Beginning with Music, Continuing Otherwise. RTRSRCH Vol

RTRSRCH

Beginning with music, continuing otherwise. RTRSRCH Vol. 2 No. 1 March 2010 Beginning with music, continuing otherwise. contains

2 Editorial Paul Craenen

8 Where music starts Cathy Van Eck

15 Amplifying the physical gesture Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri

20 “… as if you would …” Falk Hübner

26 ‘Le Piano Démécanisé’ Frederik Croene

30 The Postman Always Rings ABC: Matthew Shlomowitz’s Letter Pieces

34 Dear New Music David Helbich

48 VISITE GUIDÉE MÂLIQUE Steven Prengels

54 Behind next to Besides (2005 – 2009) Simon Steen-Andersen

58 Oorwonde, at the junction of sound art and performance Laura Maes

62 Biographies Editorial, Paul Craenen repercussions, or as to be incorporated outsiders, but of an cross connections a subversive experi- into existing dance essential part of and differences ment that intends to or theatre program- contemporary musi- themselves. We will In this third and conceptual Accordingly, the collective, rectly. A ‘fruitful tackle the conven- ming. The works cal practice. This limit ourselves here edition of characteristics art music has interdisciplinary collaboration’ tions of an artistic presented here are does not imply that to suggesting sev- RTRSRCH you that demand not been able creation pro- usually implies discipline. Such a thus predominantly the work presented eral paths that have will find nine attention. This to escape this cess is – while that a consid- description imme- encountered at here can be consid- occured to us when contributions is even more renewed at- important- not erable level of diately conjures up open, alternative ered as mainstream, preparing this issue. from as many remarkable tention to the our primary autonomy is the resistance simi- and mainly small- and even less that In contrast to the music makers. given that all ‘inter’ and the concern. In- safeguarded for lar experiments scale festivals, or in it can claim a signifi- modernist or twen- They present contributors ‘multi’, although stead we have the participat- often still have to programmes where cant share in the tieth century experi- one or several share a similar in general it collected new ing disciplines. face. As long as the ‘frontier art’ of all programming of con- ment, the artistic of their works, background in deals less con- music examples When multi- inter – or transme- kinds is the norm temporary art mu- motive expressed and share their classical mu- fidently and in which indi- medial implica- dial creation needs rather than the ex- sic. It is however in this journal rarely motivations sic. Most are easily with me- vidual creators tions are ap- to profile itself as ception. Some of a clear sign that a seems aimed at and sources of trained com- dial crossovers bear full re- proached from an ‘in-between art’ these experiments new generation of radical change or inspiration. The- posers, some than do con- sponsibility the individualis- in contrast to a prac- seem to counter educated musicians negation of an exist- atrical sound are classical temporary the- for the artistic tic perspective tice with clearly this problem by no is attempting to re- ing practice. The improvisations music perform- atre, dance or concept, in- however, the recognisable con- longer profiling define their prac- works of art present- on dismantled ers. Therefore media art. This cluding where definition of tours, it can only be themselves as ‘mu- tice, or that some ed in this journal are piano wrecks, the title of this is in part due ‘extrasonorous’ ‘musical mate- appreciated on the sic’, but rather as of them simply no generally not revo- an interac- journal is more to a lack of aspects are in- rial’ – and thus basis of its ‘other- ‘sound art’, ‘perfor- longer feel bound lutionary in the tive operating than a meta- openness in the volved. Thus we also the notions ness’, of its capacity mance’, and so on. to one particular literal sense. In the table for the phor for the field, but also hope to stress of ‘craftmanship’ to surprise within a The recent zeal to medium. Moreover, contributors’ words, listener to lie on artistic thinking to an intrinsic a problem in and ‘discipline’ familiar programme. define and distin- by gathering various a dialectic attitude and physically that becomes resistance of- multimedial – are put to the However, the shock guish itself in the concrete examples, with regard to music experience the apparent in fered by the thinking that test. Problems effects which John process as a new, we want to try not history rarely fig- sounds of an the presented musical me- in our opinion of foreground Cage or Mauricio fully fledged art form to present their ures either. An ex- imaginary op- works. It refers dium and to a has been under- and background, Kagel were still able responding to spe- work as an excep- ception to this is eration, or the most of all to culture where exposed: in an and of medial to generate in art cific characteristics tional situation. Frederik Croene’s organisation a biographical ‘the musical artistic product, interferences music half a century only seems to shift Instead, by juxta- contribution. In his of a new music reality of the material’ is ap- the confluence arise. There is ago are no longer to problems of identity posing them, we le piano démécanisé, demonstration participating proached as of different also the resis- be expected today. and ambiguity. intend to search for pianos are literally in the streets of artists. something of an media and distance of ex- In art music, the With this collec- underlying patterns dismantled until Oslo: the works Since ex- abstract nature. ciplines must at pectational ‘other’, the experi- tion we thus want to and shared motiva- nothing more than presented in trasonorous To meet this a certain point patterns and mental or the subver- make a statement. tions. What is it that a strung carcass this RTRSRCH elements play musical indi- be concretised. reflexes in con- sive has long been Armed with only the distinguishes the remains. The piano issue are di- a role in all viduality on the In the context ventional con- neutralised to a re- fact that we easily musical experiment and the complete verse. Never- contributions, it one hand and to of a multidisci- texts of perfor- cognisable gesture. collected nine con- anno 2010 from the musical culture em- theless, they would be tempt- avoid the com- plinary collab- mance. From As a consequence, tributions (it could openings forced by bodied by it appear are united ing to dedicate monplaces of oration, this the perspective contemporary forms have been many the artistic bucca- in Croene’s project through their this journal to multimedial or responsibility is of their classi- of sonorous ‘in-be- more) of classically neers of the previous as a final point that resistance to a multimedial interdisciplin- ideally taken up cal education, tween art’ risk slip- educated musicians century? Is some- only offers hope for categorisation. or interdisci- ary reflection by all participat- the work that ping through the who are developing thing typically twenty new life when the Musical refer- plinary theme. in the performing disciplines. contributors cracks in a pragmat- a hybrid or differ- -first century emerg- deconstruction pro- ences remain Reflection on ing arts on Nevertheless, present here ical sense: they may ent practice as an ing in the musical cess is completed. present in most multimediality the other, this in practice such could be under- be too extramusical individual, who are frontier art of today, A life in which the contributions, or interdiscipli- third RTRSRCH collaborations stood as ‘fait to be taken seri- all active in Western or should we rather theatricality of however it is narity has been journal opts mostly result in divers’, as an ously in the musi- Europe and belong speak of a continu- gesture and the their visual, prominent in for an alterna- a repartition of excursion that cal domain, or still more or less to the ation of a twentieth immediate contact theatrical and the perform- tive approach. tasks, with in- is exciting too recognisable same generation, century practice? between bodily ac- above all their ing arts since In the works teraction occur- though with- for a contemporary proves that we can We leave it to the tion and sound can intersensory the nineties. discussed here ing rather indi- out long term musical practice no longer speak of reader to discover get much broader

04 05 attention. Croene is above elaboration of an action the air guitar world cham- with which intersensory or transmedial when an action and a sound are all a performer, and his dis- score, an idea which he pionships). Moreover, it explorations can be undertaken. The performed together, we perceptu- mantling concept is inspired tests in his cycle contrib- is a theme that has not artistic ‘mapping’ of different worlds with ally couple them even if they share by the physical and mental uting Next to Besides, a only caught the attention each other distinguishes itself from tradi- no material relationship. A central discipline required to play Recycle. of composers, but also tional associative or symbolic thought by idea of all the pieces is shifting piano. Escape from the The choreographical as- of young choreographers its systematic and procedural character these relationships, instrumental or musical pect of corporal gesture in (Xavier Leroy) and video on the one hand, and by the utter arbi- bodice does not, however, musical performance plays artists (Sam Taylor-Wood). trariness with which different data sets writes Shlomowitz. However, it is only seem the prime source of a significant part in Steen- In this current fascina- or information fields can be joined on because of repeated simultaneity of the inspiration in most cases. Andersen’s œuvre. Nota- tion for the disconnection the other (where spontaneous associa- same actions and sounds that transmedi- On the contrary, for some bly, corporal gesture is a of musical action and its tive thought generally relies on ingrained, al bindings can occur and be contradicted composers the existing theme that often returns immediate auditory result, physically or culturally embodied relations). in a later stage, often to comical effect. musical practice and its in various contributions. we may perhaps distin- An obvious example of mapping activ- The use of repetition as a tool for me- performance in particular Although it is almost never guish a trace of the aware- ity in contemporary music can be found dial differentation is also something Mari- seems to be a starting mentioned as such, this is ness of a living environ- in the practice of ‘live electronics’. In a anthi Papalexandri-Alexandri mentions in point that offers (re)new a theme not without musi- ment where the relations purely acoustic performance situation, her article: (ed) potential to embark on cal prehistory. The mime- between cause and effect, there is a direct relationship between intersensory explorations, like Thespian Play and or between presence, ef- bodily action and sound result. However, I allow the first repetition of the ges- even if this leads to a hy- almost equal / meistens fort and result have be- as Cathy van Eck states in her article: ture to emerge as a non-spontaneous brid practice which is dif- gleich by Falk Hübner come volatile. Human emotional expression. By repeating ficult to place within the recalls twentieth century expression no longer has From the moment sound is trans- the same gesture I offer a different outlines of classical music. performance concepts by a self-evident form. Today duced into electricity, these relation- meaning and function, while exten- According to Simon Mauricio Kagel and Dieter arts’ interest is not only ships become totally arbitrary and sive repetition proposes a further Steen-Andersen, the ten- Schnebel. By depriving the centred on the unveiling are open for any form of connec- transformation of the function and dency towards an ever musician of his instrument of human intentionality, tion … I see the loss of the direct meaning of the gesture. In this way more idiomatic approach and by letting him perform nor on the development relationship between the moving … I incorporate theatrical, choreo- to instrumental music – in a kind of ‘playback situ- of new forms of expression. body and the vibrating material, or graphical, musical, and everyday life which can also be recog- ation’, the physical effort The area in which a great between what is heard and what is aspects associated with gestures. nised in the ‘authentic per- and the resounding of the number of artists seem to seen, as an opportunity to be able formance practice’ of old music are disconnected. In be active today, is the area to compose these relationships Strategies of differentiation through rep- music – potentially leads its turn, such a disconnec- between intention and ar- now. etition, although of a very different kind, to a ‘hyperconcrete definition leads inevitably to an ticulation. It is an ephem- can also be found in Steven Prengels’ tion’ of music by its instru- emphasising of the visual, eral zone where, not coin- We do not necessarily have to search for enigmatic Visite Guidée Mâlique, an obsti- mentarium. In the most theatrical or choreographi- cidentally, a lot is moving the artistic mapping in a technological or nate musical lecture of Joyce’s Finnegans radical case, the concrete cal aspects of music per- in the technological and instrumental design. Intersensory or in- Wake through Marcel Duchamp’s The instrumental action is no formance. social sense. Between termedial experiences not only rely on the Large Glass. However different in inten- longer a means of realising Remarkably similar is intention and articulation, materiality of outer facts, they are primar- tion or style all these examples may be, an abstract sound idea, the concept of Marianthi hidden automation occurs, ily the result of a perceptual and mental none of them seems to involve an early- but it starts conditioning Papalexandri-Alexandri’s input and output are con- activity. In the Letter Pieces of Matthew twentieth century endeavour to obtain the sound ideal completely. No Name, although in nected in a specific way via Schlomowitz, the actions of a dancer are immersive synesthaesia, let alone that In a certain sense, it be- her case the attention digital or biotechnological linked in a ‘literal’ way to the sonorous some kind of ‘truth’ would be pursued comes itself the musical for everyday movement designs, and virtual identi- actions of a musician. Not by means of through the combination of different objective. At the point where unveils a rather Cageian ties acquire real shapes. mechanics or of a digital interface, but media. Rather, motivation seems to spring sound ideal and sound input. Even so, both ex- The control or regulation based upon an alphabetic letter structure from the pleasure and involvement pro- execution coincide, words amples point to a current of these activities could and an interactive creation process: the duced by the creation of temporary liter- such as ‘abstract’ or ‘con- theme in the performing be described as a ‘(re)map- performers generate actions and sounds alness, or in Prengels’ case, the creative crete’ lose their meaning. arts. The treatment of ping’, or as the design from the letters. The performers have manifestation enabled by the translation Precisely at that point, the physical gesture of a of a model of input and total freedom in choosing which actions of a literary work through the somewhat writes Steen-Andersen, a musical performance as output. or sounds correspond to each letter of random filter of a work of visual art. new potential arises that an autonomous given has In a couple of contribu- the score; nevertheless, the result is a While the design of the intersensory re-enables composition nearly become a genre in tions, similar procedures tight coupling between what one sees or intermedial mapping leaves room for and performance. Compo- itself in recent years (and seem to come forward as and hears. imagination and creativity, there is one sition then becomes the in popular music; think of the pre-eminent strategy element that the musical experiment

