Concentric Tethers
Cecyl Ruehlen
Friday May 24, 2024 at 8pm

CECYI RUEHLEN (b. 1984) is an intermedia artist and woodwind player who grew up on the rural high plains of Kansas. Many of his undertakings focus on collaborative efforts, chimeric instruments, and prolonged projects within variable landscapes across the western and southwestern United States. He melts feral actions and archives into a sonic ooze using an array of objects and recording processes. Ruehlen’s abstract approach, becoming ever increasingly interested in cycles of transformation and spatiality, take root as iterative, topographical devotionals.
 
His work has been described as, “Emotive and suggestive, each soundscape gestures toward the impending collapse” (Foxy Digitalis), “Constantly-evolving atmospheres that veer into pulse-quickening noise” (Bandcamp Daily), “Ruehlen’s fascination with topographical disorientation lays the groundwork for quicksilver movements in sudden formation, an inability to recognize–becoming lost in familiar environments” (Tabs Out Podcast). “Ruehlen’s gliding, infinitely malleable musicality, lends a quivering vibrancy to his performances; one that percolates with potent life-igniting propellents, and which lacks a discernible consistency of form” (Thought I Heard A Sound). His projects, “Seek to subvert traditional artistic conventions…incorporating elements of improvisation, indeterminacy and philosophical playfulness to fascinating effect” (Dallas Observer), “Positing it as a natural force unto itself” (The Wire).
 
Ruehlen received a BFA in studio arts from Fort Hays State University in 2007, an MFA in studio arts at the University of Colorado in 2013 and a PhD in Intermedia Art, Writing, and Performance at the University of Colorado in 2019. He teaches sound technology and multimedia art courses for the University Of Arizona's School Of Information. He lives in Tucson Arizona, where he runs Harmonic Ooze Records and participates in several musical groups, including Compersion, Ausect and others.