Cristiano Luciani was born in Rome, Italy, in the 1976.
He is a sound and visual artist and he works and lives in Rome (Italy) and Berlin (Germany).
He has studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome and he had experiences in the fields of drawing, painting and engraving; in later years, he began realizing super 8 film and digital video work in which he synthesizes his visual and sonic experience and research.
He employs the Cris X moniker for his solo musical releases, live performance and recording collaborations in the undergound/experimental area.
At the same time as his artistic studies he begins his musical career in 1995 as a self-taught drummer, and he played in several post-punk bands based in Rome. He began playing experimental music and founded the Lendormin project (2002 - 2009).
The project was influenced by seminal non-idiomatic improvisers such as Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley also by afro-american free jazz and industrial-electronic music of the late seventies.
In the Cris X’s project, attention towards sound in his most abstract forms (noise or "concrete" sounds) comes from his background as a visual artist. In his recordings, he pursuits a "painterly" or "sculptural" (and thus tactile) dimension of music by following the evocative suggestions of/in/on the body of sound and this results in the composition of cinematic and visionary musical landscapes.
Cris X’s solo project exploring also the synthesis of composition and improvisation, incorporating -during his solo live shows and live/recording collaborations- analog and digital electronics, samples, field recordings, contact michrophones, effects, slide guitar, noises, tapes, cymbals and drums as a means for the formal organization of spontaneus compositions. Its music moving from electro-acoustic and noise to expressionist ambient, improv and drone to musique concrète.
He composed and performed music for theatre productions, contemporary ballet and live film scorings, along with the soundtracks of his own film and video production.
His visual and sound artwork has been exhibited in different contexts and festivals throughout Europe, United Kingdom, Japan, China and South America. He has collaborated and played with musicians and artists from different cultures and art scenes as MB/Maurizio Bianchi, Merzbow/Masami Akita, KK Null/Kazuyuki Kishino, Michiko Hirayama, Hamayoko/Yoko Higashi, Gene Coleman, Eugene Chadbourne, Luca Miti, Tiziana Loconte, Keiko Higuchi, Sachiko, Ben Watson, Splinter vs Stalin, Torturing nurse among others.
In the 2010 he created the experimental label CX Records which concentrates on the release and publishing of his own musical works and collaborations.
Articles and interviews:
“Cris X - Chronicles of the Obscurity” interviews by Massimiliano Busti; published on Blow up Magazine 2011. "Noise & Capitalism" (chapter wrote by B.Watson) Arteleku Audiolab (Kritika saila), Donostia-S.Sebastiá, Spain 2009. "Eyes Wide Shut" interviews by Daniela Cascella; published on Blow up Magazine 2007.
Selected discography:
CRIS X + KK NULL “Genshi wakusei” LP 12”/CD (CX records) 2012
CRIS X “Greed” feat. Keiko Higuchi and Sachiko - MERZBOW “Guya” split LP 12" (CX records) 2011
CRIS X “Black Pulse” - M.B./Maurizio Bianchi “Heczplaser” split LP 12” (CX records) 2010
Lendormin "Niente vol.1" VV.AA - CD-r limited edition (Niente records) 2008
Lendormin "quartet" + Lendormin "live 2004-2007" - double CDr limited edition (Setola di Maiale) 2008
Lendormin "night dawn day" music for George Romero - CDr limited edition (Merzrecords) 2007
Lendormin “Frankfurter Ahnung” VV.AA - CD (Sonic Arts Network) 2005
Lendormin "p.o. box 52" VV.AA - CD (Wallace Records) 2003
