Shane Aspegren is largely known for his practices related to music and sound, which often play an integral part in his installations, images, videos, objects, and performances. Through a cross-discipline and non-dualistic perspective, his projects often assume a relational POV, while juxtaposing improvisational languages within carefully crafted frameworks. He often prefers interactive methods of creation, as well as the practical application of those methods (such as his ongoing work with meditative practices and the effects of sound on the mind and physical matter of various beings.) In addition to his solo artworks, his collaborations include a partnership with Adrian Wong between 2013-17, which resulted in an eclectic series of material pieces, interventions, videos, and performances.
As composer, writer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist (drums/percussion/electronics/synths/voice/etc), Aspegren has released dozens of studio albums and performed hundreds of concerts internationally, ranging from DIY venues to many of the worlds major music festivals, as well as prestigious venues such as the Whitney Museum and the Venice Biennale. After moving to Paris, in 2001 he and Lori Sean Berg (currently of Zombie Zombie) formed the experimental electronic duo The Berg Sans Nipple (and it’s later offshoot Ça Va Chéri), going on to release three full length records and several EPs to international acclaim and numerous world tours. In 2014, after moving to Hong Kong, he co-founded the group Blood Wine or Honey, releasing the 2018 album Fear & Celebration to critical praise, before Aspegren left the project in 2019.
He has also notably performed as a musician (mostly as a drummer/percussionist) on recordings and/or world tours with Bright Eyes, Songs:Ohia, Lullaby for the Working Class, François Breut, Don Nino, Woodkid and others. He has or has had ongoing improvised projects or one-off musical collaborations with a wide range of artists including dj sniff, Arto Lindsay, Todd Fink, Preservation, Mike Ladd, Jerome Lorichon, Quintin Rollet, Nicolas Laureau, Dominique A., Antilles, Kung Chi Shung, F.Lor, Ikue Mori, Ken Ueno, Nerve, Simeon Coxe (Silver Apples) and many others.
Aspegren also continues to work as a composer and performer for movement and theatre, as well as for film scores, soundtracks and commercial projects. His credits include scores for feature-length projects with ARTE France, as well as numerous soundtrack appearances that include Mike Myers “Supermensch” and the PBS documentary “BAM 150.” His client list for commercial scoring includes projects with Vogue, Maison Martin Margiela, Vivienne Westwood, Hennessy, On Pedder, Giuseppe Zanotti, Petit Bateau, and many others. He has additionally worked in roles of collaborator, composer, or performer for exhibitions and performances with Tarek Atoui, Samson Young, Manuel Pelmus, Ivanhoe Lam, Steven Reker, Huang Rui, Cody Hudson, Ellen Pau, Nadim Abbas, and others.
Aspegren received a degree in Film Studies from University of Nebraska. His work has been commissioned, collected, and performed internationally, including at Palazzo Reale, Milan; Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong; Spring Workshop, Hong Kong; WKCD, Hong Kong; Para Site, Hong Kong; K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong; Frank Yang Foundation, Shenzhen; Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Holy Motors, Hong Kong; Anthology Film Archives, New York; Rossi & Rossi, Hong Kong; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai; and elsewhere.
Aspegren is the founder of ONDO, a platform for his holistic sound practice. He currently lives in Los Angeles.
SELECTED CV
2024 emblems of transmuting heat / full-length album TBA (composer/musician)
Resonant Harbour / recording TBA (composer/musician)
2023 Describing The Thing / EP (composer/writer/musician)
Resonant Harbour: a speculative water tour (installation/performance)
The Statistics of Fortune: Macao International Art Biennial (group exhibition)
One Can Never Enter The Same Body Twice (two channel video, four channel sound)
Ventriloquists’ Stone (Nadim Abbas), Oi!, Hong Kong (performance/recorded composition)
Bodies of Sound, The Aster, Los Angeles (composition/performance)
2022 form constant (i), Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (installation/performance)
The Shape of Light (Ellen Pau), M+ Museum, Hong Kong (composition/performance)
Scaring The Mice For Revenge, (with N. Laureau, J. Lorichon, Q. Rollet) (improvisor/musician)
Re-launch of ONDO Los Angeles (holistic sound)
2021 Imaginal Pathways, iOS and Android App (lead artist)
Breathe Deep, Tomorrow Maybe, Eaton, Hong Kong (group exhibition)
Aora Space, Online Exhibition (sound creation)
Report ii: the illegal-i, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong (composer/performer)
Interconnectivity, Hong Kong (soundtrack/sound design)
These Associations (Tino Sehgal), Tai Kwun, Hong Kong (performer)
2020 Daily Frequencies, Online Project (composer/performer)
Household Gods, Hart Hall, Hong Kong (group exhibition)
Cultural Masseur, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong (performance/artist talk)
West Kowloon Cultural District Freespace, Hong Kong (holistic sound program)
ONDO (online & physical sessions), various locat., Hong Kong (holistic sound)
2019 Report i- Which I am I, Tai Kwun (score/live performance)
Gala (Jérôme Bel), Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong (live performance)
Outcoming Ingoing #1, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (installation/performance)
Spectra w/ Ikue Mori & guests, Creative Media Colloquium, Hong Kong (live performance)
The Ground (Tarek Atoui), Biennale Arte 2019, Venice, Italy (sound contributor/performances)
