ABOUT

TU M’ - Italian multimedia duo formed by Rossano Polidoro and Emiliano Romanelli in 1998. Their works include music, video and photography. They live and work in Città Sant’Angelo (Pescara, Italy). Through a personal use of digital and analog instruments, the TU M' reveal a complex universe made up of present and past, closeness and distance, where seeing and listening become a meditative contemplation.

During the years, their compositions, well received by the critics and the public, have been released for labels including: Line (USA), Headz (Japan), Dekorder (Germany), Fällt (UK), Cut (Swiss), ERS/Staalplaat (NL) and Phthalo (USA). Together with various participations on Bip-Hop (France), Crónica (Portugal), Mute (UK), FatCat (UK), Innova (USA), Bottrop Boy (Germany), Term. (USA), Ache (Canada), CubicFabric (Japan) and others.

They have worked in various fields together with numerous musicians and artists including: Steve Roden, Simon Fisher Turner, Frank Metzger, Annja Krautgasser, Dan Warburton and others.

Their audio-visual works have been presented and exhibited in various museums and galleries including: Castello di Rivoli (Torino, Italy), Arnolfini Gallery (Bristol, UK), Macro (Roma, Italy), Stuk Art Centre (Brussels, Belgium), Kunst Meran (Merano, Italy), Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci (Prato, Italy), Università degli Studi di Napoli (Napoli, Italy), Warehouse Contemporary Art (Teramo, Italy), Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea (Monfalcone, Italy), Civica Galleria D’Arte Moderna di Gallarate (Varese, Italy), Palazzo Lucarini Contemporary (Trevi, Italy), Zelle Arte Contemporanea (Palermo, Italy), New Chinatown Barbershop Gallery (Los Angeles, USA), Pianissimo Gallery (Milano, Italy), T293 Gallery (Napoli, Italy), Batofar (Paris, France), Purple Institute (Paris, France), Neon Gallery (Bologna, Italy). And in various festivals including: ArezzoWave Festival (Arezzo, Italy), Dissonanze/Enzimi (Roma, Italy), Napoli Film Festival (Napoli, Italy), Videominuto (Prato, Italy), Sintesi Festival (Napoli, Italy) and others.

In 2002 they set up and manage the net project - TU M'P3 Soundtracks For Images - a research on the possible relationships between music and image in various cultural contexts, where over 180 musicians and composers from every corner of the world were invited to produce an inedited soundtrack to a series of digital postcards made by the TU M' themselves. The archive contains over 200 freely downloadable mp3s.

In 2003 they set up the recording label - MR.MUTT Records - where they document the work of international composers and ensembles which explore contemporaneity via the use of the laptop in various musical contexts.

In 2003 they founded the obscure formation - MMO - Magical Mystery Orchestra; and also the musical ensemble - STENO - together with the German artist and musician Frank Metzger. In it they explore a personal world made up of second-hand music.

Since 2008 they have been working on their project - MONOCHROMES - a collection of modular audio and video compositions for electronic chamber ensemble. Fragile atmospheric colours made of sound, light, space. The first volume of compositions was released by LINE (USA). It was voted among the 15 best releases of 2009 in the area of electronic music by The Wire magazine.

Since 2009 they have been working on their project - TABULATURA - an investigation on the sound of the guitar.

TU M' Biography.pdf
TU M' Portfolio.pdf



QUOTES

"The laptop, in the smart hands of the Italian act Tu m’ can be considered as a true instrument, capable of 'playing' and processing either digital noises or acoustic instruments... A sort of 'emotional process'. This is something that happens in a magical way in the artistic and musical production of Tu m’ (I refer to both music and videos): they are not only among the most promising sound artists of the Italian scene but they’re even great at giving 'a face' to their music." (NY Arts Magazine)

"Ambient music with the big A of course. If Brian Eno has artistic children then their names are Tu m'." (Vital Weekly)

"A lovely sense of wonder - or even - a wonderful sense of loveliness obtains from absorbing their music, but Tu m' succeed at times in achieving something more challenging than mere loveliness. Their music is also intermittently difficult and challenging." (BBC)

"The music’s textural sensuality and panoramic expansiveness setting it apart from the sterility of most post-Oval glitch output. Sounding entranced by the ghosts, shadows and refractions throw up by their laptops." (The Wire)

“For the Tu m' the atelier is essentially a laptop, a portable computer with which to fly inside internal landscapes; groups of particles of sound detach themselves from the algorithms that make up the sounds of their videos and transform into pixels, in chromatic volumes, visions which corrupt the retina and help us perceive reality in a more careful and multi-sensorial way.” (Arte e Critica)

"Tu m’ parlays it into a rather sober and melancholic travelogue... Exhibiting an especially strong talent for transmuting acoustic sounds using digital tools." (Signal To Noise)

"Tu m' play in their own league. Their detailed sonic cosmos is incredibly unique." (Digitalis Industries)

"The mastery of the two musicians in putting side by side their spectrum's colours is by now a consolidated certainty; just like the evocative capacity of such an aesthetic sound which insinuates in the environment." (Blow Up)

"A delicate style that ties it into a very cohesive and beautiful experience." (E|I Magazine)

"The evocative capacity of the duo finds a perfect balance between experimentation and evocative appeal." (Around Photography)

"Chamber Music for two laptops." (Unknown)

"The Tu m' as one of the most relevant realities in a universe which is saturated with proposals. Let's not be ashamed of being proud of it!" (All About Jazz)

"Untiring and impeccable Tu m'." (Exibart)



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