Lendormin “S/T” - CD-r + Tape limited edition with original art-collage cover by Cristiano Luciani, Marco Maurizi, Ben Watson, individually numbered (Merzrecords) 2002
Music for theatre:
“Requiem part 2” (directed by Maria Paola Zedda, performance by Maria Paola Zedda - music by Cristiano Luciani) Teatri di vetro, Rome, Italy 2011
“Requiem” (directed by Maria Paola Zedda, performance by Maria Paola Zedda - music by Cristiano Luciani) Teatroinscatola, Rome, Italy 2010
"ZimmerFrei plays Walter Marchetti. Song for John Cage" - Fluxus Biennial organized by Achille Bonito Oliva - (Zimmerfrei: sound, video, installation, music - Cristiano Luciani: performance - Dominique Vaccaro: performance)
Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy, 2010
"We are the revolution" directed by the artist Mimmo Paladino -organized in his permanent sculptures installation called "Hortus Conclusus" and Duomo di Benevento- (performance: Ginestra Paladino - live music: Cristiano Luciani/Sarah Dietrich/Marco Visconti Prasca/Luca Aquino/Alfonso Zeoli/Lucio Dalla), Benevento, Italy, 2009
Workshops:
“The Feral Choir comes out of a three day vocal workshop culminating in a performance” A Choir of 33 people conducted
by Phil Minton, Berlin Germany 2012
Workshop of Free Improvisation conducted by Eugene Chadbourne, Rome, Italy 2009
Radio shows:
Cristiano Luciani/Len Massey/Sean Bonney/Irys Watson-Leslie - live performance Resonance radio FM (hosted by O.T.L.), London, UK, 2007
Lendormin/Ian Maclachlan - live at the Bonninghton center - Lendormin interview on Resonance radio FM (hosted by O.T.L.) London, UK, 2003
Group exhibitions:
"Quadratonomade preview" Scuderie Aldo Brandini, Frascati, Italy 2011
“Byob Munich - Hotel Sahara” Kunsthof, Munich, Germany 2011
“Electric tank" video exhibition, MACRO - Museum of the Contemporary Art, Rome, 2010
“Roma - The road to the contemporary art” movie sonoritation, MACRO - Museum of the Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy, 2010
“Summer Hundebiss Night”, HANGAR BICOCCA, Milan, Italy, 2010
“Festa Europea della musica - Group Exhibitions Ned e Luca Miti”, MACRO - Museum of the Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy, 2010
ZimmerFrei."ZimmerFrei plays Walter Marchetti. Song for John Cage" (during the "Fluxus Biennial") video, installations, performance, AUDITORIUM Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy, 2006
“Group Exhibitions” O14 Gallery, Rome, Italy, 2005
“Group Exhibitions” O14 Gallery, Rome, Italy, 2004
“Color Legno Burattino. Nuove figure per Pinocchio” Children's Book Fair, Bologna, Italy, 2003
“Omaggio a Ko Oosterkerk e Walter Piacesi. Biennial of Engraving” Monsummano Terme, Italy, 1999
“2nd Young Artists’ Exhibition for students of Fine Arts” Zoe Spazio Arte Gallery, Rome, Italy, 1999
“Mangiare il Drago” Sats equilibri precari, Rome, Italy, 1998
“Drawings “Exhibition for students of Fine Arts of Rome” Fidia Gallery, Rome, Italy, 1998
“San Giorgio e il Drago” San Peter’s Church, Rome, Italy, 1998
Prize:
II° prize for the etching Academy of Fine Arts of Isili (Sa) 1999
Other collaborations:
Cris X “Roma Nord” feat.I Cani “Il sorprendente album d’esordio dei cani” - CD (42 records) 2011
Cristiano Lucian “Tokyo Pulse” (video) feat.Torturing Nurse (noise) - DVD (upcoming release)
Cristiano Luciani/Luca Miti ‘I like to stay here a little while longer’ - CD (Ned) 2009
Cris X “Bleed” feat. Kenji Siratori - Tape, limited edition (Turgid Animal) 2009
Cris X/dbpit-Mike Cooper/Eugenio Sanna “Live in Rome” split CDr limited edition (CX records/Gatto alieno)
Cris X/Fecalove “Beauty” - split CD-r limited edition Asian tour 2008 (Turgid animal) 2008
Cristiano Luciani/Luca Miti "A cena con Ned” Musica estemporanea diretta da Luca Miti - CD (Ned) 2008