06 07 must continually take into account. In the buffer zone between intention and expression we not only find the freedom of ‘mapping’, but also the much less free embodi- ment the artistic design needs to cope with. In Laura Maes’ Oorwonde, the connection between the artistic design and the bodily action and observation acquires an inescap- ably corporal reality. The listener lies on an operating table for an almost clinical experience during which localised feeling and listening are so interdependent that physical distance is no longer possible. The listener becomes performer and observer at once, with his or her body as an interface. Strikingly, this body is often referred to in a literal and abstract way. Not only the body as an entity that gesticulates or articulates itself musically, but also as an entity which experiences music and is affected by it. In the conception of the body as the area where musical action, vibration and resonance take place, a genuine relevance of new art music might develop. Where before music earned its high status on the basis of its ability to express and arouse emotions, today a major role seems to be reserved for musical thought in which ‘bodily state and localisation’ can be explored and made tangible. This does not signify that we can reduce the subject of new art music to a physical discourse. Let alone that ‘the body’ could turn into the subject of some type of musical mysticism. Maybe it is typical for the authors’ backgrounds in classical music that the body is approached with a certain matter-of-factness. This attitude is probably also connected to the instrumental context in which the performing and perceiving body keeps operating and which demands sonorous efficiency and a certain sense of realism. The corporal reflexivity that appears in these contributions does not imply that the corporal can be considered as the end of an artistic quest. In analogy with Simon Steen-Andersen’s idea of the ‘hyperidiomatic’, a possibility for new abstractions be- gins at the point where physical and musical experience entirely coincide. Or in Falk Hübner’s words, certain physical aspects of the existing musical practice can be ‘ab- stracted away’, so that the presence of musicians and/or listeners becomes potential compositional material. One could state that through this abstraction, music is again isolated from its execution so that it can be represented in an (action) score or, as is the case with Oorwonde, in a technical design. What counts then is no longer the representation of a sonorous sound ideal, but of a gesticulatory, theatrical or virtual music (the ‘harmony of the spheres’ is coming close, on a human scale). We can find an illustration of this all in David Helbich’s Keine-Musik, a composition especially written for this issue, to be performed by the reader. Not music, but the formal presence of score-like instructions stresses the musical background of the author, and in the same movement also the title of this journal. This piece, which has the subtitle Ohrstücke/earpieces, again presents a situation in which performance, observation and experience are localised in the here and now of one and the same body. Most of all, however, this is a composition that we could label ‘conceptual’. The non-conventional character of all the work presented in this edition of RTRSRCH implies that every contribution involves conceptual creativity; an artistic thinking that challenges the very concept of music.

08 Cathy Where music Van Eck starts

Music was an activity during which Consequently, for this approach new intentional movements by a performer technologies were the ideal way to transformed into perceivable vibrations achieve this kind of music perception. of an object. The perception of both This approach can be found in musique these actions, as well as the percep- concrète, but also in the elektronische tion of both the body of the performer Musik of the Cologne School and many and the material of the object under- other forms of electroacoustic music. going these actions, resulted in an In its most radical form, this music interpretation and a critical judgement is supposed to be heard without any by the audience and/or performer. reference to the world outside of sound. The movements of the performer were The medium producing the music, potentially influenced by this interpreta- whether a musical instrument, record- tion and critical judgement. ed sounds, or the electronic equipment The direct relationships described- itself, should be imperceptible. above were valid for the production of The instrumental approach, on music until the invention of technolo- thecontrary, regards the separation of gies for sound recording and sound re- these elements of musical performance production. These direct relationships as a loss. The main aim is to achieve between movements, body, vibrations, a performance practice with electro- materiality and perception were distort- acoustical sound production technolo- ed as soon as sound was able to be gies, which is as similar as possible transmitted through space (telephone to the former non-electroacoustical mu- and radio) or time (sound recording). sic practice. New technologies should I would like to emphasise that it is not influence the musical practice at all. sound only which was transmitted, be- On the contrary, they should be devel- cause all other elements of musical oped in such a way that they behave as performance discussed above stayed though not utilising new technologies. where they had always been. It is pre- The separation between the various cisely this isolation of one component activities of a musical performance, as of music which destroyed the relation- a result of using electroacoustic tech- ships mentioned earlier. nologies, should be imperceptible. The There was much intense debate development of the synthesiser is a during the twentieth century concerning good example of this approach. Whereas the possibilities of new technologies in the sound producing methods of a syn- music. I would like to divide the most thesiser are not bound to any specific radical positions into the isolated ap- playing method, the synthesiser only proach on one side and the instrumen- became a really popular instrument tal approach on the other. after Robert Moog added a traditional The isolated approach regards keyboard for playing the sounds, and sound as the only component of music. therefore bringing it back within conven- Sound, and therefore music, should tional performance practice. be without any reference to any other I think of the contrasts between connotations formerly associated with these two approaches as a potential for

Cathy Van Eck, music making (whether this might be my compositional practice. I see the Hearing Sirens, the vibrating material or moving body). loss of the direct relationship between since 2005, the moving body and the vibrating mate- for mp3-players with portable rial, or between what is heard and what horn-loudspeakers is seen, as an opportunity to be able

11 to compose these relationships now. changes: the first part concentrates Due to their disconnection, it is possible on the activity of performing move- to compose new perceivable relations ments; the second part concentrates between movement and vibration. The on the object which receives these relationship between the movements movements. This change of perspec- of the body of the performer and the tive would not make any difference vibrations of the material of the instru- in the case of non-electroacoustical ment played are compulsory, as long music, since as mentioned earlier, as no electroacoustic sound reproduc- their relationships would have been tion is involved. From the moment sound compulsory. In this example, pluck- is transduced into electricity, these rela- ing a tree in a certain manner without tionships become totally arbitrary and electronics would have had only one are open for any form of connection. possible sonic result. Due to the use At the heart of my musical practice of electroacoustical and electronic is the perception of interplay between aids, the sounding result is no longer movement and sound. There are stories dependent on either the movements in the bodies which make movements. of the performer or the material itself, There are stories in the movements and for this reason plucking the tree they make, and there are stories in the in a certain manner can have an end- objects which are played, and in the less amount of sonic results. techniques used to play them. I try to Both the electronic ploings and work with those stories as composi- the amplified sound of the tree itself tional elements. Music starts not with depend on two contact microphones sound, but with a movement which attached to the tree. The tree func- might produce sound as a result. tions as the membrane for these contact microphones. My movements cause the tree to vibrate. These vibra- Groene Ruis – tions are barely audible, but clearly a project for a sounding tree perceptible for the contact microphones. The microphones transduce During this performance, I look for the the vibrations into electricity, and musical instrument in a small tree. I play from that moment onwards the rela- the tree with movements which are tionship between the movements of known from a traditional musical instru- the performer and the sound can be ment: I pluck its branches as if they composed. During the first part, were the strings of a small harp. Every the vibrations of the tree picked up pluck on the tree causes an electronic by the contact microphones are used ploing sound (in fact an enveloped sine by the computer to trigger the ploing wave) and for this reason the move- sounds. During the second part, these ments of the performer seem to have vibrations are sent directly through transformed the tree into a musical the loudspeakers and therefore the instrument. After a while though, the amplified vibrations of the tree itself ploings break away, and the amplified are heard. sound of the tree itself becomes audible. The illusion of the tree being a musical instrument collapses. The tree does sound now, but in accordance with what it looks like. Whilst in the beginning my instrument-playing movements seemed to cause the sound, it is now the materiality of the tree itself which seems to cause the sound. The perspective on musical performance

12 Later in the performance a hairdryer is in this case comparable to a percus- is added. There are again several situ- sionist hitting the tin cans. By moving ations: first the tree is blow-dried in the tin can towers I want to give them a way known from everyday life. The characteristics which are typical of a sound of the hair dryer is processed performer and not of an instrument. though, and develops a sound iden- From the moment they start to move, tity which no longer reminds us of shake and “walk” forward, their identity the everyday object. The hairdryer is changes into an intentional performer Groene Ruis, 2007 for a small box tree, moved in different ways: sometimes instead of a passive sounding object. hairdryer and in a realistic way, as though drying They move between object (the in- live electronics hair, or in this case, the tree. During strument played on) and subject (the other parts of the performance, the musician who is playing, making move- movements made with the hairdryer ments to make sound). The border are highly stylized, abstract and con- between listening to a sounding object trolled, as though an instrument is on one side, and sounds made by a being played. moving performer is crossed. The vibra- The performance, which takes tions of the material change into the as its departure point the story of the movements of the performer and the greek nymph Daphne, who changed instrument transforms into a performer. into a tree to escape the love of Apollo, switches between actions which are perceived as musical actions, and ac- Hearing Sirens – tions which are more closely related a project for mp3-players to everyday life. with portable horn-loudspeakers

In Blik – Listening is often done with private a performative sound loudspeakers in the ears of the listener. installation With Hearing Sirens I wanted to reverse this situation. The ears of the perform- In In Blik there are no musicians on er are extended by big yellow horns in stage. Five tin can towers placed on which two loudspeakers are mounted. tactile transducers produce the sound. The sound, a composition based on Tactile transducers function as loud- the sound of sirens, is played from an speakers without membranes. They mp3 player. The performer is the listen- vibrate depending on the electric cur- er of this composition, whose listening rent they receive, but contrary to loud- is made audible for other listeners. speakers with membranes, they barely The performer diffuses the sound into produce any sound. They transmit their the environment by her movements. vibrations directly to the tin cans placed The specific construction of the upon them. The tin cans amplify these horns and the fact that they are por- vibrations and make them audible. table gives them special acoustic Depending on the way the tin cans are possibilities. Due to the big horns, the placed upon each other and the height sound is diffused very directionally, of each tower, every tin can tower and is reflected by the environment in will amplify the vibrations through its which the performance is done. There- own characteristics. fore the audience will often hear the Also during this performance, early reflections before the direct an identity change takes place. The sound. Through a small movement tin can towers not only get vibrations of the performer, the pattern of the which make them sound, but also reflections, which are perceived by In Blik, 2008 much stronger vibrations which make the audience, can change enormously for tin can towers them move. The tactile transducer (see the scheme below). In this way, and electronics

14 15 the horn loudspeakers reveal the acoustical characteristics of the environment. Marianthi Amplifying Depending on the material characteristics of the environment, different fre- Papalexandri- the physical quencies will be reflected. The sound of Gestures have their own associations each performance is different whether and histories. Alexandri My intention gesture is to exam- done in the hills, in a landscape with ine the conditions under which a ges- snow, in a city or in a theatre hall, al- ture adopts a different function according to context, and to explore gesture as a reflection though it is the same mp3 sound file of habitual behavior. In my work, I use sound as a result of movement. I explore how ges- being played. The activity, which would tures can replace sound and silence (sonic absence-visual presence) and how they can be normally be recognised as listening, developed into audio-visual concepts. is now developing into a musical performance. The movements of listening become perceivable and these move- — No Name (2004) for 2 musicians without instruments — ments become movements of performing, playing the environment as an Everyday movement becomes music. Where is the line that tells you tapping your fingers on a instrument. table is not music? It’s just a gesture of daily life, but if there were a keyboard there, it would be associated with music. My work No Name examines the line that separates theater, music, Documentation of these performances can be found dance and everyday life. No Name is a work for magnetic tape and two musicians without instru- on the author’s website: www.cathyvaneck.net/groeneruis.html www.cathyvaneck.net/inblik.html www.cathyvaneck.net/hearingsiren.html

ments. It is for a trombonist and a pianist sitting on op- posite sides of a table, exploring the musical, theatrical, dance- like character of different bodily movements (physical actions).The pianist uses his fingers and hands, tapping or brushing the table to create sound. These are gestures taken from daily life, expressing moments of boredom or waiting. There is nothing to hide here. The moment a pianist raises his hand and lands his index finger on the table, it is impossible for the body and mind to forget or to ignore the habits formed through practicing. In short, does a reflection of behavior of performers, like dancers or athletes, develop throughout years of practice? The trombone part has a more reserved and internal character. Most of the bodily movements happen inside the body. The trombonist takes a breath as slowly as possible, fill- ing small parts of the lungs, isolating the air. After a few minutes it finally reaches the mouth and he breathes out.