Path Through Infinite Body (i—vi), Shane Aspegren & Jérôme Lorichon (composer/writer/musician)
Tomorrow, Blood Wine or Honey (composer/writer/musician)
Coming In Going Out Coming Out Going In, Suitcase Institute, Var. Locations (installation)
Intersection In Mid-Air, LSK School of Creativity, Hong Kong (live performance)
2018 ke1 le1 fe1/Carefree, Jockey Club New Arts Power, Hong Kong (live dance score)
Possible Music #1 w/ Samson Young, Guggenheim Museum, NYC, USA (co-composer/performer)
Exhibition on the Table: Third Eye Kaleidoscope, Shanghai, PRC (installation)
Conversations, Wing Platform, Hong Kong (artist residency/performances)
Movements at an Exhibition w/ Manuel Pelmuș, Para Site, Hong Kong (performance score/co-composition)
Shane Aspegren & dj sniff (various live performances)
Fear & Celebration, Blood Wine or Honey (composer/writer/musician)
Songs of Portrait, multi-media opera, City Hall, Hong Kong (live performances)
Blood Wine or Honey (live performances)
2017 The Ground w/Tarek Atoui, Mirrored Gardens, Guangzhou, PRC (artist residency)
The Garden, K11 Art Foundation/Chi Art Space, Hong Kong (group exhibition)
Loosefoot, Blood Wine or Honey (composer/writer/musician)
Hong Kong Solos, Spring Workshop, Hong Kong (commissioned score/performances)
The Reverse Collection w/ Tarek Atoui, Para Site, Hong Kong (performances)
Ho Visto Un Re, Shanghai, PRC (performance video & installation)
Carnival, Kong Art Space, Hong Kong (photographic collage)
Anxious Party People/The Young Ones, Blood Wine or Honey, (composer/writer/musician)
Blood Wine or Honey (live performances)
Shane Aspegren & dj sniff (various live performances)
2016 Ho Visto Un Re, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy (installation & performance)
Cromniomancy, Rossi & Rossy/Yallay Gallery, Hong Kong (collaborative show w/Adrian Wong)
Ceremonial Nomad, Para Site 20, Hong Kong (commissioned painting)
Third Eye Kaleidoscope #5, Things That Can Happen, Hong Kong (interactive installation)
Third Eye Kaleidoscope #4, Holy Motors, Hong Kong (installation)
Third Eye Kaleidoscope #3, WING, Hong Kong (immersive performance)
Third Eye Kaleidoscope #2, Art Basel VIP Programme, Hong Kong (performance)
Third Eye Kaleidoscope #1, Derrick Industrial, Hong Kong (performance)
The Memory of Proximity, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong (participating musician)
DECADE Ensemble,Kill The Silence, Hong Kong (participating musician)
Shane Aspegren & dj sniff (various live performances)
Pando’s People (various performances)
2015 Tales From The Fragrant Harbour, Hong Kong (director/composer/performer)
The Glorious Phoenix, LTD Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA (installation)
The Glorious Phoenix, Art Basel Post-Vernissage, Hong Kong (performance)
Chai Wan Mei Nights, Chai Wan Mei Festival, Hong Kong (performance programme curator)
Dream Cosmography, Dir. A. Wong (musical score/production)
Peak Helium, Chai Wan Mei, Hong Kong (live musical score/dance performance)
Grand Opening, The Mills, Hong Kong (participating musician)
The Keyboard Songs, Don Nino (contributing musician)
Restored Treasures, HK Film Archive (The Cave of the Silken Web) (live musical score)
Shane Aspegren & dj sniff (various live performances)
Pando’s People, tour EU (live performances)
Shane Aspegren, Jerome Lorichon, Quentin Rollet & Nicolas Laureau (live performances)
2014 Silver Apples, Hong Kong (live performance)
Apocalypse Postponed / Nadim Abbas, Hong Kong (performance programme curator)
Black & White Cats 49, then?, 10 Chancery Lane, Hong Kong (improvised performance)
Free Lounge, Para Site, Hong Kong (curator/performance)
Simeon Coxe (Silver Apples), Apocalypse Postponed, Hong Kong (live performance)
Comma Coma, Hong Kong (various performances)
1984 a cinematic opera, LSK School of Creativity, Hong Kong (contributing musician)
Restored Treasures, HK Film Archive (Red Heroine, Labor's Love) (live scores)
Chin King & Shane Aspegren (various live performances)
Shane Aspegren & Shadow Kim (various live performances)
Someday, Studio HA!, Hong Kong (group exhibition curator)
2013 Paper Rain, Art Basel, Hong Kong (sound installation/performance)
Arto Lindsay & Shane Aspegren (live performance)
Bearded Lady Sideshow, Clockenflap Festival (performance programme curator)
Decade, Hong Kong Film Archive/West Kowloon Cultural District (commissioned live musical score)
Je m'appelle Hmmm…, Dir. Agnès B. (soundtrack)
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, Dir. Mike Myers (soundtrack)
Towheads, Dir. Shannon Plumb (soundtrack)
2012 Île des sables, Ça Va Chéri (composer/writer/musician)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tour Europe (live performances)
BAM150, Dir Michael Sladek (soundtrack)
At The Vanishing Point, Great Plains Theatre Conference (live score/sound design)
La Chirurgie des sentiments ,Francoiz Breut (contributing musician)
Heavy Mood, Tilly and the Wall (contributing musician)
2011 Build With Erosion, The Berg Sans Nipple (composer/writer/musician)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tours Europe/UK (live performances)
Freedoom w/Cody Hudson, Guererro Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA (sound installation)
Monodrome Athens Biennale, Athens, Greece (sound installation)
Woodkid, Tour Europe/UK/North America (live performances)
The People's Key, Bright Eyes (contributing musician)
Cet Homme-Là (Est Un Mille-Feuilles), Dir. Patricia Mortagne (score)
2010 Woodkid, Tour Europe/UK/North America (live performances)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tours Europe/UK/North America (live performances)
LCD Soundsystem, Tours North America/Europe/UK/Asia/Australia (production tech.)
