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what im finding interesting

Month: December 2024

Categories
reflective writing + essays

S&E E1 Reflective Writing

summer + initial ideas

This project began over the summer as one of my first explorations with Ableton. I had been starting small projects throughout the summer to keep myself active over the break, with no intention of them being taken any further, as Fell writes ‘When practice becomes focused on goals and end points, it distorts itself‘ (Fell, 2021 p.21). However, this piece felt like it could be taken further, I was also finding that arranging the track was a lot harder than the other pieces I had been working on, I knew this piece had to be explored more given the chance.

As we delved into spatialisation on the course, this piece kept resurfacing within mind. Almost as if I knew that the work would lend itself well to being played through a multichannel system. ‘The knower in you who dwells behind the thinker‘ (Tolle, 1997 p.5) With Tolle’s line of thinking in mind the journey of open exploration began.

experimentation + working with Joshua

I chose a close friend of mine, Joshua, to work on this project with me because of his interest in eastern philosophies like Wu Wei, his exploration of Taoism how we can apply it to our practices as a western audience and the way this ties in with his movement practice, which is inspired by moving meditations, yoga and capoeira. Taking a holonic approach to this project, I thought that with his perception of the world and style of movement, he would help bring life to the soundscape that I created in a physical form. ‘When parts of a system are integrated, a wholeness results that is greater than the sum of the parts, and which in fact feeds back to enhance the vitality of each of the parts, whose enhanced integration in turn further promotes the vitality and integrity of the overarching wholeness.‘ (Sarath, 2021 p.208)

Joshua and I had a session in 108 working on the movement and arrangement of the soundscape. I started the session by letting the soundscape play for around 10-15 minutes, giving us time to enter the right state of mind to get the best out of the work, each other and allowing Joshua time to warm up. We then spent a hour or so going through the individual tracks to thin out the piece, as we thought there were too many sounds overlaying each other to really appreciate the spatialisation. This tends to be an issue with my work overall, so I’m grateful to have been working with someone else for this project to bring attention to it this time round.

Focusing on the movement, we were inspired by tai chi, qigong, contemporary works from artists such as Blackhaine and, after seeing Joshuas initial response to the soundscape, the introductory scene for Sandman in Spiderman 3 (2007). The slow rising and falling, breaking and piecing back together felt very relevant to the themes of growth, decay and rebirth underlying the project, so we leaned into these types of movements. As a result arranging the soundscape happened naturally as we thought through how we wanted the movements to happen throughout the piece. A quote from Joshua’s dissertation comes to mind ‘In this creative dance, where nothings is pursued, nothing is lost, and everything gracefully falls into its rightful place – nothing remains‘ (David Hester, 2024 p.54).

meditation + growth and decay

The themes arose naturally as the explorations of the project continued. Loops have been a common element of my work for quite some time now, but I haven’t spent any time before this project exploring the reasons behind this way of working. Meditation has been a key part of the project, I will spend time in nature, solitarily listening to the environment that I find myself in. I will try to dissect the soundscape, hearing out for the faintest noise. Deeply listening to find my place within the environment, blurring the lines between the soundscape and the self, as echoed in The Creative Act ‘It is through communing with nature that we move closer to our own nature.‘ (Rubin, 2023 p.52). Through this Listening, I discovered that, through these loops, I was trying to encapsulate the cyclical nature of life and death, growth and decay with sweeping, organic LFOs that effect almost every parameter of every instrument. ‘Creativity means the formation of new patterns, exceeding the limitations and boundaries of old patterns, or using old patterns in new ways’ (Oliveros, 2005 p.xxv).

gallery scenario

If this piece were to be taken into a gallery space, I think a basic way would be to have the multichannel set up in the space and have Joshua performing the movements in front of an audience, however this would make it difficult for the audience to engage with the work in the way that I intend, by exploring the space and finding a place you find most comfortable. Perhaps this could be avoided by having projections of the movements on the floor and/or ceiling with comfortable blankets, bean bags or chairs in the space to invite the audience to relax and spend time with the piece however they wish.

Expanding on these ideas explored in this project, I think that it would be beautiful to install this work somewhere in the woods, where the speakers can be much further apart. Each speaker could be placed within the trees, encouraging even more exploration from the audience. I like the prospect of this idea as it ties directly to the themes of reconnecting with nature. I think it would serve the piece well if the speakers were left to be reclaimed by nature, completing the cycle of growth and decay.

