Berlin
2016-18 – M.A., Sound Studies, Universität der Künste Berlin
2014 – B.A., Art History, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
Coursework in Computer-supported Interaction (Technische Universität Berlin), Four-Week Filmmaking (Met Film School Berlin, granted by DAFO), Deutsch für Wirtschaft und Technik C1 (Zentraleinrichtung Moderne Sprachen).
Studio Albums
2019 – Ale Hop ‘Apophenia’ (LP), Buh Records.
2018 – Ale Hop ‘Bodiless’ (LP), Buh Records.
2015 – Ale Hop ‘PANGEA’ (DVD), Buh Records.
Awards and Grants
2019 – Funding from Musicboard Berlin GmbH, program Festival funding. Platform Radical Sounds Latin America, workshops, panels, concerts and archives for forward-thinking Latin American Music and musicians whose practice is informed by migration and the lived Eurocentric experience. Directed by Alejandra Cárdenas and Talia Vega.
2018 – Grant for film training coursework at Met Film School Berlin. DAFO – Dirección del Audiovisual, la Fonografía y los Nuevos Medios.
2017 – Nominated for “Best Album of the Year”, Premios Luces, El Comercio
2015 – Nominated for “Best Experimental Album of the Year”, Premios Luces, El Comercio
2014 – Nominated for “Best Album of the Year”, Premios Luces, El Comercio
2013 – Red Bull Music Academy New York.
2013 – Nominated for “Best Album of the Year”, Premios Luces, El Comercio.
2010 – Award For “Best Album of the Year”, Premios Luces, El Comercio.
Conference Presentations
Cárdenas, A. (2019). Research Networking Day, Exchange platform for students and researchers. Lecture Data-soundscapes: Action-based sound and cognitive capitalism. Berlin: CTM Festival.
[Audio] https://soundcloud.com/ctm-festival/ctm2019-research-networking-day-module-ii?in=ctm-festival/sets/ctm-2019-research-networking-day”>https://soundcloud.com/ctm-festival/ctm2019-research-networking-day-module-ii?in=ctm-festival/sets/ctm-2019-research-networking-day
Cárdenas, A. (2018). Lecture Musical experimentation with extended techniques and modified instruments. Lima: Terrazas Magnéticas Festival, Centro Cultural de España.
Residencies
2019 – Amplify Residency, a platform for dialogue on access, inclusion and gender equality for artists and curators working in the digital arts. Somerset House Studios, British Council, MUTEK, London.
2019 – Music Makers Hacklab Laboratory, CTM Festival, Berlin.
2013 – Music residence Red Bull Music Academy, New York.
Selected Exhibitions
2018 – Masterausstellung Sound Studies-The Sound Databook, Petersburg Art Space, Berlin.
2018 – The Sound Databook, Petersburg Art Space, Berlin.
2017 – dis-play-ment, 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin
2017 – Land(e)scape, Designtransfer UdK, Berlin
2017 – Land(e)scape, HBKsaar Galerie, Saarbrücken
2015 – ArtFutura, MALBA, Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires
2015 – The Wrong – New Digital Art Biennale http:// thewrong.org
2014 – Proyecto Helga, MAC-Lima, Museum of Contemporary Art in Lima
Film Scores/Original Music
2016 – ‘Videofilia – Y Otros Síndromes Virales’ (film). Directed by Juan Daniel F. Molero.
2015 – ‘Cúmulo’ (short film). Directed by Hector Delgado.
2013 – ‘Pública’ (short film). Directed by Ricardo Ayala, produced by Masmedula films.
2010 – ‘El niño de Cusco’ (documentary). Directed by Ricardo Ayala, produced by Masmedula films.
2009 – ‘Resta el vacío’ (short film). Directed by Ricardo Ayala, produced by Masmedula films.
Scores for Internet campaigns
2014 – ‘Déjala Decidir’. Main score production for a campaign that promotes the decriminalization of abortion.
2014 – ‘Libres e Iguales’. Promoted by United Nations to defend LGBT rights in Perú.
2013 – ‘Déjala Decidir’. Main score production for a campaign that promotes the decriminalization of abortion.
Starred
2018 – ‘Lima Grita’ Directed by Dana Bonilla and Ximena Valdivia.
2013 – ‘What Difference Does It Make? A Film About Making Music ‘. Directed by Ralf Schmerberg.
Computer skills
Programming: HTML, CSS and basic C++, and PHP
Design: Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign
Video: Premiere, Vegas, Final Cut, ZBrush, Unity
Sound: Ableton Live, Logic, Max/MSP, Max for Live
Languages
Spanish (Native); English (Fluent); German (C1)
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