2009 Let's Do Some Living After We Die (Cody Hudson), Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, USA (sound installation)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tours Europe/North America (live performances)
Notes from the Treehouse, Alessi's Ark (contributing musician)
2008 De la mort ou de l’amour, The Berg Sans Nipple (composer/writer/musician)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tours Europe/UK (live performances)
Bright Eyes, Tour Japan (live performances)
The Horse, Alessi’s Ark (contributing musician)
Ersatz, Julien Doré (contributing musician)
Flowers Forever, Flowers Forever (contributing musician)
2007 Along the Quai, The Berg Sans Nipple (composer/writer/musician)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tours Europe/UK/North America (live performances)
Acid Tracks w/Cody Hudson, MCA, Chicago, USA (sound installation)
Cassadaga, Bright Eyes (contributing musician)
2006 A Free/La Voie Lactee,The Berg Sans Nipple (composer/writer/musician)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tours Europe/UK (live performances)
Hero/Heroin w/Cody Hudson, ARCO, Madrid, Spain (sound installation)
Les Tortures Volontaires, Arman Melies (contributing musician)
Mentors Menteurs, Don Nino (contributing musician)
2005 Life If (in four parts), The Berg Sans Nipple (composer/writer/musician)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tours Europe/UK/South America (live performances)
Bright Eyes, Tours North America/Europe/UK (live performances)
Le Detour, Dominique A. (contributing musician)
2004 Play the Immutable Truth, The Berg Sans Nipple (composer/writer/musician)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tours Europe/UK (live performances)
2003 Form Of…, The Berg Sans Nipple (composer/writer/musician)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tours Europe/UK (live performances)
Don Nino, Various Tours Europe/UK (live performances)
2002 Festival. International du Cinéma Méditerranéen, Montpellier, France (video) (participant/screening)
New Filmmakers Series, Anthology Film Archives, NYC, USA (participant/screening)
Music for the short film “Marie-Madeleine,”, The Berg Sans Nipple (composer/writer/musician)
“Marie-Madeleine,”, dir. by Shane Aspegren (short film - director/writer/composer)
The Berg Sans Nipple, Tours Europe (live performances)
Don Nino, Tours Europe/UK (live performances)
2001 Oh Holy Fools, Bright Eyes (contributing musician)
Don’t be frightened of turning the page, Bright Eyes (contributing musician)
2000 Ghost Tropic, Songs:Ohia (contributing musician)
Funk Shui, TV City (composer/writer/musician)
1999 Light and Space Between The Spirals, Club 1427, Lincoln, NE, USA (solo photography show)
Lullaby For The Working Class, Tours North America (live performances)
Song, Lullaby For The Working Class (contributing composer/musician)
1998 Lullaby For The Working Class, Tours North America ` (live performances)
My Hero Halo / Life After Tuesday, Eric The Red (composer/musician)
1997 End of It All, Temporary Gallery, Lincoln, NE, USA (group exhibiton)
I Never Even Asked For Light, Lullaby For The Working Class (contributing composer/musician)
UNL Fine Arts Undergraduate Show, Richards Gallery, Lincoln, NE (group exhibiton)
Plains States Undergraduate Exhibition, Norman R. Eppink Gallery, Emporia, KS (group exhibtion)
UNL Fine Arts Exhibition, Chopin Ballroom, Miami, FL (group exhibition)
Lullaby For The Working Class, Tours North America (live performances)
Bachelor of Arts, Film & Video Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (education)
1996 Lullaby For The Working Class, Tours North America (live performances)
UNL Fine Arts Undergraduate Show, Richards Gallery, Lincoln, NE (group exhibiton)
Blanket Warm, Lullaby For The Working Class (contributing composer/musician)