“Crepa” - CD-r (Setola di maiale) 2008
"Lendormin quartet/Tasaday trio/IOIOI live impro ensemble 01-11-07" - CD-r (Scatole Sonore) 2007
Cris X with dbpit "Freak nerve cell from outer space" - mini CD-r (Chondritic sound) 2004
Lendormin with dbpit “The outstanding story of Mr. Mallory” - CD (Sweetfarewell) 2004
Live Schedule:
_2012
“The Feral Choir comes out of a three day vocal workshop culminating in a performance” A Choir of 33 people conducted
by Phil Minton, Exploratorium, Berlin Germany
Cris X feat. HamaYôko/Yôko Higashi, Fanfulla 101 Roma, Italy
Cris X feat. HamaYôko/Yôko Higashi, Altera Festival@Oblomova Napoli, Italy
Cris X feat. HamaYôko/Yôko Higashi, Brigadisco’s cave Itri, Italy
Cris X feat. HamaYôko/Yôko Higashi, Fanfulla 101 Roma, Italy
_2011
Cris X/T.Loconte, “Exp. on Fest”, Acrobax, Rome, Italy
Cristiano Luciani/Gene Coleman/Luca Miti feat. Michiko Hirayama, Forte Fanfulla, Rome, Italy
Cris X “Borgata Boredom Fest”, Angelo Mai, Rome, Italy
Cristiano Luciani/Gene Coleman/Luca Miti “Re-volt festival elettroacustico”, Forte Fanfulla, Rome, Italy
Cris X - I Cani Viper, Firenze, Italy
Cris X - I Cani Tunnel, Milano, Italy
Cris X - I Cani Circolo degli Artisti, Roma, Italy
Cristiano Luciani/Simone Pappalardo Centocelle Occupato, Rome, Italy
KK null - The noiser - Cris X - Fecalove - Sistem hardware abnormal, Dalverme, Rome, Italy
_2010
Cris X/Splinter vs Stalin/Ajaxfree “Festival of Sesc”, Sao Paulo, Brasil 2010
Cris X/Keiko Higuchi - sonoritation “La Jeteè” by C.Marker, Fanfulla 101, Rome, Italy, 2010
“Festa Europea della musica - Gruppo di musica estemporanea Ned e Luca Miti”, MACRO - Museum of the Contemporary Art, Rome
Cristiano Luciani/Tiziana Lo Conte “Roma - The road to the contemporary art”, MACRO Museum of the Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
Cristiano Luciani collaboration with ZimmerFrei. "ZimmerFrei plays Walter Marchetti. Song for John Cage" (during the "Fluxus Biennial"), Auditorium parco della musica, Rome, Italy
Cris X - Dominique Vaccaro - Ottaven - Attila Faravelli - Luciano Maggiore - Utat - Maurizio Abate - Luca Sigurtà - Trashsound - Hiroshima Rocks Around and others, “Summer Hundebiss Night” Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Cris X - Freudi - Jooklo Duo,“live Hundebiss Night”, Milan, Italy
Cris X/Mutant Ape/Fecalove, Dalverme, Rome, Italy
Cris X - Cris X/Asp “Altera festival“, Avellino, Italy
Lendormin/Gene Coleman/Luca Miti/Sarah Dietrich/Tiziana Lo Conte, Cantiere, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/Gene Coleman/Luca Miti/Sarah Dietrich/Tiziana Lo Conte, Fanfulla 101, Rome, Italy
Gr u (Cristiano Luciani/Tiziana Lo Conte/Sarah Dietrich) "Sinchrofilm”, Dalverme, Rome, Italy
_2009
Gr u (Cristiano Luciani/Tiziana Lo Conte/Sarah Dietrich) - Oren Ambarchi/Massimo Pupillo, Sinister Noise club, Rome, Italy
Cris X/Asp, Oblomova, Naples, Italy
Lendormin/Gene Coleman/Luca Miti - Justice Yeldam - Cris X/Splinter vs Stalin, “Lendormin Fest vol.2”, Fanfulla 101, Rome
Cristiano Luciani/Sarah Dietrich/Marco Visconti Prasca/Luca Aquino/Ginestra Paladino/Alfonso Zeoli/Lucio Dalla "We are the revolution" directed by the artist Mimmo Paladino -organized in his permanent sculptures installation called "Hortus Conclusus" of Benevento, Italy
Lendormin/Tiziana Lo Conte/Sarah Dietrich - Arrington de Dionyso - Lili Refrain “Sinister noise club”, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/Tiziana Lo Conte/Sarah Dietrich, “Tago fest”, Massa, Italy
Lendormin/Tiziana Lo Conte/Sarah Dietrich - Mike Cooper’s Spirit Songs - Leila Adu, “Init Club”, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/Tiziana Lo Conte/Sarah Dietrich, Officine, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/Tiziana Lo Conte/Sarah Dietrich, “Altera festival“, Avellino, Italy