Repetition The form of the piece is based on a loop of a series of actions. Performers repeat the series of actions again and again, while the audience may walk in and out at anytime. Repetition here offers the possibility of looking again and again, listening again and again, and expe- riencing every moment again and again. It’s repeatable, but not a mimesis or a copy. Rep- etition allows both performer and audience to explore the same gestures again and again under different conditions. On stage, gestures reveal an aesthetic function; within a context and vocabulary they gain style and shape. The first time a gesture appears onstage, it can be (mis)taken as involuntary expression. When a gesture is repeated numerous times however, it is eventually perceived as an aesthetic event. I allow the first repetition of the gesture to emerge as a non-spontaneous emotional expression. By repeating the same gesture I offer a different meaning and function, while extensive repetition proposes a further transformation of the function and

16 17 — Yarn — meaning of the gesture. In this way gestures can be perceived in many Composing Yarn (2008), I focus on analyzing the instrumentalist’s bodily movement and be- ways by losing and regaining function through repetition. In repetition I incor- havior and the idea that the instrument is the extension of her / his body. In this way, I show porate theatrical, choreographic, musical, and everyday life aspects associated with how a gesture becomes a reflection of habitual behavior. Revisiting the role of the physical gestures. Finally, it offers the chance to experience all the possible associations body in creating musical function, I aim to expand on the definition of musical instrument, related to gesture. musical gesture and sound.

Rhythm Yarn (for seven instrumentalists) explores the alternative possibilities of playing a conven- The action of tapping is taken from everyday life. But we do not tap in a mechanical way. tional musical instrument. For that purpose, two string instruments are connected by a fish- Precise repetition makes it artificial. Rhythm excludes any possibilities of perceiving this mo- ing line tied to one of their strings. This fishing line is bowed and transmits the sound to the ment as being derived from daily life or as being a theatrical gesture. It is purely musical. two connected instruments. The fishing line then becomes the main percussive instrument. In this way the percussionist and the two string players have to Visual repetition coordinate their bodily gestures in order to achieve the ideal I used to avoid repetition – any kind of repetition. I used to think of repetition as evidence sound. The slightest of lack of inspiration or laziness. I am happy to find that I have changed my mind. Repetition bodily movement has beauty. You enter an exhibition. Nobody tells you how many times to look at a picture, painting, sculpture, or space. Nobody indicates how and for how long you should observe a piece of art. You can revisit a gallery as many times as you wish (if you can afford it, and within the lifespan of the exhibition). Imagine a gallery full of the same image. Would you perceive this will change the tension of the fishing as a repetition? Repetition in the visual arts exists with the recurrence of the same color or line, affecting the sound. In other words shape or figure. This is visual repetition. the performers stay silent, but they are With music things are different. Most of the time, you attend a concert sitting silently and still active. The aim is to replace sound you can experience the same sound again only if this particular sonic moment is repeated with vision and to maintain the energy of within the piece. The piece has a specific length and it can only be experienced at that par- the piece by keeping the performers in a ticular moment. Sonic repetition offers multiple revisits. state of constant physical movement. In this way What about visual repetition in music? In my work I take a sound that has been repeated Yarn explores the conditions under which a physi- for a while and then I keep the physical gesture and remove the sound from it. In this way cal gesture gains a different function according to context. It also suggests ‘energetic si- you can still see the gesture but it does not produce sound anymore. However the continua- lence’ within such preparation, indicating that physical gestures themselves can replace tion of the same gestures – even when no longer audible – through repetition offers a type both sound and silence. To these ends Yarn uses an iconographic notation that depicts of visible sound. You can see it and therefore you can still hear it. physical gestures in line with musical functions.

Preparations Iconographic Notation My intention is to make performers aware of their actions and habits, to reveal the effort they The use of iconographic notation is aimed at highlighting the visual aspect of the perfor- make while performing, and to make them examine their own behaviour. Performers develop mance, and at encouraging performers to focus equally on sonic and visual elements. Icono- a very specific relationship between instrument and body. Through years of practice they graphic notation displays a detailed description of movement rather than a sound result. acquire an inherent sense of how to adjust mind and body while interpreting musical scores. It indicates how to play and on what part of the instrument to play. Thereafter it provides Consequently, performers establish physical behavior which leads to a certain automated illustrations of the physical actions – movements which create sound. process and aesthetic approach. A large part of my work is formed through the manipulation In addition, it explores the idea of what I call ‘hidden rhythm’. In this way it replaces con- of conventional instruments by preparations. I examine this type of sound production and ventional rhythmic indications with a detailed visual or iconographic representation of the the corresponding behavior of the performer. In manipulating the instrument, I constrain physical movement. In other words, it does not ask for the performer to count notes but habitual actions to force more immediate reactions in the performer. Their reactions in turn rather to focus on the idea of sound as a result of a series of physical movements. It suggests allow new forms of behavior and communication in the ensemble. a length for each gesture. It seeks different possibilities for creating and notating rhythm.

18 19 (For example a performer is asked to assemble and disassemble a recorder). A specific time frame is given for each action. The final sonic result depends on the performers’ movement, interpretation, and perception. Therefore the iconographic notation invites the performer to explore the anatomy of the instrument. However, it does not ask the performer to improvise. This type of notation explores the elaboration of different types of behavior. It can be ana- lytical, but flexible. This notation aims to create an unrepeatable sonic-visual experience for

both performer and listener. It aims to activate a dynamic process through intercon- nections and interrelationships. Each part works in relation to the others. In this way each player has to follow (emulate or imi- tate) the others’ speed dynamic, pitch and energy. This type of music can be explored fully only in real time performance. It is a method which asks that the performers listen, watch, communicate and work on things together. It aims to draw attention to the kinesthetic aspect of the performance while avoiding adopting any theatrical function. Instead, it focuses on alerting the performer to their habitual perceptions.

New Instruments Besides adapting existing instruments, I create new instruments including mechanized sound devices; in this way I explore new bodily movements and sounds by building mechanisms which mandate and manifest different approaches to musical interpretation. I have been working, in collaboration with the sound artist Pe Lang, on projects using self-constructed, motor-driven instruments which function both as sound sources and as kinetic musical scores (kinetic objects on stage determine speed, dynamic and other musical parameters). The works are presented as a combination of live performance and audio-visual installation, and aim to question the difference between performing and operating. The idea is to expand and question the role of the performer in contemporary music. What are the differences between the actions of playing, operating and acting?

www.marianthi.net www.marianthi.net/yarn.html www.dustedmagazine.com/features/342

Yarn (excerept), 2008

21 Falk “… as if you Hübner would …”

What I would like to dis- I am fascinated by a the- has no instrument. Al- cuss in this essay are atre that does not have though the instrument some thoughts about to include music, but and the control of sound conceptual and practical breathes a musical en- and timing are taken away, problems and struggles ergy originating from the the performance needs concerning a new, up- movements and the pro- to be performed by a mu- coming performance, to fession of the performers. sician – specifically a sax- be premiered in Amster- ophone player, because it dam in April / May 2010. The past demands in-depth physi- I do not by any means cal knowledge of saxo- present something con- Musicians ‘perform’ in phone playing. Perform- ceptually finished here; it many contemporary mu- ing without an instrument is my wish to discuss the sic theatre productions: has enormous conse- problems and struggles In most of these perform- quences, as the perform- of a new performance, ances, musicians perform er has to learn the piece the problems I encoun- music as musicians, and in a very different way, ter while conceptualising do something ‘on top’ of and practicing requires a and creating a piece, or their profession – singing very high amount of con- even before starting with (in the case of instrumen- centration. In order to the actual creation in the talists), speaking, writ- enable the performer to rehearsal process. As a ing (as in amplified form play the piece, I use only composer, director and in Schwarz auf Weiss by musical material as a ba- researcher, I am inter- Heiner Goebbels), walk- sis, recorded together with ested in creating music ing or moving in carefully him and his instrument. theatrical performances, organised choreographies, This way he knows the more specifically in cre- etc. The audience expe- acoustic surroundings in- ating ‘musical choreogra- riences an extension of timately, and also the phies’; these do not nec- the musician’s profession, physical origin of the essarily have to include built on top of the pro- sounds, enabling him to any music. I develop piec- fession which is always produce the movements es with musicians as the- present. What interests in his body to mime atrical performers, and me in contrast to this is these sounds – although am interested in the im- the idea of abstracting without his instrument. A pact of experimental set- away specific qualities or striking effect is that, by ups on the professional abilities of the musician’s taking away the instru- identity of musicians in profession, yet at the ment, one really gets to theatre. Working from same time using certain see the player and every the main medium of mu- abilities very explicitly detail of the body while sic and composition, I indeed. In my 2008 / 2009 performing. By taking away seek to push its bounda- performance Thespian Play, the instrument, the musi- ries into the media of a saxophone player per- cian becomes transformed theatre and performance. forms a musical chore- into a theatrical performer. What I’m looking for is a ography without his in- theatre that is inhabited strument, quasi-miming The future by musicians that ‘pro- what happens on the vide’ another theatrical- soundtrack. He does not In my next performance, ity than that of actors make a single sound dur- almost equal / meistens or dancers. ing the whole piece, and gleich for conductor and

23 percussion player, I am In-between and sounds he hears from the seeking to push this con- moving: The present orchestra. In part this can cept further, and work on be rehearsed. To a larger an independent yet musi- Problem 1: extent it cannot, since cal movement language The problem of necessity the sound happens in the – the performative use of here and now of the per- the musical movements A ‘musical choreography’ formance. The conductor as autonomous move- becomes strong and con- needs the orchestra in ment material, and create vincing at the moment order to produce many a music theatrical chore- when the performer fills of his movements. The ography for conductor, the movement with musi- problem in this case is percussion player and cal meaning. If a director thus not in the direction loudspeaker installation. / choreographer just lets from the conductor to There are no instruments the musicians produce the (missing) orchestra, on stage. The two players abstract movements, there but from the orchestra will perform a choreog- is a risk that they appear to the conductor. If there raphy of musical move- meaningless or amateur- is no orchestra, thus no ments that are rooted in ish, as they do not belong feedback to react to, why their professions. How to the experience of the should he conduct? far can musical move- musician. I try to create One possible, el- ments be developed to- an intense and tight rela- egant solution to this wards choreographic ma- tionship to musical move- problem could be that terial, and how far can ment, because at the mo- the conductor in the end the boundaries of musi- ment when the musician simply won’t be a conduc- cal performance be push- can link the movement tor anymore; he becomes ed towards choreography he performs to a musi- a performer, rendering or dance? cal action or musical in- the orchestral feedback The largest part the strument, he can fill the unnecessary. As a task- performance will be in movement with meaning based performance, the silence. At specific mo- and intensity. For instru- conductor could try to ments the performers mentalists the problem is convince the audience of will hold still, and elec- a solvable one, because a certain sound he has in tronic interludes come they are highly skilled in his mind: a forte-accent out of the eight loud- knowing what their in- by the strings does not speakers arranged in the struments produce under only sound different than stage space. The loud- various physical circum- the same accent played speaker installation is the stances (such as finger by the brass, it certainly only sound source in the settings or the speed of a also looks different when whole performance. This drum hit). watching the conduc- setting implies a shifting In the case of the tor. It would be possible (and alienation?) from conductor this becomes to collect material by traditional musical func- more complex. For a con- breaking the orchestral tions and their social im- ductor the instrument – direction practice down plications. The conductor an ensemble or orchestra into elements, different is forced to leave his po- – is always different, de- dynamics, different or- sition as musical director, pending on the ensemble, chestral groups, articula- and both musicians are on the piece being played, tions, phrasings, tempos, put aside in equal roles and on the mood of the etc., and search for all the as performers. performance etc. With small and large differenc- his movements, the con- es between the different ductor not only precedes movement qualities, and any played note, but also thus generate the per- reacts very strongly to formance material. With

24 such a strategy the close have to act as if they were musicians becomes man- Being a performance for saxo- reference to orchestral a conductor and a per- ifested in the choreog- phone player without saxophone, soundtrack and video, Thespian conducting remains pre- cussionist? The last thing raphy, although these Play was developed as work-in- sent, but the conductor I would want as a music movements are displaced progress in close collaboration is freed of the necessity theatre maker is to let the and dislocated, and trans- with the performer Heiner Gulich. A trailer of the performance can of feedback from the musicians do any acting; formed from musical into be seen on www.falk-huebner.de/ orchestra. Ultimately, I this would end up in an performative or choreo- work/ThespianPlay. am looking for the musi- amateurish performance graphic movements. This cal energy and presence with musicians doing resonates with German of the movements more something they are not theatre theorist Erika than the music itself very good at. Fischer-Lichte when she (in fact it is arguable if I I will try to solve this proposes with reference am creating music). Im- conceptual and practi- to Judith Butler that iden- agine a percussion player cal problem by starting tity as bodily and social moving as if striking a with the profession of reality is not predefined large tam tam with full the musicians. All move- in any ontological or bio- energy, only without the ments have their origin in logical sense, but the re- beater and the tam tam. the musical movements sult of performative acts. You almost hear the either of conducting or However, the movement, sound, and you certainly of playing percussion especially for the per- feel the energy. instruments. From this former, refers to another starting point I will try to action, and to another Problem 2: expand the quality of the meaning, namely the mu- The as if – problem movement, for example sical action. This musical by slowing it down, stop- action usually serves the I plan to work with the ping in the middle of a need to produce sound, performers on move- movement, letting one thus is merely a means to ments which bear a movement fade into an- reach the actual goal of strong reference to their other, or combining it producing sound. What musical practice. As a first with other movements I do is accentuate this ac- step, I would ask the per- from everyday life. The tion, and transform it into cussion player for exam- originally musical move- the central element of ple to imagine hitting a ments become transform- performance. The move- bass drum fortissimo, but ed into performative, cho- ment is no longer a means without the beater and reographic movements; (naturally in traditional the drum. In contrast to for the audience these musical performance the Thespian Play, the percus- movements do not nec- movement to produce sion player has to imag- essarily have to have a sound also has performa- ine the sound completely, recognisable relation to tive potential), but the without any physical or their origin; most impor- sole focus, as there is audible feedback. Thus, tant is that the performers no sound. in a way I am asking the can link every movement performer to move as if they do to its origin, and he would hit a drum; I am thus to their professional asking him to pretend to practice as musicians. At do something that he in the point where that suc- fact does not do, or to re- ceeds, the musicians are produce something that able to perform the chore- is not really present on ography convincingly and stage. Is this approach will be able to fill it with just a way of dealing with energy and meaning. musicians as if they were Thus even in silence their actors? Do the musicians professional identity as

