Biography

Photo by Facula Faculae

D.W. Robertson AKA Ergo Phizmiz is a composer, writer, collagist, theatre-maker, songwriter, radio-producer, film-maker, and fancy footworker. Over a fourteen year adventure he has produced one of the most unpredictable, singular and prolific bodies of work of any artist working today.

On radio, Ergo's work has been described as "raising the benchmark of live radio" (Funkkorrespondenz), as well as winning awards at the Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Kunst and the Prix Italia. He has produced radio for WDR, Bayerischer Rundfunk, BBC Radio 3, BBC 6 Music, Deutschlandradiokultur, WFMU, Soundart Radio, Resonance FM, and VPRO.

Opera & theatre pieces by Ergo Phizmiz have been presented across the UK & Europe, including DePlayer, Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival, Worm, the Horse Hospital, SVA Festival, and as a solo performer Ergo has performed regularly across Europe for the last ten years.

His work as a songwriter, released on Care in the Community Recordings, includes the albums "Things to Do & Make", "Eleven Songs", and "The Peacock", which were all met with very sexy sounds from the critics indeed.

In the strange hinterland of the internet, he is working on creating an abyss, or black-hole, of music. With over 500 pieces of music, radio-art, or sound-designs on the WFMU Free Music Archive, he is hoping to make the internet cave in, if he can manage to not get run over by a car or something similar. This abyss has since been scored to over 2,000 videos on Youtube.

Over the bridge there yonder, in soundtracks to film and television Ergo has produced soundtracks for Christian Marclay, Vicki Bennett, Frankie Boyle, and most recently the score to Lloyd Handwerker's "Famous Nathan", which premiered 2014 at Tribeca Film Festival.

He is currently working on "Murder in Sonora", a radioplay on Charles A.A. Dellschau for Bayerischer Rundfunk, "A Fairytale of World War II" (a new piece for theatre), a collaborative pop album with Lukas Simonis,  and a new album of songwriting.

Ergo Phizmiz (D.W Robertson) CV

Opera & Theatre

"Peashoot" (2014) - Cowboy Apocalypse Opera, at Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival
“Gala” (2013) – Opera, commissioned by Tête à Tête Opera, London.
“UOEIA” (2013) – Operina on the history of yodelling, commissioned by DePlayer, Rotterdam.
“Gargantua” (2013) – Electronic Theatre Collage. UK tour.
“Caring in the Community” (2012) – Commissioned by Tete-a-Tete Opera
“The Grinder” (2012) – Augmented theatre for NewToy.org
“Queen of Names” (2012) – Tête à Tête : The Opera Festival
“The Old Man of the Mountain” (2012) – Sound-Design for Les Antliaclastes Marionettes, 
“Playback / Play” (2011) – Reinventions of the opera of Robert Ashley, Warsaw, Poland.
“The Third Policeman” (2011) – Tete-a-Tete: The Opera Festival & UK / Europe tour
“Fulcanelli's Shoes” (2011) – Arts Council England / Soundart Radio
“The Mourning Show” (2010) – Commissioned by DePlayer, toured Netherlands, Belgium & UK
“The Keystone Cut Ups” (2010) – Commissioned by Berwick Film & Media Festival
“La Puce de Neige” (2009) – Buchinger's Boot Marionettes, La Friche, Marseilles
“The Armature of the Absolute” (2007) – Buchinger's Boot Marionettes, toured internationally
“Boots!” (2006) – Supported by PRS Foundation

Radio

Bayerischer Rundfunk "Murder in Sonora" (2015)
Bayerischer Rundfunk "Hollywood: A Bestiary" (2014)
WDR3 “Boojum” (2013)
Bayerischer Rundfunk “Conversations With Birds” (2012)
BBC Radio 3 “Upsidedownisms” (2012)
Deutschen Akademie der Darstellenden Kunste – Horspiel das Monats award (2011)
DeutschlandRadioKultur “The Carnival in the Mirror Marches Into the Sea” (2011)
WDR3 “Disappearing Boxes” (2011)
BBC 6Music – Christmas special for Tom Ravenscroft (2010)
BBC Radio 3 “Paul Klee, a Balloon, The Moon, Music & Me” (2010) Prix Italia – Special Mention in  Radio/Composed work category (2010)
BBC Radio 3 “Pointballing” (2009-2010)
BBC Radio 3 “Poetry Lab Theme” (2009)
Arts Council England “Codpaste” (2007)
Arts Council England “The Faust Cycle” (2007-2010)
BBC Radio 1 “Bad Restaurant Boogie” (2007)
Arts Council England “M: 1000 Year Mix” (2005)
BBC Radio 3 – Live at the Spitz (2004)
Resonance FM - “Zip” and “Sticky White Glue” (2002-2004)