References

David Hester, J. (2024) The Way Of Effortless Books. Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom: Well Books

Fell, M. (2021) Structure and synthesis. Falmouth: Urbanomic.

Oliveros, P. (2005) Deep Listening A Composers Sound Practice. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse

Rubin, R. (2023) The Creative Act: A Way of Being. Edinburgh, UNITED KINGDOM: Canongate Books.

Sarath, E. (2013) Improvisation, creativity, and consciousness: jazz as integral template for music, education, and society. Albany: State University of New York Press (SUNY series in integral theory).

Tolle, E (1997) The Power Of Now. United Kingdom: Hodder & Stoughton

Bibliography

Higins, L. and Shehan Campbell, P. (no date) Free To be Musical.

Kim-Cohen, S. (2016) Against Ambience and Other Essays. New York, UNITED STATES: Bloomsbury Academic & Professional. Available at: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=4198059 (Accessed: 8 November 2024).

Lydon, P.M. (2024) ‘Asking questions of nature: Art as a catalyst for ecological consciousness’, Nature-Based Solutions, 6, p. 100138. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbsj.2024.100138.

Koestler, A. (no date) Janus, A Summing Up.

Blacking, J. (no date) Music, Culture And Experience.

Mitchell, A. (2023) ‘Resilience, Reconnection, Recovery: The Healing Power of Music’, Problems in Music Pedagogy, 22(2), pp. 55–62. Available at: https://doi.org/10.59893/pmp.22(2).003.

Solis, G. and Nettl, B. (no date) Musical Improvisation.

Whittaker, G.R., Peters, K. and Opzeeland, I. van (2024) ‘Oceans sing, are you listening? Sounding out potentials for artistic audio engagements with science through the Polar Sounds project’, Marine Policy, 169, p. 106347. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106347.

Scott-Cumming, D. (no date) ‘The Listening Artist: On Listening As An Artistic Practice Beyond Sound Art’.

Michael Hamel, P. (no date) Through Music To The Self.

Filmography

Blackhaine (2022) Barcelona. Available at: https://youtu.be/wTrDMjRAQzs?si=AejHLrkKRhS071Jd

TopMovieClips (2017) The Birth of Sandman Scene – Spider-Man 3 (2007) Movie CLIP HD. Available at: https://youtu.be/to29LvuColU?si=gebKCvxsUpwMzCWG

Categories
expanded studio practice

Dreambox + Cymatics + Spatialisation

Recently, I have been learning the building blocks of a synthesiser in PureData and Bela, implementing them into a tactile housing will be another challenge Im excited to tackle, whenever I get there. I have been inspired mainly by two pieces of equipment, the Lyra 8 and Jomox T-Resonator ll.

IMG_4330-1Download

The Lyra 8 is interesting to me because of its eight individually tuneable oscillators which can interact and modulate each other to create rich textures unlike anything I have encountered on any other piece of hardware. I would like to have this individual tuneability in what I am going to call the DreamBox, each oscillator should be useable as an LFO or tone generator and should have some sort of effect on multiple other parameters to create engulfing drones intuitively. If the DreamBox has multiple outputs, each oscillator can be sent to an individual speaker for the cymatic display. The messy lay out and sporadic placement of knobs is what I find interesting about the T-Resonator ll, I would like a machine that had no labels (apart from outputs), so that you have to figure out how to make sounds with it your own way. The machine shall have its own way and the player will have to discover their own way to get the most out of it.

As soon as the listener learns how to open himself totally to [the music]. It carries him away to himself. p.142

Through Music To The Self/ Peter Michael Hamel

IMG_4402Download

What if the speakers were all around the room/on the walls? Creating more interest by allowing space for people to walk in front of the laser to partially block the visual?

Lasers hitting multiple mirrors before after the speaker?

Categories
specialising and exhibiting

Movement + Growth

Continuing on from where I left off in the Expanding Ideas post:

Joshua and I have been in talks of collaboration for quite some time now, either through spoken word, written poetry, video or song. We are both talented individuals with a variety of skills, I think this project is a great opportunity for us to come together, my sound and his movement.