26 27 able, I become inert from a cidents caused by components Frederik ‘Le Piano piano player’s point of view. wearing out determines to what The sense of direction disap- degree he can push the musical Croene Démécanisé’ pears, there’s no more of that build-up. black and white geography, only That is why there’s no need to bass copper strings to the right prevent these accidents from and shorter and shorter strings happening by, for example, The secret automaton. A guide for the to the left. Classical note systems gluing the tissues. nostalgic pianist. become unusable. The love for the The mechanics between piano keys instrument is so strong The pianist-writer. and strings act as a buffer be-tween The pianist, in the process of dis- however that I choose to recover the pianist and sound. The way the mantling his instrument, is prised the wreckage of the piano (keys, The first action that ‘le pianiste sounds are to be produced has been out of his role as an interpreter. pieces of fabric, metal tenons ). démécanisé’ undertakes is predetermined. It is sound technique He’s left behind in a situation I use the keys as multipurpose mal- exquisitely nostalgic. He comes protocol that the pianist, from the be- where only improvisation and lets. I sometimes introduce piano up with an album on vinyl and ginning of his study, learns to conform; composition can save him. Dis- parts in between the strings and re- rejects all the modern editing any form of sound adventure is crippled. armed as he is, the nostalgic build the instrument, which can’t and recording techniques, thus This turns the pianist into a nostalgic pianist seeks support in a num- be relied on to produce exact notes projecting his music into a future character, doomed to think in terms of, ber of rules which remind him anymore. Furthermore, nothing from which it returns as a boo- and play according to, of his pianistic identity: keeps me from listening to the merang, and equally securing ancient rules. The black and white geog- sound of the varnish being scraped his place in piano history. raphy of the keys encorsets him in a hier- a. off. Freed from classical tuning I archical system of notes. The pianist is a He turns an old upright piano stretch the broken strings right Vinyl, in comparison to CD, rigid vision, a willing servant to the secret onto its back after the keyboard across the frame. offers more graphical possibili- automaton. and all the mechanical pieces ties to materialise music and have been removed. The dramatic dismantling turns the piano ideas. It traditionally has two The intimate authenticity performance into a theatrical experience. covers. The hard outer one of sabotage. b. You see the pianist as a percussionist protects and enables the visu- He only uses his hands and parts squeezing sound out of an obsolete, retired alisation of music, also making Once the inner parts of the piano disap- of the instrument itself for play- object. No use in being a refined, cultivated room for explanatory text. pear, the former education of the pianist ing; no external objects are pianist as a dandy now, you need muscled The thin cover provides extra becomes insignificant. Not only has the utilised to manipulate the strings arms and a strong back to conquer the use- protection against dust and entire piano repertoire become impossible (‘extended piano techniques’). lessness of the instrument. Any concert, scratching. This principle is to play, but his training, stylistic know- Nor does he make use of elec- when employing this new-found instru- reversed when introducing the ledge and idiomatic intuition have also tronic devices to alter the sound ment, becomes unpredictable due to the external cover in the inner one become useless. Nevertheless, this sabo- (‘piano and electronics’). fact that the keys and the frame, not built and displaying all the text on tage is not a provocation but the ultimate for this, wear out. The metal pins of the the above mentioned inner expression of a creative process. The c. keys have a layer of felt that may come off cover. Consequently, intuitive pianist reaches, through the many hours He records everything himself at any moment, immediately sharpening music is protected by a cover of practice necessary to master an in- and there is no cutting, pasting the sound. The pin might also pierce the consisting of this very text. strument, a fiery physical bond with or layering in the recording. key, making it unusable. Bass strings Following the tradition of clas- his instrument. Again and again hands especially tend to break. The keys sical recordings, it is the pianist and fingers devote themselves to the d. easily get caught in between strings; who provides the necessary keys in a repeated attempt to hear He plays the compositions a releasing them is noisy and requires description of the music pieces: the instrument as an extension of the few times without pausing, time and the use of both hands. body. That desire for a perfect sym- consequently choosing the best biosis between the physical body versions for the album: The musical fantasy of the per- of the player and the instrumental former has to work hand in hand sound is freed when, thanks to I decided to sabotage with his mind, which must be the disappearance of the me- the piano and there- oriented towards finding prac- chanical armour, fingers can fore my education at tical solutions. The speed finally touch the strings. the conservatory. All of reaction with which the scores become unplay- musician responds to ac-

28 29 Side A Side B

1. 1. ‘Réanimation forcée’ is the The grotesque ‘poil palliatif’ forced reanimation of the piano ritual marks the beginning of wreck, a somewhat overloaded the battle with death with opening meant to display a wide scratching noises, odd drum-rolls, spectrum of playing techniques hard knocks and beastly cries. and leading dynamics in a pulsating The action takes place on the rythmicity. wrinkled skin of the wooden frame where the keys scrape off the varnish 2. and in the cruel strikes on pieces of The fulfilled, intimate feel of ‘amour key that are squeezed in between bass éternelle’ voices the unity between instru- strings. This is no soft treatment but ment and musician, necessary for the a barbaric plan to bring scrap material concept. The low, dark basses create back to the purpose of making sound. a resounding universe in which the pianist can daringly prove his love for the strings 2. and resonance with almost painful glissan- ‘Gonflammation’ is the very ritual of burn- di. There is a third layer of harp-like sounds ing; in the melting sound deformities, old which are, in between glissandi and basses, piano techniques rise to the surface and reminiscent of classical piano playing and immediately disappear in the swelling which act as an intermediary between the clouds of sound. Recognizable piano notes two antagonists. still spark out here and there from the glow- ing sound embers. The frame is prepared 3. for burial: measurements are taken using The pianist explores, in the ‘toccata cardi- a black key instead of a ruler, a key that is aque’, the physical borders of his rediscov- grindingly pushed onto the strings and that ered instrument, consequently alluding to creates a dry ‘tock’ whenever it hits the side. virtuouso toccata tradition from piano litera- ture. He touches the resonating heart of the 3. piano with three crescendos played on The remaining piano carcass is yet again different spots of the frame until the strings forced to play an entertaining role in the or the keys with which he drums on the hysterical dance of ‘animation geriatrique’. frame may start to give out and therefore The latter is mercilessly restrained with sound overmodulated (by touching neigh- pizzicatos that have more structure boring strings). That disturbance is a than body in their sound. victory since that is normally not possible on modern pianos that have a hammer 4. mechanism. At this point the instrument ‘Pour le piano’ was recorded against all and the player meet in a transcendental rules using an external sound source space where the trilling of the strings that plays a piece of nostalgic piano overpowers the preprogrammed self- music in the vicinity of the strings and protectiveness of the instrument. the microphones. The pianist accom- panies the classical sounding music gently touching the strings with his fingers, evoking the sea or the wind that in their turn allude to romantic sanctuaries to which the classical piano music takes us.

www.myspace.com/audiomer Fotos by Chris Van Der Burght www.merpaperkunsthalle.org/

30 31 Few think of the two media as equal let alone consider the kind of relation- The Postman Matthew ships Rees and I thought these pieces were about. For me, this gap between intention and result left things open in a rather uninteresting kind of way. Always Rings Shlomowitz’s In the Letter Pieces I’ve pursued these ideas in a context where the visual and musical dimensions are both performed live, as can be seen in the ABC: Letter Pieces photo of Shila Anaraki and Tomma Wessel below.

Letter Pieces is an ongoing series of short performance pieces that I began composing in 2007. To date there are eight Letter Pieces, seven of which are duos. Each Letter Piece has a score, positioning a small number of physical actions and sound objects – which the players invent – in a fixed order. I have called them Letter Pieces because the scores use letters to represent these sounds and actions. To put it simply, I’ve created the structure and the players create the content; two enactments of the same piece may look and sound entirely different. In what follows I will say something about myself and how I came to work in this area, outline the ideas behind the pieces, show how the scores work, and discuss performance issues. I was born in 1975 and grew up in Adelaide, Australia. I did a first degree in Sydney and then studied composition privately with Michael Finn- issy in England, followed by a doctorate at Stanford University working with Brian Ferneyhough. Although my Letter Pieces share little in common with either of my teacher’s work, their critical attitude to composition, and in particular Finnissy’s iconoclastic stance, frames the way I think. I moved to London in 2002 and since then have become interested in interdisciplinary work. The main catalyst for this was my experience in co-directing Rational Rec, an organisation that put on monthly inter-arts events in East London ♪ ♪ www.rationalrec.org.uk for three years. In 2004 I began working with video artist Rees Archibald. Over the next four years we made three pieces together. The first two of these pieces,Six Aspects of the Body in Image and Sound and Train Travel, combine video with notated instrumental music that is performed live. The third, A Documen- tary Saga of the OuLiPo (with a text by Andrew Infanti), is a video work with I also wanted to strip my ideas down, in terms of both the nature and quan- ♫ ♫ You can see video no live component. In Six Aspects and Train Travel Rees and I explored two tity of material. That is, to use just a small number of very short (e.g. one clips of these pieces main formal ideas. Firstly, we set up different degrees of synchronisation second) physical-actions and sound-objects in any given piece. I wanted at www.shlom.com between the video and the music; some visuals were co-ordinated with the the pieces to have an elemental and reduced quality so that the shifting music, some weren’t, and others were somewhere in between. Secondly, we relationships would be clear. played with the idea of taking a short visual sequence that is repeated sev- Each of the first four Letter Pieces is for a visual performer and a musi- eral times in combination with different musical sequences, and vice versa cian. The performer part may be enacted using any visual language, and by (i.e. coupling and decoupling audio/visual pairs). someone from any background: dance, puppetry, mime, etc. Musicians have I learnt a lot from thinking through these kinds of issues with Rees, and also enacted the visual part, sometimes using physical-actions associated got turned on to exploring interdisciplinary issues, however, I came to the with playing their instruments. The only factor essential to the performer conclusion that video+music was not the right medium for me. My prob- part is that it is focussed on the visual medium, as exploring audio-visual lem was that pre-recorded video was combined with live music, creating a relationships is key. The music part is equally open, and any instrumentalist strange, asymmetrical situation where the two media cannot react to one may perform it using conventional or non-conventional instrument(s). another in performance. Furthermore, the musicians performed in near The first four Letter Pieces have similar titles, each made up of five darkness so as not to distract attention away from the video, which gave the words beginning with the letters A, B, C, D and E. In these pieces each works a disembodied quality that I didn’t like. I like seeing people perform player creates a set of five events: the performer creates five physical-ac- and I like to see the way people perform together and react to one another. tions and the musician creates five sound-objects. Each event is always I get a thrill from performance virtuosity and I like the heat and dangers one beat long; as each piece has a different tempo a beat may range from of the live performance scenario. I came to the conclusion that with this half a second to two seconds in length. The five respective events are la- medium audiences prioritise the visual dimension, regarding the audio as a belled A, B, C, D and E in the score. For both players an event may be a sin- kind of soundtrack – aside from some musicians who prioritise the music! gle visual action/sound, or a complex of actions/sounds that form a gestalt.

32 33 Dear New Music,

we are here, because the weather is amazingly friendly and because we all have something to do with new music.

We are an example of the randomness and the subjectivity of the concept New Music and: we are full of lust to turn this into an optimistic message.

New music is the practice of new music!

New music is a social concept as well as an individual experience. New music is what each of us calls new music. New music is what we make of it. We are new music!