Lendormin/Tiziana Lo Conte/Sarah Dietrich, “Festival delle alpi”, Sondrio, Italy
Cris X/Splinter vs Stalin/Kumiko Okamura, Bar Gari Gari, Tokyo, Japan
Cris X with Splinter vs Stalin - Goverment Alpha/Fecalove - Reiko A. - ASTRO/Linekraft, ”Lunatic Scopes”, Flying Teapot, Tokyo, Japan
Cris X/Splinter vs Stalin, Elevate, Osaka, Japan
Cris X/Splinter vs Stalin - Psichedelic desert, Hokage, Osaka, Japan
Cris X/Splinter vs Stalin - Utero zzz aaa - H.M.V., Socrates, Kyoto, Japan
Cris X/Mikaele Pellegrino duo Loop hole, Berlin, Germany
Cris X/Mikaele Pellegrino duo Sowieso, Berlin, Germany
Cris X/Sarah Dietrich - Mikaele Pellegrino Sowieso, Berlin, Germany
_2008
Cris X/dbpit - Lendormin/Stefano Giust - Lendormin/Tiziana Lo Conte/Sarah Dietrich - Mike Cooper - Carlos Giffoni “Lendormin Fest” Fanfulla 101, Rome, Italy
Cris X/dbpit - Mushy - Sfffh - Gastric Female Reflex - Joyous Cosmology - Maximillian I - Harry Merry - Oxo and others Babafest, Roma, Italy
Cris X/dbpit/Kenji Siratori/Kumiko Okamura - Fecalove - Kunt - Alpha Ailuros (Goverment Alpha/Reiko A.) - ASTRO ”Lunatic Scopes” Urga, Tokyo, Japan
Cris X/dbpit - Andy Guhl - Fecalove “Minimidi Festival” 2Kulegas, Beijing, China
Cris X/dbpit/Torturing nurse/Fecalove/Greenmist “Noishanghai”, Live Bar, Shanghai, China
Lendormin “Sconfini festival” D406 Gallery, Modena, Italy
Lendormin Quartet/Tiziana Lo Conte/Stefano Giust - "Sinchrofilm", Officine, Rome, Italy,
Cristiano Luciani/Renato Ciunfrini/Marco Carcasi/Nico Mangifesta Fanfulla 101, Rome, Italy
Cristiano Luciani/Renato Ciunfrini/Marco Carcasi/Madam P/Stefano Giust Cantiere, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/Renato Ciunfrini/IOIOI - Enfance Rouge, “Live at Log0” Sinister Noise Club, Rome, Italy
_2007
Lendormin/Luca Miti, "Sinchrofilm", Officine, Rome, Italy
Lendormin Quartet - Aspirale - Vonneumann - Chris Blazen/Alex Mendizabal - Obsolescenza Programmata - Nico Mangifesta - Roberto Bellatalla and others “Tempia”, Rialtosantambrogio, Rome, Itay
Lendormin Quartet - Wu Fei/Tasadai trio/IOIOI “Scatole Sonore”, Rialtosantambrogio, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/Ken Ueno/Marco Visconti Prasca “Blueroom, Rialtosantambrogio, American Academy in Rome and Open Video Projects”, Rialtosantambrogio, Rome, Italy
Cristiano Luciani/Len Massey/Sean Bonney, “live at Resonance radio”, London, UK
Lendormin/Helena Velena, “Anti-Family day”, Rome, Italy
_2006
Lendormin/Helena Velena, Ex-Asylum, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/Helena Velena, Linux club, Rome, Italy
Lendormin trio - Caroliner Rainbow, Rialto Sant’Ambrogio, Rome, Italy
Lendormin trio “Lanuvio Rock Festival”, Lanuvio, Italy
Lendormin/Luca Miti/DBPIT/Mikaele Pellegrino, Libreria Rinascita, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/Mikaele Pellegrino/Toni Hiroshima Rocks around - Nastro, Traffic, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/dbpit - Der feuer kreuner - Macelleria Mobile di Mezzanotte - Bad Sector, "Modulor Festival", Recanati, Italy
_2004
Lendormin/dbpit/Larsen Lombriki/Claudio Parodi, “Iato” Cantiere, Roma, Italy
Lendormin/Luca Miti "Scrivere l' Es", University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
_2003
Lendormin/dbpit - Sieben - Lory D. - Spiritual front - Andy - Noosfera - Jonny b - Kimsonja, “Post romantic empire” Supper club, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/dbpit - Malato - Chris Blazen and others, “Live TV” Cantiere, Rome, Italy
Lendormin/Ben Watson/Esther Leslie, "Esemplastic tuesday", Royal College of Art, London, UK
Lendormin/Ian Maclachlan Bonninghton center, London, UK
Lendormin "Newton festival", Latina, Italy