“What true project has been lost?”: Towards a social ontology of improvised sound work. A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Bruce Roland Russell BA (Hons), MA School of Art College of Design and Social Context RMIT University February 2016 Declaration I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the dissertation is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Bruce Roland Russell April 2016 Acknowledgements The work submitted for this degree has greatly benefitted from the input and assistance of my supervisors, Dr. Philip Samartzis and Dr. Linda Williams, although any remaining flaws are my own responsibility. Throughout the years of work devoted to this my wife Kate McRae has been unfailingly supportive, and my three children have also had to put up with my ongoing unavailability, short temper, distracted manner and constant reading. I owe them all a great debt of gratitude. I have also been given some financial support for this work by my employers at CPIT, and should mention in particular mention the support given by my colleagues Tom Rainey, and before him, Dr. Jane Gregg. Contents Introduction .................................................................................. 3 Abstract .................................................................................... 3 Outline of research ....................................................................... 3 Structure of the argument .............................................................. 9 Chapter 1: Some methods are mastered ................................................ 13 Communication ........................................................................... 13 Origin is an eddy in the stream of becoming ........................................ 15 Novelty .................................................................................... 21 Terminology .............................................................................. 25 Chapter 2: Time’s Carcass ................................................................ 30 Tradition .................................................................................. 30 On improvisation as such ............................................................... 37 Case study 1: A report on the construction of situations (1957) ................. 40 We are time .............................................................................. 45 Case study 2: No mean city ............................................................ 53 Creative constraint ...................................................................... 56 Destructive practice ..................................................................... 59 Chapter 3: Tools ............................................................................ 63 The outmoded ............................................................................ 63 Reinventing the medium ................................................................ 67 Case study 3: Electro-magnetic feedback study #1 (Strange house in the snow) .............................................................................................. 72 The habitus of technology .............................................................. 74 Case study 4: Howling, instability and motor-boating at high volume settings .............................................................................................. 80 Mis-competence .......................................................................... 85 Case study 5: Performance at Westspace, 2008 .................................... 88 Chapter 4: Society .......................................................................... 92 Scene ecology ............................................................................ 92 The field of struggles .................................................................... 95 Case study 6: No more Driver call me ................................................ 99 The social turn ......................................................................... 103 Case study 7: Virginia Plane ......................................................... 106 Theory of the dérive .................................................................. 111 Chapter 5: New theatre of operations in culture .................................... 115 What is essential? ...................................................................... 117 A new medium ......................................................................... 120 Poetics ................................................................................... 126 A fluid language ........................................................................ 129 Situations ................................................................................ 132 References ................................................................................. 135 2/ B. Russell – What true project has been lost? Introduction Introduction Abstract “What true project has been lost?”: Towards a social ontology of improvised sound work. In my research towards this degree I have tried to understand both the determining characteristics and the social value of the “mis-competent improvised sound work” (ISW) which I have developed. The originality of my contribution lies not only in my practical work, but also in my work towards a new theory of improvisation. The theoretical work avoids relying on ethno-musicological genealogies of technique, and instead focuses on a close analysis of the experience of improvisation framed within a context of social and political theory. This theoretical framework has arisen from my own reflections on practice, both instrumental and technical, and is integral to the way my artistic work has been performed in society. I have sought to explain my own predilection for obsolete technologies, and why these have such widespread appeal; as well as why so many other artists coming from underground rock music are adopting this improvisational freedom. One of the key virtues of this practice is in its insistent foregrounding of its own (inevitable) failure to attain the ‘authenticity’ towards which it nevertheless strives: the project of recovering ‘true communication’ in a social space for autonomous self-expression. This I argue represents a Kraussian ‘reinvention of the medium’ (Krauss, 1999, p.296). Its value lies in the subjective experience of the work within this resolutely un-recuperated ‘field of restricted practice’. Outline of research I have focused on trying to understand both the characteristics and the social value of the ‘mis-competent improvised sound work’ practice which I have developed. My own practice is representative of an evolving and little-studied group of artists 3/ B. Russell – What true project has been lost? Introduction in New Zealand who form a loose part of a much wider and growing international network undertaking similar work. In 2007 the original research questions were defined as follows: • How is improvisation employed in contemporary sound practice; and what is its significance, as compared to music, for culture conceived as a whole? • What is the relation between sound work and ‘time under the rule of the commodity’ – and what does such work reveal about conventional social definitions of time? • What could be the relation between social action and an improvisational art project which seeks to embody time and not expropriate it? The second of these questions proved too ambitious. Had I been engaged in a doctorate by thesis it would have been reasonable to expect a cross-disciplinary review of literature around subjective perceptions of time but in the context of a practical project accompanied by an exegetical reflection, this led far beyond my practical focus. Instead, my reading led me to the work of Gary Peters (The philosophy of improvisation, 2009) around the subjective experience of improvisation for performers and audience, which focused on the notions of irony, repetition and mimesis. By situating some of Peters’ novel insights within a framework of political theory derived from Guy Debord (culture as a sphere of revolutionary activity) I was able to develop productive ideas linking improvisation (conceived at the broadest level) to both culture and social action. Though I acknowledge the importance of ‘social definitions of time’, it is a field of scholarship too broadly anthropological to be supported in toto by my practical work. Consequently I turned my attention to a more restricted consideration of the relationship between my improvised sound work and subjective perceptions of time; as well as historically to the broader tradition of underground popular music from which it had evolved. This also led me to related matters of authorship and originality in a community of practitioners, as well as considerations around the experience of time in music and improvisation. In turn this enhanced my discussion of the first question around improvisation, music and broader concepts of culture. 4/ B. Russell – What true project has been lost? Introduction My research is aimed towards