— David Helbich, New Music Demonstration organizer 13 September 2009, Oslo (excerpt) For instance, a sound-object could be a single note or it could be a gesture I have provided one more example of a five-step narrative at the end of this that is made up of a bunch of notes perceived as a single event. Each event text with photos of dancer Shila Anaraki illustrating the actions she cre- should be distinct, discrete and performed exactly the same way each time ated in her performance of this piece with Tomma Wessel, the two perform- without variation (unless instructed otherwise). The symbol “+” denotes a ers who have worked most extensively on these pieces. one beat rest, indicating to the performer to hold still in a neutral position or In the York performance, Mark performed on a synthesizer with a kitschy to the musician to be silent. A passage of score looks like this: electric piano sound. He created five distinct sound-objects that were unre- lated to one another (other than “sounding good” together), and which did not obviously relate to the physical-actions. In other Letter Piece performances, musicians have formed mimetic relationships between the actions PERFORMER A + B + + A + B C and sounds. For instance, the visual action of knocking on a door matched MUSICIAN A + B + A + B + C with a knocking sound, or a raising-of-eyebrows matched with an ascend- ing musical figure. From my perspective both approaches are valid. One of PERFORMER A B + B A + A B C the interesting things is that when an action and a sound are performed MUSICIAN A B + A B + B A C together, we perceptually couple them even if they share no material relationship. A central idea of all the pieces is shifting these relationships. For instance, in the following example visual A is initially coupled with sonic A, and then coupled with sonic C. Letter Piece 1: Arsenal, Bahrain, Chihuahua, Darjeeling and Eisenhower, was written for David Helbich and Mark Knoop. In this piece the visual performer is asked to construct a narrative sequence in five actions; A, B, C, D and E. Here are three possible narratives: PERFORMER A B A B A B A B A MUSICIAN A B A B A B C B C

Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Similarly, players may enact the same letter pattern one after the other as A Getting on a bicycle Opening fridge Walking can be seen in the first line below, followed by getting it “wrong” as can be B Riding along Taking drink out Ducking seen in the second. C Looking terrified Pouring drink Looking above D Evading something Drinking Aggressive gesture E Falling off Wiping mouth Running away PERFORMER A B C D + + + + + MUSICIAN + + + + A B C D +

The narrative David created for the first performance, shown below, was PERFORMER A B C D + + + + + more elaborate in two ways. Firstly, his narrative implied an alternation be- MUSICIAN + + + + A B D C + tween two people. Secondly, he constructed his narrative in reverse order. I like it when performers take such creative licence as it extends the possibilities and potential meanings of the pieces in ways that I could not have imagined. In the final part of this text I will discuss a variety of distinct issues. There are passages in various Letter Pieces where the players stop performing actions/sounds and instead speak the letter names themselves (maintain- ing the strict pulse). My intention in these instances is to nakedly reveal the E (person 1) asking for a cigarette lighter structure. One friend told me that these passages destroyed the “magic” of D (person 2) rejecting the request the pieces. That is exactly my intention! I think such moments are akin to C (person 1) what’s the problem? Brecht’s “distancing effect” (although without Brecht’s political agenda). B (person 2) punch Brecht utilised techniques, such as having an actor directly address the au- A (person 1) being hit dience, to prevent the audience from losing itself passively in the character portrayed by the actor. Similarly, my hope is that these speaking passages suggest a different and critical way of thinking about the work. Although all of the Letter Pieces each share similar ideas, each piece also has a specific concept. Here are two examples. In Letter Piece 2: As- sam, Buchanan, Chelsea, Dalmatian and Egypt, there is an additional symbol

36 37 in the score that indicates micro-variation. That is, the performers are in- feels less deliberate as it comes through the treatment of the events rather structed to modify aspects of a given event in such a way that the identity than the inherent qualities of the events. Other performers make overtly of the original event remains recognisable. Throughout the piece there are comedic choices such as a slapstick gesture. This can also work, but from sections that focus on this feature by presenting a series of variations on the other direction: the humour of a funny gesture is quickly alienated when a single event. The distinct quality of Letter Piece 5: Northern Cities is that repeated several times. both players produce actions, sounds and speak words. For the first half of In working on these pieces with players I have encountered various the piece the two players each create a set of three related actions and a set practical performance issues. For instance, in performing actions the move- of three related sound-objects that are not related to the other performer’s ment from the end position of one action to the start position of the next ac- sets. In the table below these relationships can be seen vertically: tion can itself be perceived as an action, which leads to confusion. The best solution to combat this is for the performer to return to a neutral position between each action, but as this requires extra time the performer needs Actions Sounds to create their actions with this concern in mind. Another issue is that per- PLAYER 1 PLAYER 2 PLAYER 1 PLAYER 2 formers often instinctively begin actions and sounds before the start of the beat, especially when that action/sound has a movement leading to a strong A Sign for “wind” Smile Strike box Shake coins attack. With a punch, for instance, it is natural to place the end point on the B Sign for “rain” Yawn Strike tin Shake sand beat. Once a performer has battled against this instinct and learnt to begin C Sign for “sun” Wink Strike pot Shake water the punch on the beat the result it is much more interesting as it creates a kind of syncopation. Displacing the natural accent also gives a strange, artificial and mechanical quality, underlining that these actions/sounds are not free or spontaneous, but regulated by the beat and by the structure. For the second half the players create new sets of actions and sounds I will end by considering the role of the performer in these pieces. It is a where the relationships are between the A, B and C of each player. In the collaborative role requiring a high level of creative engagement. In discuss- table below these relationships can be seen horizontally: ing various issues above, I’ve acknowledged that I happily accept differing approaches. I think it would be silly to invite players to make choices and then be unwilling to accept those choices. I’d also like to think different interpretations of a given piece extend the potentiality of that piece, and Actions Sounds in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Most importantly, I hope that the task I PLAYER 1 PLAYER 2 PLAYER 1 PLAYER 2 set up for performers in a given piece offers an interesting and distinctive space for creative decision making. A Yelling motion Covering ears Tear paper Scrunch paper I would like to thank Shila Anaraki and Newton Armstrong for their B Punch Being hit Sing “do” Sing “re” comments. C Reading Turning page Single clap Double clap Videos of Letter Piece performances can bee seen at: www.letter-pieces.blogspot.com

To my delight, per- Dancer formances of these Shila Anaraki Letter Piece 1: pieces often re- Arsenal, Bahrain, ceive laughter and I Chihuahua, like to think the Darjeeling and Eisenhower, 2008 pieces can be both conceptually rich as well as light and funny. Some players perform the pieces in a dead- pan manner and don’t choose obviously funny sounds / actions. When humour results in these instances it is unexpected and

38 39 Letter Piece Northern Cities No. 5: Duo for two performers, composed July 2008, duration 5'30'' Written for the Parkinson / SaundersDuo

Performance directions

Each performer does 3 types of things: 1) Making sounds with objects 2) Performing visual actions 3) Speaking words

Making sounds with objects – Each player has two groups of objects with three objects in each group. – Each object should produce a distinctive sound, which could be produced by any manner other than with the mouth, for example: striking it (with stick or hand), shaken, dropped etc. It could be a single sound (I.e. a single attack) or a complex sound that is perceived as a single sound action.

The first set of sounds is labeled in the score as Obj1, Obj2 and Obj3. The three sounds of each player should be related, but not related to the other player’s sounds. For instance:

PLAYER 1 PLAYER 2

Obj1 Drop a ruler onto a table Strike a pot Obj2 Drop a pen onto a table Strike a can Obj3 Drop a book onto a table Strike a tin

The second set of sounds is labeled in the score as ObjA, ObjB and ObjC. The three objects in each player’s group should not be related, but there should be a relationship between ObjA of each player, and likewise for ObjB and ObjC.

PLAYER 1 PLAYER 2

ObjA Shake a bottle with water Shake a bottle with sand ObjB Tear paper Scrunch paper ObjC Strike a flower pot with a chop-stick Strike a can pot with a chop-stick

41 Performing actions CROTCHET = 60 – Each player has two groups of actions with three actions in each group.

The first set of actions is labeled in the score as Act1, Act2 and Act3. The Pl1 Obj1 + + Obj1 + + Obj1 + + Obj1 Obj3 three actions for each player should be related, but not related to the other Pl2 + + + + Obj2 + + Obj2 + + Obj3 player’s actions. For instance:

PLAYER 1 PLAYER 2 Rit ------Pl1 + Obj3 + + Obj1 + Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Act1 Wink Sign language for “sun” Pl2 + Obj3 Obj2 Obj2 + Obj2 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Act2 Smile Sign language for “rain” Act3 Yawn Sign language for “wind”

Pl1 + + + + Obj2 + + Obj2 + + Obj3 The second set of actions is labeled in the score as ActA, ActB and ActC. Pl2 Obj1 + + Obj1 + + Obj1 + + Obj1 Obj3 The three actions in each player’s group should not be related, but there should be a relationship between ActA of each player, and likewise for ActB and ActC (this relationship could be one of opposites, cause/effect, or similarity). For instance: Rit ------Pl1 + Obj3 Obj2 Obj2 + Obj2 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Pl2 + Obj3 + + Obj1 + Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 PLAYER 1 PLAYER 2

ActA Throw a punch Hit by a punch ActB Laughing Frowning ActC Standing on toes Arms stretching above head Pl1 Obj1 + + Obj1 Obj2 + Obj1 Obj2 + Obj1 Obj3 Pl2 Obj1 + + Obj1 Obj2 + Obj1 Obj2 + Obj1 Obj3

Speaking words Spoken words are indicated in the score with italics, e.g. New Rit ------NOTE: The choice of sounds and actions are left entirely to the player’s Pl1 + Obj3 Obj2 Obj2 Obj1 Obj2 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 discretion. All examples given above are just that, examples. The spoken Pl2 + Obj3 Obj2 Obj2 Obj1 Obj2 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 words on the other hand are fixed – these words may not be substituted with other words.

SYMBOLS Pl1 Act1 + + Act1 Obj2 + Act1 Obj2 + Act1 Obj3 + Indicates a beat of rest Pl2 Obj1 + + Obj1 Obj2 + Obj1 Obj2 + Obj1 Obj3 ᴖ Pause

Rit ------Pl1 + Obj3 Obj2 Obj2 Act1 Obj2 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Pl2 + Obj3 Obj2 + Obj1 Obj2 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3

42 Pl1 Act1 + + Act1 Act2 + Act1 Act 2 + Act1 Obj3 Pl1 New + + New cas + New cas + New tle Pl2 Act1 + + Act1 Obj2 + Act1 Obj2 + Act1 Obj3 Pl2 Hudd + + Hudd ers + Hudd ers + Hudd field

Rit ------Rit ------Pl1 + Obj3 Act2 Act 2 Act1 Act 2 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Pl1 + tle cas cas New cas tle tle tle tle Pl2 + Obj3 Obj2 Obj2 Act1 Obj2 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Pl2 + field ers ers Hudd ers field field field field

Pl1 Act1 + + Act1 Act2 + Act1 Act 2 + Act1 Act3 Pl1 New + + New cas + New cas + New tle Pl2 Act1 + + Act1 Obj2 + Act1 Obj2 + Act1 Obj3 Pl2 Liv + + Liv er + Liv er + Liv pool

Rit ------Rit ------Pl1 + Act3 Act2 Act 2 Act1 Act 2 Act3 Act3 Act3 Act3 Pl1 + tle cas cas New cas tle tle tle tle Pl2 + Obj3 Obj2 Obj2 Act1 Obj2 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Pl2 + field er er Liv er pool pool pool pool

Pl1 Man + + Man Act2 + Man Act 2 + Man Act3 Pl1 Hart + + Hart le + Hart le + Hart pool Pl2 Act1 + + Act1 Act2 + Act1 Act 2 + Act1 Act3 Pl2 Liv + + Liv er + Liv er + Liv pool

Rit ------Rit ------Pl1 + Act3 Act2 Act 2 Man Act 2 Act3 Act3 Act3 Act3 Pl1 + pool le le Hart le pool pool pool pool Pl2 + Act3 Act2 Act2 Act1 Act2 Act3 Act3 Act3 Act3 Pl2 + field er er Liv er pool pool pool pool

Pl1 Hart + + Hart le + Hart le + Hart pool CROTCHET = 120 Pl2 Sun + + Sun der + Sun der + Sun land

Pl1 Man + + Man ches + Man ches + Man ter Pl2 Hudd + + Hudd ers + Hudd ers + Hudd field Rit ------Pl1 + pool le le Hart le pool pool pool pool Pl2 + land der der Sun der land land land land

Rit ------Pl1 + ter ches ches Man ches ter ter ter ter Pl2 + field ers ers Hudd ers field field field field Pl1 Leeds + + Leeds Leeds + Leeds Leeds + Leeds Leeds Pl1 Obj1 + + Obj1 Obj2 + Obj1 Obj2 + Obj1 Obj3 Pl2 Sun + + Sun der + Sun der + Sun land Pl2 + + + + ObjB + + ObjB + + ObjC

Rit ------Rit ------Pl1 + Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Pl1 + Obj3 Obj2 Obj2 Obj1 Obj2 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Obj3 Pl2 + land der der Sun der land land land land Pl2 + ObjC ObjB ObjB + ObjB ObjC ObjC ObjC ObjC

