User:Area e/Erik Carlson

Erik Carlson is a musician, composer and media artist living and working in Providence, Rhode Island. Since 2002 he has been working under the name AREA C, creating experimental electronic and guitar-based compositions and interactive audio and video installations. As AREA C, Carlson has released CDs on labels such as Sedimental, Students of Decay Last Visible Dog, and Trensmat.

In 2009, Carlson was awarded the MacColl-Johnson Fellowship for Music Composition from the Rhode Island Foundation, and a merit award in music composition from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. Also in 2009, Carlson's composition and sound design for Low Rez / Hi Fi, a permanent interactive public art installation in Washington DC (a collaboration with architect Meejin Yoon), was recognized by the CONCOURS INTERNATIONAUX DE BOURGES Musiques Electroacoustiques et Arts Electroniques in the sound installation category. Carlson has received a Contemporary Works award from the LEF Foundation and numerous project grants from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.

Erik Carlson was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1969 and grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. He attended the University of Virginia, where he received a degree in English Literature / Modern Studies. Prior to forming AREA C, he was a founding member of several indie rock bands, including Figure Ground (1988 - 1991), Purple Ivy Shadows (1991 - 2001), and Seeland (2000-2001). He was also an early member, collaborator and songwriter in Death Vessel up through the recording of the first album, Stay Close, in 2005.

Partial discography

 * 2009 - AREA C - The Planetarium Project, double full-length CD (Sedimental, US)
 * 2009 - AREA C - Charmed Birds vs. Sorcery, full-length CD (Students of Decay, US)
 * 2009 - AREA C - Touch Pieces, 3" CD-ep (Students of Decay, US)
 * 2008 - AREA C - Darkens the Mind, cassette (Sloow Tapes, Belgium)
 * 2008 - AREA C - Sea of Rains, full-length CD (handmd, US)
 * 2007 - AREA C - Haunt, full-length CD (Last Visible Dog, US)
 * 2007 - AREA C - Trick with a Knife, 7" single / CD (Trensmat, Ireland)
 * 2006 - AREA C - Traffics + Discoveries, full-length CD (Last Visible Dog, US)
 * 2005 - AREA C - Speed Studies #1, 3" CD-ep (handmd, US)
 * 2005 - Death Vessel - Stay Close, full-length CD (North East Indie, ATP Recordings, Immune Records, Sub Pop)
 * 2005 - AREA C - Haunted Cobblestones #7, full-length CD (Free Matter for the Blind, US)
 * 2004 - AREA C - No Perfect Waves, 3" CD-ep (handmd, US)
 * 2004 - AREA C - Catchment, 3" CD-ep (handmd, US)
 * 2003 - AREA C - 34 / 23, 3" CD-ep (handmd, US)
 * 2001 - Purple Ivy Shadows - Field Guide, full-length CD (Dark Beloved Cloud, US)
 * 2000 - Purple Ivy Shadows - Mexican Party, full-length CD (Handsome, US)
 * 1999 - Purple Ivy Shadows - White Electric, full-length CD (Krave, US)
 * 1998 - Purple Ivy Shadows - No Less the Trees Than the Stars, full-length CD (Slow River / Rykodisc, US)
 * 1998 - Purple Ivy Shadows - Under & OK, CD-ep (Slow River / Rykodisc, US)

Architectural Work
In addition to his audio work Erik Carlson is also an architectural designer, having worked for the award-winning firm SINGLE speed DESIGN from 2001 - 2006. While an associate at SINGLE speed DESIGN, the firm received the first Metropolis Magazine Next Generation Design Award (2004) for their Big Dig Building project. Erik continues to work as a designer in Rhode Island and has won several competitions to design bus shelters for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority. His work also includes historic documentation and preservation. In 2000 he and Erica Carpenter completed an extensive photographic and text documentation of the former naval bases at Quonset Point and Davisville, RI. Titled BASE: Advancing a Post-Military Landscape, this print and web archive, artist book and traveling exhibit was funded by the Rhode Island Council on the Humanities.