Installations

“Families, Intimate Situations, Open Architecture, and the Behemoth” - Solo exhibition at 
Depozitory, Ryde, Isle of Wight (2012)
“Staticopera” (2011) – Collages at Riverside Studios, London for Tete-a-Tete: The Opera Festival
“Homegrown II” (2010) – Sound-Installation, commissioned by the Depozitory, Isle of Wight
“The Invention of Birds” (2009) – Sound, image, object installation for Soundart Radio, Dartington
“Forest: Part One” (2007) – Sound, image, object installation for Venn Festival, Bristol
“Transymusic” (2007) – Romanian music project, supported by European Cultural Foundation
“Ambulatiuncula” (2006) – Site specific sound-work, commissioned by Artists-In-The-City
“Reconstructing Scarborough” (2005) – Sound, image, object installation for Sonic Arts Network.
“ChinLoops” (2003) – A/V piece for Super-Deluxe Cultural Center, Tokyo

Film & Television

“The Muses (We Are Not Amused)” (2013) Script and Music for Channel 4 / Animate Projects
“The Golem (An Inanimate Matter)” (2013) Script and Music for Channel 4 / Animate Projects
“The Keystone Cut Ups” (2011) Music & concepts for collage film, released on Illegal Art DVD
“Tramadol Nights” (2010) Songs and music for Channel 4 comedy series
“Slitscan Carnival” (2010) Short film by Carl Rosendahl
“Amitini” (2009) Short-films for children, commissioned by Janie Grace at Amitini Ltd.
“Neredzema Margo” (2009) Music for Latvian children's television
“Klara Festival” (2007) Music for advertisement for Belgian classical music festival

Residencies & Education work

Ergo Phizmiz has worked extensively in education across the UK and Europe, including lectures  and workshops at Tilburg School of Art; Geneva School of Art; L'Ecole des Musiques, Cherbourg;  and schools/colleges around England.

Merzbarn, Elterwater (2011) Week long residence at Schwitter's barn
Carnival Learning Centre (2009) Week long workshop in sound-art supported by Awards For All
Dimbola Lodge (2007-2008) Year long residency supported by the Leverhulme Trust
Isle of Wight College (2004-2005) Lectureship in sound-art and composition

Live performances 

Islington Assembly Hall (2015)
Cafe Oto, London (2010, 2012, 2014)
Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal (2011)
Playback Play Festival, Warsaw (2011)
Islington Mill, Salford (2011)
NoNoLogic Festival, Barcelona (2010)
Rough Trade, London (2010)
The Song is You Festival, Warsaw (2009)
Laboral Teatro, Gijon (2009)
Barbican, London (2009)
Whitechapel Gallery, London (2006 & 2010)
Extrapool, Nijmegen (2006, 2008 & 2010)
Worm, Rotterdam (2006, 2008 & 2011)
10 Jahre Gagarin Records, European Tour (2008)
Phono Festival, Odense, Denmark (2008)
National Centre for Early Music, York (2008)
European Tour with David Fenech (2007)
Bath Contemporary Music Festival, London (2007)
Kraak Festival, Hasselt, Belgium (2007)
Dutch Academy of Fine Art (2005)
The Tate Modern, London (2004)
Kulturbunker Muelheim, Cologne (2004)
The Royal Festival Hall, London (2003)

Releases of music on record, CD and online

“It's a Sin” (2013) 7” Care in the Community 
“Eleven Songs” (2013) 12” Care in the Community
“The Keystone Cut Ups” (2012) DVD Illegal Art 
“Ergo Phizmiz performs Robert Ashley” (2012) CD Populista / Bolt Records
“Anna Boom” (2011) Bad Panda Records
“Music for the Jilted Generation” (2010) UpItUp Records
“Things to Do and Make” (2010) 12” Care in the Community
“Withers in the Waking” (2008) 7” Touch Music 
“Handmade in the Monasteries of Nepal / Eloise My Dolly” (2008) 12” Gagarin Records
“Perpetuum Mobile” (2007) Soleilmoon Recordings
“M: 1000 Year Mix” (2006) Match My Foot Records
“For the Neonate” (2004) Begonia Society

Publications

Ergo Phizmiz's work has been written about in The Times, The Guardian, The New York Times,  Gonzo-Circus, Fluid, The Wire, Mojo, Time-Out, the Daily Telegraph, and the Independent. In  books his work is cited in the posthumous section of the autobiography of John Peel, Martin Delaney's “Laptop Music”, and Stephen Ellis' forthcoming book about the painter Paul Klee's  relationship with music.

"Cold Collation" (2015) published by Content Series
"UOEPOPIAUPERA" (2014) pop-up book published on DePlayer