Pl1 Leeds + + Leeds Leeds + Leeds Leeds + Leeds Leeds Pl1 + + + + ObjB + + ObjB + + ObjC Pl2 York + + York York + York York + York York Pl2 ObjA + + ObjA ObjB + ObjA ObjB + ObjA ObjC

Rit ------Rit ------Pl1 + Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Leeds Pl1 + ObjC ObjB ObjB + ObjB ObjC ObjC ObjC ObjC Pl2 + York York York York York York York York York Pl2 + ObjC ObjB ObjB ObjA ObjB ObjC ObjC ObjC ObjC

Pl1 ObjA + + ObjA ObjB + ObjA ObjB + ObjA ObjC CROTCHET = 60 Pl2 ObjA + + ObjA ObjB + ObjA ObjB + ObjA ObjC

Pl1 Obj1 + + Obj1 + + Obj1 + + Obj1 + Pl2 + + + + Obj2 + + Obj2 + + Obj3 Rit ------Pl1 + ObjC ObjB ObjB ObjA ObjB ObjC ObjC ObjC ObjC Pl2 + ObjC ObjB ObjB ObjA ObjB ObjC ObjC ObjC ObjC

Rit ------Pl1 + Obj3 + Obj2 + Obj2 + Obj3 + Obj3 Pl2 + + Obj2 + Obj1 + Obj3 + Obj3 + Pl1 ObjA + + ObjA ObjB + ObjA ObjB + ObjA ObjC Pl2 + + + ActA ActB + ActA ActB + ActA ActC

Pl1 + + + + Obj2 + + Obj2 + + Obj3 Pl2 Obj1 + + Obj1 + + Obj1 + + Obj1 + Rit ------Pl1 + ObjC ObjB ObjB ObjA ObjB ObjC ObjC ObjC ObjC Pl2 + ActC ActB ActB ActA ActB ActC ActC ActC ActC

Rit ------Pl1 + + Obj2 + Obj1 + Obj3 + Obj3 + Pl2 + Obj3 + Obj2 + Obj2 + Obj3 + Obj3 Pl1 + + + ActA ActB + ActA ActB + ActA ActC Pl1 Ed + + Ed in + Ed in + Ed burgh Pl2 ObjA + + ObjA ObjB + ObjA ObjB + ObjA ObjC Pl2 Mid + + Mid dles + Mid dles + Mid brough

Rit ------Rit ------Pl1 + burgh in in Ed in burgh burgh burgh burgh Pl1 + ActC ActB ActB ActA ActB ActC ActC ActC ActC Pl2 + brough dles Mid dles dles brough brough brough brough Pl2 + ObjC ObjB ObjB ObjA ObjB ObjC ObjC ObjC ObjC

Pl1 In + + In ver + In ver + In ness Pl1 ActA + + ActA ActB + ActA ActB + ActA ActC Pl2 Ab + + Ab er + Ab er + Ab deen Pl2 + + + ActA ActB + ActA ActB + ActA ActC

ᴖ Rit ------Rit ------Pl1 + ness ver ver In ver ness ness ness ness Pl1 + ActC ActB ActB ActA ActB ActC ActC ActC ActC + Pl2 + deen er er Ab er deen deen deen deen Pl2 + ActC ActB ActB ActA ActB ActC ActC ActC ActC +

ᴖ ᴖ ᴖ Pl1 Hel + + Hel sin + Hel sin + Hel ki + Pl2 Rey + + Rey kja + Rey Kja + Rey vik + Pl1 ActA + + ActB + + ActC + + Pl2 + ActA + + ActB + + ActC +

ᴖ

ᴖ ᴖ ᴖ Pl1 + ki sin sin Hel sin + ki Rit ------Pl2 + vik kja kja Rey kja + vik Pl1 + Dar + + ling + + ton + Pl2 ActA + + ActB + + ActC + +

CROTCHET = 120

Pl1 Dar + + Dar ling + Dar ling + Dar ton Pl2 Mid + + Mid dles + Mid dles + Mid brough

Rit ------Pl1 + ton ling ling dar ling ton ton ton ton Pl2 + brough dles Mid dles dles brough brough brough brough Steven VISITE GUIDÉE Prengels MÂLIQUE For Voice. Ad lib. with instrumental accompaniment.

Visite Guidée Mâlique is my rendition into French of pages 8 to 10 of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, as seen from the perspective of Marcel Duchamp’s Large Glass (The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even, 1915–23). The connections that I have created between Joyce and Duchamp do not hold a claim to any general validity, nor do they seek to embody one. As a matter of fact, between these two artists there exists no connection whatsoever relevant to this undertaking. Yet, my choice to create them anyhow is to be considered as a creative act. As such its only necessary justification lies in this artistic choice. Instructions for Performance:

1. In case of a personal performance (i.e. without a public): Ad Lib. Read the text (in silence or aloud) at the piano (or any other instrument). Replace each by an E (short or longer (ad lib.), in different octaves (ad lib.), in multiple octaves (ad lib.)

2. In case of a public performance : Read the text (aloud). The accompanist (preferably a pianist) replaces each by an E (short or longer (ad lib.), in different octaves (ad lib.), in multiple octaves (ad lib.)

Marcel Duchamp, The 1915 Manuscript in ink on paper 22.2 × 14.3 cm Philidelphia Museum of Art www.philamuseum.org

51 Finnegans Wake VISITE GUIDÉE MÂLIQUE - 9 - (James Joyce) A Guided Tour (by nine Malic Moulds) through Marcel Duchamp’s Large Glass This is me Belchum sneaking his phillippy out Voici mes Maroles qui entrent furtivement ‘The Bride Stripped Bare by her of his most Awful Grimmest Sunshat Crom- ses mâlinie, à partir de ses affreuse machin- Bachelors, Even’ welly. Looted. This is the jinnies’ hastings erie vaporeuse. Sincliné. Voici la missive based on James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake dispatch for to irrigate the Willingdone. Dis- des gazeuses pour irriguer le cimetière. Mis- patch in thin red lines cross the shortfront of sive aux filets rrouges transpire les thorax me Belchum. Yaw, yaw, yaw! Leaper Orthor. des Maroles. Ben oui, ben oui, ben oui! Fear siecken! Fieldgaze thy tiny frow. Hugact- l’Iber Râtise. Angloisse Triomphale! Filette - 8 - ing. Nap. That was the tictacs of the jinnies ça vachi. Faire s’embrasser. Mar. Ç’était for to fontannoy the Willingdone. Shee, shee, les tictaques des gazeuses pour enverser For her passkey supply to the janitrix, the Pour son clavail, lance le regard suppliant à shee! The jinnies is jillous agincourting all le cimetière. Ell, el, lelle! Les gazeuses sont mistress Kathe. Tip. la clavelière, la maistresse Mariole. the lipoleums. And the lipoleums is gonn jaleuses comme battrant toutes les mari- This the way to the museyroom. Mind your Par ici pour le muser-chambril. En en- boycottoncrezy onto the one Willingdone. oles. Et les maroles devenaient mâlfous hats goan in! Now yiz are in the Willing- trant, attention à la tête, s’il vous plaît! And the Willingdone git the band up. This du seul cimetière. Et le cimetière s’attise. done Museyroom. This is a Prooshious gunn. Maintenant vos êtes au cimetière Muser- is bode Belchum, bonnet to busby, break- Voici le corsier marolique, pompé pour This is a ffrinch. Tip. This is the flag of the Chambril. Là-bas un Fusil-Gabierit. Ça, ing his secred word with a ball up his ear to pomponner, épésant en camelote l’entame Prooshi-ous, the Cap and Soracer. This is c’est une franc-sein. Voici le pasvois the Willingdone. This is the Willingdone’s du cimetière. Voici les buses vidanges du the bullet that byng the flag of the Prooshi- des Gabierits, capillaire et sorcé. Voici le hurold dispitchback. Dispitch desployed on cimetière. Vantardise aux régions der- ous. This is the ffrinch that fire on the Bull coup tringlant le pasvois des Gabierits. the regions rare of me Belchum. Salamangra! rières du cimetière. Chastation! Ai, ai, ai! that bang the flag of the Prooshious. Saloos Voici la franc-sein qui tirait aux Crétiens Ayi, ayi, ayi! Cherry jinnies. Figtreeyou! Damn Maroles purceaux. Fichtoi! Ça me Foutrien. the Crossgunn! Up with your pike and fork! qui tringlaient la mariée-salope des Gabi- fairy ann, Voutre. Willingdone. That was the Cimetière. Ç’était la première farce du ci- Tip. (Bullsfoot! Fine!) This is the triplewon erits. Chand du Salier! En garde! À coups first joke of Willingdone, tic for tac. Hee, hee, metière, tac-tiqueurs. Lui, luis, luit! Voici les hat of Lipoleum. Tip. Lipoleumhat. This is the de tringles! (Doble penitance!) Voici le hee! This is me Belchum in his twelvemile Maroles distants, hommes ni scient, crient Willingdone on his same white harse, the triple couvre-chef de Mariole. Couvre- cowchooks, weet, tweet and stampforth et l’emporte devant tout, faissant de son Cokenhape. This is the big Sraughter Will- chef mariolé. Voici le cimetière des soubre- foremost, footing the camp for the jinnies. mieux lutte pour les gazeuses. Trempe tes ingdone, grand and magentic in his goldtin sauts, les Mâlinois. Voici le grand cimetière Drink a sip, drankasup, for he’s as sooner buy lèvres, tramp t’élèves, car elle vint du gros spurs and his ironed dux and his quarterbrass mâlée, élevé et âguichant dans ses épilones a guinness than he’d stale store stout. This is rouge plutôt qu’elle âgisse de mêlé. Voici le woodyshoes and his magnate’s gharters and et cuirasses d’orure et ses châssis vola- Rooshious balls. This is a ttrinch. This is mis- tir gabarelle. Voici une franchée. Voici des his bangkok’s best and goliar’s goloshes and tils et ses parties adorées et ses meilleurs tletropes. This is Canon Futter with the popy- tirs mâliques. Voici Cañon à Chair avec le his pullupon-easyan wartrews. This is his costars et prophylaxie décevante et ses nose. After his hundred days’ indulgence. nez giclé. Après l’indulgence centaire. Voici big wide harse. Tip. This is the three lipo- rencontres médéiques. Voici ses Soubre- This is the blessed. Tarra’s widdars! This is le bénit. Fille à Delphi! Voici les gazeuses leum boyne grouching down in the living sauts rrougis. Voici le triple hallocution- jinnies in the bonny bawn blooches. This is aux patins paillard-disants. Voici Mariole au detch. This is an inimyskilling inglis, this is a mariole descendant sur le cimetière col- lipoleums in the rowdy howses. This is the ménage tapageux. Voici le cimetière, pour scotcher grey, this is a davy, stooping. This lant. Voici les muser-chambriliens, c’est Willingdone, by the splinters of Cork, order la moure mâline, ouvre le feu. Bamster- is the bog lipoleum mordering the lipoleum un groupe d’entraide, des mâlinois dociles. fire. Tonnerre! (Bullsear! Play!) This is camelry, dam! (Doble penitance! Fiche-toi!) Voici la beg. A Gallawghurs argaumunt. This is the Voici la grant Mariole, serrant la Bride aux this is floodens, this is the solphereens in ac- chavalerie, voici en tripied, voici la crasse petty lipoleum boy that was nayther bag nor mâlinois vides. Une ratiocination lactici- tion, this is their mobbily, this is panickburns. en action, voici leur remue-ménage, voici bug. Assaye, assaye! Touchole Fitz Tuomush. enne. Voici le cimetière mâriolique exigu, ni Almeidagad! Arthiz too loose! This is Willing- flammique. Broyeusement! Choque au-delà! Dirty MacDyke. And Hairy O’Hurry. All of rassisié, ni répidié. À l’Enverre! À l’Enverre! done cry. Brum! Brum! Cumbrum! This is jin- Voici le cimetière criant. Bou! Bou! Boboue! them arminus-varminus. This is Delian alps. Doblet Tom-Fiz. Fieu Bassein le Salo. Et nies cry. Underwetter! Goat strip Finnlambs! Voici les gazeuses criantes. Éclage! Lire de This is Mont Tivel, this is Mont Tipsey, this is Henri-Hâte Fiston. Tous des cavaliers ar- This is jinnies rinning away to their ousterlists dieu! Voici les gazeuses évitant la bataille the Grand Mons Injun. This is the crimealine més. Voici l’horizon d’Antéros. Voici Mont- dowan a bunkersheels. With a nip nippy nip dans l’abri. Bon bonnie Buon et To Torrie of the alps hooping to sheltershock the three Wilson, voici Mont-Lincoln, voici la grande and a trip trippy trip so airy. For their heart’s Tour en l’air. Car leurs coeurs se trouvent lipoleums. This is the jinnies with their lega- Mont-Venu. Voici l’horizon caréné embras- right there. Tip. This is me Belchum’s tinkyou jusque là. Pour le paix! Voici la marche horns feinting to read in their handmade’s sant les trois marioles. Voici les gazeuses tankyou silvoor plate for citchin the crapes du Gabar joyeuse des gazeuses qu’ils aban- book of stralegy while making their war undi- avec ses louvains, qui semblent à être in the cool of his canister. Poor the pay! This donnaient. Voici le cimetière assouvant ses sides the Willingdone. The jinnies is a cooin mâlées, tandis qu’elles déclarent le comba- is the bissmark of the marathon merry of mêmes bails immenses pour son division her hand and the jinnies is a ravin her hair tour au cimetière. Les gazeuses se fourrent the jinnies they left behind them. This is the royale au gazeuses courantes. Clairmond and the Willingdone git the band up. This la guêpe et les gazeuses jouent du rapt et le Willingdone branlish his same marmorial tal- Rougelle! Quedalle de la Reine! is big Willingdone mormorial tallowscoop cimetière s’attise. Voici l’emmense bail du lowscoop SophyKey-Po for his royal divorsion Wounderworker obscides on the flanks of the cimetière à côté des flancs des gazeuses. on the rinnaway jinnies. Gambariste della jinnies. Sexcaliber hrosspower. Tip. Force mâlinique s’exclame. porca! Dalaveras fimmieras! 52 53 - 10 -

This is the pettiest of the lipoleums, Toffee- Voici la plus minore des marioles, vo- thief, that spy on the Willingdone from his leurs de mou, cette espionne aucimetière big white harse, the Capeinhope. Stonewall des soubresauts, les Mâlispoirs. Contre- Willingdone is an old maxy montrumeny. cimetière est un matrimon élevé ancien. Lipoleums is nice hung bushellors. This is Les Marioles est jolie repriseur pendu. hiena hinnessy laughing alout at the Will- Voici objet-fammelette moquant tout ingdone. This is lipsyg dooley krieging the haut du cimetière. Voici terrain labile funk from the hinnessy. This is the hinndoo guerrant la brille de la fammelette. Voici Shimar Shin between the dooley boy and la fleur de lit entre le gars labile et la the hinnessy. Tip. This is the wixy old Will- fammelette. Voici le vieux cimetière ingdone picket up the half of the threefoiled déniche la moitié au triple couvre-chef hat of lipoleums fromoud of the bluddle filth. de Mariole à partir des crasses abusives. This is the hinndoo waxing ranjymad for a Voici la fleure encroîtant la quais pour un bombshoob. This is the Willingdone hanking éclat-bombe. Voici le cimetière écheveau the half of the hat of lipoleums up the tail on la moitié du couvre-chef de Mariole à la the buckside of his big white harse. Tip. That queu l’envers du Soubresauts. Ç’était was the last joke of Willingdone. Hit, hit, hit! la dernière farce du cimetière. Touche, This is the same white harse of the Willing- touche, touche! Voici le Soubresaut du done, Culpenhelp, waggling his tailoscrupp cimetière, Mâlinoix, même, glissant sa bail with the half of a hat of lipoleums to insoult avec la moitié d’un couvre-chef de Mariole on the hinndoo seeboy. Hney, hney, hney! vexant au fleur-gabier. Ahan, ahan, ahan! (Bullsrag! Foul!) This is the seeboy, ma- (Doble penitance! Triche!) Voici le gâbier, drashattaras, upjump and pumpim, cry to the piès de taché, bondu et gailli, criant au ci- Willingdone: Ap Pukkaru! Pukka Yurap! metière: En gars! A tant! Voici le cimetière, This is the Willingdone, bornstable ghentle- noblier gantique, enflamme son boîte à man, tinders his maxbotch to the cursigan gand au Roussi Rougit. Shimar Shin. Basucker youstead! This is the Voici le gâbier rempli faisant à la queue des dooforhim seeboy blow the whole of the half Soubresauts. (Doble penitance! Par- of the hat of lipoleums off of the top of the touse!) Comment les Mâlinois terminèrent. tail on the back of his big wide harse. Tip Par ici le muser-chambril. En sortant, fais (Bullseye! Game!) How Copenhagen ended. attention à vos patins. This way the museyroom. Mind your boots goan out.

54 Simon Behind Next Steen-Andersen To Beside Besides (2005 – 2009) Abstract / concrete?

The word ‘abstract’ is sometimes used to refer to music that already has a certain musical value on the paper (before realized as sound). Or it can refer to music notated without indication of instrumentation, where the musical ideas can supposedly be realized equally well on different kinds of instruments. An example of this is J.S. Bach’s Kunst der Fuge, a piece very much appreciated for its readable architectural qualities, and one that has been realized on innumerable combinations of instruments. Another example showing a clear hierarchy between sound and its physical realization could be the anecdote about Beethoven yelling at a musician who complained about the difficulty of his music, saying something like: “what do I care about your fiddle when the spirit is moving me?” The term ‘abstract music’ thus implies that the musical material can be separated from the ways the sounds are produced or realized. It implies a possible separation of composition and instrumentation and a clear hierarchy between sound and production, between score and its realization. A lot of composers – especially today – have a much more ‘concrete’ approach to instruments and sound production, and generally apply idiomatic approaches and techniques unique to the individual instruments. Some composers have continued further in this direction and have crossed the point where composition and instrumentation melt together to form music where it no longer makes sense to look at the sound separated from the way it is produced (for example musique concrète instrumentale as defined by Helmut Lachenmann). Up until this point, it seems to make sense to use the word ‘concrete’ to distinguish this position from the ‘abstract music’ as defined above. Working closely with the individual instruments and their physical implications suggests the natural next step of using action-notation instead of result-notation: notation showing what to do rather than what should sound. This can be seen as turning the hierarchy between sound and its production upside down: an approach where composition is a kind of choreography for instrument and musician – with sound as its consequence. Through this, the ‘hyper-concrete’ approach to instrumental composition reaches a new kind of abstraction – or rather; the abstraction now refers to the new top of the hierarchy: the movements or the actions. Where the same pitches in Kunst der Fuge can be distributed to many different types of instruments and still realize the main musical idea, the choreographic approach Simon Steen-Andersen from the preface of could imply being able to realize the main musical idea by dis- Next To Beside Besides #12 tributing the same movements to different types of instruments: for accordion, 2008

56 When a composition is mainly concerned with, and operating isters placed on the vertical axis on the front of the accordion, within, the movements and actions of the performer, it ought to be resulting in a mechanical clicking sound as well as a change in translatable to other instruments where similar or parallel move- color and register of the detuned chord. ments can be used. It will then essentially be the same piece of Next To Beside Besides #12 for accordion: The instrument is rotat- music, despite sounding completely different! ed 90 degrees so that the right hand keyboard is pointing up. The cello’s movements are here translated into horizontal and vertical coordinates, determining where on the instrument to play, scratch, A re-cycle hit, and so on (see illustration). For sideward movements on the keyboards, a paint roll is used to make fast cluster glissandi. For I have attempted to explore this concept in the open series called activating the bellow (in order to produce sounds when playing Next To Beside Besides (2005 – 2009). The series consists of 13 the keys and the air button) the player has to move the head up translations of the small cello piece Beside Besides (3.5 minutes and down with the left hand shoulder strap around the neck. long and in itself a spin-off from the ensemble piece Besides). The most extreme of the series is Next To Beside Besides #10 for The first half of the cello piece Beside Besides is composed with “camera solo”. Here the movements are performed with a min- sound foremost in mind, but gradually the movements of the iature camera and a flashlight, around a setup of two mirrors, player become more and more important and somewhere in the a text sheet and a rippled piece of paper (a “light guiro”). The second half of the piece the music is composed with the move- composition is exactly the same, but instead of a sounding result, ments or the choreographic qualities foremost in mind. the result is purely visible and shown on a television next to the These choreographic elements are all quite minimalistic and player. Is this still a piece of music? within the normal movement patterns used to operate the instru- For concerts, the camera version has often been used as the last ment. Generally they can be reduced to movements and positions surprise in a series of three versions / combinations. First is a on two (independent) axes; the bow movements from side to version or combination performed live. Then another version or side and the left hand movements up and down the fingerboard. combination (preferably with one of the same players performing When studying instrumentation, one is taught not just to distribute another version) is played live with the video and sound recording the same pitches to other instruments, but rather to translate the of the first performance, forming a virtual ensemble. Finally, the core elements in the compositional idea from one specific instrumen- camera version is performed with a video recording of the second tal situation to another. This sometimes calls for a certain amount performance (containing the video recording of the first) but now of recomposing, just as literary translation from one language without any sound! Interestingly, a lot of people perceive this last to another sometimes calls for creative rewriting; in order to say silent version as a kind of musical climax. the same thing in two different languages one often has to go To experience the translations as such, one has to hear several quite different ways. versions next to each other – or even better; simultaneously, To stay as faithful as possible to the main compositional ideas in in unison! Beside Besides when translating the piece to other instruments, The ‘re-cycle’ Next To Beside Besides will, in other words, not I first had to decide in which passages the sound was more impor- just be an open series of variations, versions or solutions to differ- tant and in which passages the movements were more important. ent problems and approaches to the concept of movement trans- To translate the passages which were originally conceived as lation and different ways of questioning the identity of a piece sound, I looked for similar sounds relative to the new instrument. of music. It will also provide an opportunity to put together innu- To translate the passages originally conceived as movement, merable combinations of ‘unison’ ensemble compositions, where I looked for ways to approach the new instrument as a system of difference and equality are thematized and the translation two independent axes of movement, each affecting the resulting situation itself becomes a musical parameter. sound differently. [The concept of ‘unison’ changes during the piece: first it is a nor- To date there are 13 translations – and there are many more to mal (sound) unison, and then later, a visible (movement) unison.] come. For some instruments there are several different transla- Every piece can be played alone or in any combination of versions, tions in order to allow different approaches. simultaneously or one after the other as movements or between For example: other pieces as fragments, with or without video … and in some Next To Beside Besides #3 for accordion: The instrument is pre- cases with or without sound. pared (with a bit of paper underneath the dampers) so that a distorted, detuned chord comes when pulling and pushing the bellow – even though no keys are played. The movement of the cello To be continued ..! bow from side to side is translated to the movement of the accordion bellow (moved by the performer’s left hand), activating the sound. The movement of the cello player’s left hand up and down the fingerboard is translated to changing between the different reg-

58 59 appeal to man’s for post-mortem (neck, right hand, Laura Oorwonde, amazement. Often examinations. The left knee) that I fundamental natu- choice of stainless re-cycled from old Maes at the junction of ral phenomena are steel also has a signal-horns, 4 used in a very ele- technical benefit: speakers (left hand, sound art and mentary form. Oor- although it is very right knee, both feet) wonde aims to take thin (< 1mm), it is and one move- performance the visitor by surprise possible to weld able ribbon (but- via the sensation of extensions onto it. tocks). Each of the Composers con- explore new territo- location. Further- by electronic, electro- sounds and move- At specific places 8 contact points stantly seek new ries and to extend more, in sound art acoustic or acous- ments, and the in- – namely those has at least 2 force challenges. Some the dimension of performers have tic means resulting sight that these places with the high- sensing resistors impose certain time. The perform- become redundant. in a broad spec- sounds and move- est probability of – placed in parallel – rules on themselves, er was no longer A new category trum of possible ments can be influ- bodily contact-loud- to detect body con- deliberately limiting pushed to the end pops up: attendants sounds. The visual enced by the amount speakers and elec- tact and to measure their possibilities. of their tether, as who do not have aspect of a sound of pressure applied tro-magnets are built the pressure applied. Working within a technology made it a performing task, work can also differ to specific points. into the table. I opted Through touching certain framework possible to repeat but often fulfil the greatly. Sometimes for 3 electro-magnets the sensors the such as twelve-tone something infinitely role of guard as well the material pro- Oorwonde 'patient' activates music can be en- or to create a never- as guide. ducing the sound Oorwonde is an in- one or more speak- riching and may ending composition. Sound art not only is deliberately hid- teractive operating ers and/or elec- lead to new forms. This new devel- explores and rein- den and the only table whereby the tro-magnets. The Others search for opment went hand terprets the dimen- visual element is the visitor turns him- sound and the new ways to create in hand with the rise sion of time, it also environment where self over to aural movements change or convey sound. of sound art, a hy- embraces new the work is located. surgery and hears according to the As early as the 17th brid of music and technologies. The Instead of conceal- and feels the sound- pressure applied; century, long before visual arts. The static invention of the re- ing the sound pro- track of a fictitious either a certain para- the invention of the nature of visual arts production of sound ducing material, operation. Based on meter of the sound loudspeaker, com- reveals itself in the has gone hand in some artists opt to Bernhard Leitner’s changes, or a new posers such as fact that the sound hand with the ‘boom’ use this material not philosophy that “en- sound is triggered. Monteverdi experi- has neither begin- in sound art, and only as a heard ele- tirely new concepts This pressure is not mented with the ning nor end. The new technologies ment, but also as a of space open up necessarily mapped use of space and time dimension is such as infrared, visual one. Others through extended to the speaker or the spatialisation of partly exchanged laser and sensor add external visual hearing,” Oorwonde electro-magnet music. Some com- for the space dimen- technologies have elements that are not explores the con- nearby. Pressure posers follow Erik sion. Sound art is quickly been inte- necessary for the cept of bodily hear- measured via the Satie and toy with like a performance grated. production of sound. ing. Starting from FSRs on the left the concept of time. lasting 24 hours a The wide variety Sound art moves movements and hand could for ex- In Satie’s Vexations day, seven days a of forms which between various the emotions asso- ample determine (1893), the same week and it is the sound art can take disciplines such as ciated with them, the frequency of theme is repeated visitor who – by at- has nourished my music, visual art, Oorwonde turns the electro-magnet 840 times resulting tending – decides fascination for it. architecture and phy- Marc Leman’s con- located at the neck. in a performance how long the work The volume of the sics. It is often mul- cept of embodied The speakers are lasting many hours. lasts. Audible ma- sound produced tidisciplinary and music cognition prepared with a The concept of time terial is only part can range from explores different upside down. moulded rubber and evolution in of the work. In near inaudible to methods of sound Oorwonde aims shape to transmit time is replaced by contrast to music, extremely loud. production and di- to evoke a cool and vibrations. The sound a seeming immo- sound art always Sometimes there rection in various icy feeling, therefore will consist of digi- bility. The mecha- has material ele- is no sound at all, circumstances, with the main part of the tally generated nisation of music, ments as part of for example when a variety of materi- work is a stainless sound waves as namely the repro- the work, ranging structures serve to als and relation- steel table of the well as field record- duction of sound, from a tangible reflect sound. Sound ships of measure type used in indus- schematic overview ings of cutting meat made it easier to object to a specific can be generated Many sound works trial kitchens and of Oorwonde and other sounds.

60 61 its surroundings Acknowledgements are completely Oorwonde is being built under the guidance of silent. Noise from dr. Godfried-Willem Raes works nearby at the Logos Founda- would completely tion workshop in Ghent, Belgium. I wish to thank destroy the experi- dr. Godfried-Willem Raes ence of the subtle (HoGent) for his guid- noises and feelings. ance and -among other things- his welding skills. Oorwonde sits My deepest gratitude at the junction of goes to the Logos Foun- The head rest is ARMmite micro- sound installation dation, without whom the practical realisation equipped with 2 controller and and a one-on-one of Oorwonde would not FSRs and a rubber power supply performance. As have been possible. shape that trans- Sliding system on with sound art, the Bibliographical mits the move- Contact points which the contact perception of the references ments of the elec- for the knees are points for the knees visitor is central. Raes, G.-W. (2009). tro-magnet attached to a slid- are mounted Sound is spread Expression control in automated musical ing system to in space, although instruments www.logos- An 8-channel make the table When measuring this spatiality is foundation.org/g_texts/ soundcard, laptop, suitable for differ- bodily dimensions, restricted to the expression-control.html Leman, M. (2008). a controller for the ent human bod- I noticed a high human body. The Embodied music cogni- electro-magnets ies. Contact points deviation in the dis- dimension of time tion and mediation tech- and the speakers, for the hands can tance between the is not completely nology. Cambridge, MA, MIT press. and an ARMmite turn 180 degrees. middle of the neck abandoned, since Schulz, B. (2002). The microcontroller are The speakers and and the tailbone. Oorwonde has a whole corporeality of mounted under- electro-magnets Consequently, the well-defined begin- hearing – an interview with Bernhard Leitner. neath the table. attached to the contact point at ning and end, as In Schulz, B. (Ed.), Reso- knees and hands the buttocks is not determined by the nanzen / Resonances – are built inside equipped with a visitor. In contrast Aspekte der Klangkunst (pp. 81– 88). Heidelberg, stainless steel speaker or electro- to most sound Germany: Kehrer Verlag. soupspoons. magnet but with a works there will moveable ribbon be a certain de- that can cover a velopment of the larger surface. musical and tac- Oorwonde is a tile material which very intimate expe- the visitor will be rience where ev- able to influence. erything is focused Oorwonde cannot Controller for the on hearing and strictly be assigned electro-magnets feeling. To stimulate to sound art or this, a very bright music as elements lamp comprising of both forms are 5 × 57 white LEDs present. This spatial is mounted at the interactive musical head of the table and tactile compo- Electro-magnet so as to shine di- sition is above all built in a soup- rectly in the face of something you spoon the visitor. There is have to experience! no other possibility than to close your eyes. Oorwonde Controller for the can only be fully speakers experienced when

62 63 Biographies Paul Craenen (b.1972) Laura Maes (b.1978) obtained Master's degrees in piano (1995) and chamber music (1997) was born in Ghent, Belgium. She completed her Masters at the Lemmens Institute, Leuven. He teaches piano and experimental in Music at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent in 2001 with music at the music academy of Oud-Heverlee. From 2007 to 2009 he high distinction. In 2002 she received her Masters in Market- taught intermedia as a guest professor at the Conservatorium of Amster- ing Management with distinction at the Vlerick Leuven Gent dam. He is active as a composer and researcher of intermedial art forms. Management School. She is currently working as a research- His works are performed in several countries at contemporary music fes- er in the Faculty of Music, University College Ghent. tivals. Due to the experimental nature of his work, he favours intensive She has performed with Nico Parlevliet, Roel Meelkop, Claus collaborations with small ensembles or individual performers. A lasting van Bebber, Noise-Maker’s Fifes, Pierre Berthet, Logos interest in the status of bodies in contemporary music performance led Foundation, Q-O2 & Black Jackets Company among oth- to post-graduate research at the Orpheus Institute from 2001 to 2004. ers. She has released records on C.U.E. records, Cling Film, This research continues towards a doctorate (docARTES) at the University MSBR-records, Denshi Zatsuon & Flenix. Her installations of Leiden. He is a member of research groups ORCIM-Ghent and were presented during Bruges 2002, Happy New Ears ARTI-Amsterdam. Kortrijk, Re:New Kopenhagen and at arts centre Vooruit.

Frederik Croene (b.1973) Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri (b.1974) is a pianist who immerses himself in the art of piano playing and who was born in Ptolemaida, Greece. She completed her PhD in Composition constantly endeavours to explore its boundaries. Besides focusing on as a Fellowship recipient at the University of California, San Diego the creation of new piano pieces based on the work of young compos- under Rand Steiger, and a postgraduate Diploma in Composition at the ers, he redefines the traditional relationships between instrument, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna under Chaya Czernowin player and performance situation starting from his concept of ‘Le Piano in 2008. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Composition Démécanisé’. The result is music for dance performances, live accom- (with Roger Redgate) from Goldsmiths College, University of London in paniment of silent/avant garde films, music installations and solo 2000. Selected awards include the Impuls award, the Dan David Prize, performances, for which he works together with artists specialising in the Stipendienpries der Darmstadter Ferienkurse, the Kurt Weil Fellowship different disciplines: Hallveig Agustsdottir (visual arts), Lawrence and the Robert Erickson Scholarship. Her music has been performed by Malstaf (installations), Liv Hanne Haugen (dance), Edurne Rubio Klangforum Wien, SurPlus, Orkest de Volharding, QNG, London Improvis- (video arts), Timo Van Luijk (music), Erik Bassier (performance), ers Orchestra among others, and in festivals such as Wien Modern, Joris Verdoodt (graphic design) as well as other musicians with back- Ultraschall, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, “Aspekte” and ISCM. Recent com- grounds of all genres. He has recently been invited to play the piano missions include works for ensemble mosaik, and a sound installation in at the Transit Festival (Leuven), the Holland Festival (Amsterdam), collaboration with Pe Lang. Papalexandri is currently living in Berlin, Germany. Ars Musica (Brussels) and the Gent Jazz Festival among others. Steven Prengels (b.1978) Cathy van Eck (b.1979) studied at the Lemmens Institute, the University of Leuven, the Royal is a composer and sound artist. Her work includes compositions for Conservatoire of Antwerp and the Conservatorium of Amsterdam. His instruments and live-electronics, as well as performances with sound work has been performed by the Belgian Chamber Orchestra, Spectra objects which she often designs herself. She studied composition and Ensemble, Oxalys Ensemble, Brussels Philharmonic, deFilharmonie electronic music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and at the and the Nieuw Ensemble. Besides composing, he paints and creates Berlin University of the Arts. She performs her works regularly at festi- objects and installations, which he considers to be a vital source for vals such as SPARK in Minneapolis, NYCEMF in New York, Klangwerk- his creative imagination. As a result of deliberate flirtation with various statt in Berlin, Hapzura Digital Art in Israel, Avantgarde Schwaz in art forms, a considerable amount of his recent work finds itself at the Austria and Spazio Musica in Italy. She is currently doing a doctoral boundaries of clear musical composition. Among other things, Steven degree at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent and University of Leiden Prengels is working on a theatre production with Alain Platel and in the DocARTES Program. Her dissertation subject is Loudspeakers Frank Van Laecke (les Ballets C de la B), a string sextet for the Oxalys and Microphones as Musical Instruments. Her supervising professors Ensemble and a commission from the Belgian Chamber Orchestra. are Richard Barrett and Frans de Ruiter. Since 2007 she has taught www.stevenprengels.com in the Music and Media Arts Department of the Bern University of the Arts, Switzerland. Matthew Shlomowitz (b.1975) is a composer of concert music and performance pieces. Raised in David Helbich (b.1973) Adelaide, Australia, he now lives in London where he lectures at the Born in Berlin, school in Bremen, studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg, Royal College of Music. He studied at Stanford University where lives in Brussels. Works as composer, choreographer, performer, event Brian Ferneyhough supervised his doctorate. He co-directs the new maker, text maker, interventionist, and installation and conceptual music ensemble Plus Minus, is a member of InterInterInter (a group artist. He blogs his projects at http://davidhelbich.blogspot.com creating events mixing performance and audience activity), and and facebook. co-directed the inter-art performance series Rational Rec from 2005 – 2008. He has composed works for groups such as Calefax, Champ Falk Hübner (b.1979) d’Action, ELISION, Ives Ensemble, Ricciotti Ensemble, Quatour is a composer, theatre maker and researcher. Besides composing Diotima and often works with dancer Shila Anaraki and recorder and performing music and sound design for diverse theatre per- player Tomma Wessel. formances across Europe, he creates experimental music theatrical performances which fall between concert, installation and perform- Simon Steen-Andersen (b.1976) ance as conceptualist, composer and director. His practice-based studied composition between 1998 and 2006 with Karl Aage PhD research focuses on the musician as (theatrical) performer and Rasmussen, Mathias Spahlinger, Gabriel Valverde and Bent the impact of experimental theatrical setups on the professional Sorensen in Arhus, Freiburg, Buenos Aires and Copenhagen. He identity of the musician. has received numerous prizes and grants, and in 2010 is a resi- dent at the DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm. In his work he often focuses on physical and visual aspects of musical performance, employing video, extreme amplification and homemade instruments. Since 2008 he has taught composition at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. www.simonsteenandersen.dk

64 65 Colophon RTRSRCH is a publication of the ARTI (Artistic Research, Theory and Innovation) research group at the Amsterdam School of the Arts. The journal aims to provide a complementary/parasitic dissemination forum for themes linked to international external event structures (festivals, conferences, exhibitions, projects, etc.), contributing alternative, interdisciplinary perspectives.

RTRSRCH reflects the interests and problematising strategies of the ARTI research group concerning current discourse in practice-based research in the arts, exploring and facilitating processes for creating, sharing and distributing emerging knowledge(s). The presentation of content will vary from issue to issue, dependent on the topic and stylistic concerns of the guest editor. RTRSRCH is published three times a year.

ARTI participants, artists and researchers from the creative and performing arts, are actively engaged in practice-based research processes. ARTI is chaired by Marijke Hoogenboom, professor of Art Practice & Development and Henk Borgdorff, professor of Art Theory & Research.

Concept and general editor Paul Craenen

Advice Sher Doruff

Contributors Cathy van Eck, Frederik Croene, David Helbich, Falk Hübner, Laura Maes, Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri, Steven Prengels, Matthew Shlomowitz, Simon Steen-Andersen

Graphic design Astrid Seme Werkplaats Typografie, ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Arnhem

English corrections David Bull

Production Sanne Kersten

Running score written by David Helbich

Thanks to Shila Anaraki Logos Foundation, Ghent morf vzw, Mechelen November Music Frederik Croene

Printing Drukkerij Wilco, Amersfoort

Publisher ARTI, Artistic Research, Theory and Innovation P.O. Box 15079 1001 MB Amsterdam www.lectoraten.ahk.nl