For my audio paper I have been looking into deep listening and how we can use it alongside meditation to connect with our inner selves, body and natural environment. I think that Joshuas style of movement, heavily inspired by Qi Jong, Tai Chi and Capoeira will complement the soundscape perfectly.

Movement should tie in the themes of Wu Wei, harmony between the mind and body and meditation as a means for growth. The soundscape will grow and morph between the speakers, hopefully pushing and pulling Joshua in and around the space. Together, we can find out how the movement of sound affect the movement of the body and guide each other.

When the components of a system are integrated, a wholeness results that is greater than the sum of the parts… p.208

Improvisation, creativity, and consciousness : jazz as integral template for music, education, and society / Edward W. Sarath.

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A post shared by Joshua (@joshuadavidhester)

Categories
expanded studio practice

Thoughts On PureData

PureData certainly has a steep learning curve. But with the brief time I have spent trying, failing and trying again within its confines, I see now the limitless possibilities that mastering this program will hold. We spent the first few weeks slowly building patches that crackled, hissing and lapped that came together to make the sound of some kind of abstract fire.

Download

This exercise was a great entrance into the basics of PureData, how it works and what tools we have available. I found the lay out and feel of the program somewhat familiar to when I explored TouchDesigner briefly last year. However, having to remember what each block can contain is going to be a challenge the more I learn. I’m excited to starting to implementing PureData with the Bela boards and see what I can do.

Categories
specialising and exhibiting

Expanding Ideas

I have been spending some time thinking and meditating on my ideas. I was asking questions of my second idea to have some kind of user interactivity, I think creating a small synthesiser would be a great way to do this. With the time I have spent with Bela Boards and PureData so far, I now know that I am at the beginning of a steep learning curve and should have this project as a later goal, perhaps the gallery at the start of 2025 will be a long enough period for me to hone my skills?

I have been sending the soundscape to my peers for feedback and some form of guidance. A close friend, Joshua, and I share an interest in eastern philosophies and how they can be applied to our creative practices in the west, as a response to my piece, he sent me his dissertation, which was written on just that topic; applied to writing and bookmaking. Within it, I found some conclusions I had already come to through my own inquiry, but had lost due to the fast and unforgiving nature of city life.

Listening to the creative force within and being perceptive enough to discern the appropriate moments for action or repose. p.22

By setting some creative boundaries, I allowed myself to navigate freely within that space. p.46

Wu Wei, not as passivity but as a judicious use of force. p48

The Way Of Effortless Books, Joshua David Hester

Categories
expanded studio practice

Failing Filters

Over the past few weeks in class, I have been expanding on my understanding of PureData and Bela. I have been able to create multiple, independently tuneable oscillators and now I would like to be able to add a filter to the patch. Last week experiments ended with a global tune, which is cool, but not really a feature that I’m looking to add. This week I got something a lot more interesting…

The track below is a demonstration of slowly turning the failed filter from fully closed to fully open. It was captured from headphones connected to the computer by my iPhone, so the presence of the bass is missing. Im still not 100% sure why it is having this effect on the oscillators, but I love how crushed and distorted the sounds become when the parameter is set to maximum! Perhaps I will keep as a feature moving forwards.

Categories
research presentations

Performance Seeds

This is an idea that I had for a performance space. The top half of the drawing is a top down view of the seating arrangement: beanbags closest to the performer and sofas around the outside of the space. The lighting across the walls could be from my cymatics experiments or some other form of reflection. The bottom half is what it might look like when entering the space. Fabric hangs from the walls to the ceiling. Large projections are cast over the sheets creating a glow in the hazy room. The speakers should be out of sight, either behind the fabric or hidden away in the corners, the origin of the sound should not be obvious.

IMG_4277Download
Categories
specialising and exhibiting

Boris Acket (reflection)

Links to relevant work:

Sunbeam, Captured

Einder / Hydrosfeer

Boris Acket is an artist whose pieces I keep finding myself revisiting. His works have a simple elegance that I find mesmerising. Sunbeam, Captured is of particular interest to me, the way that light is used in this piece is incredible. The subtle colouring of the mirror adds such a rich spectrum of colour to the reflection. Occasionally, the container will gently move, causing a ripple in the water. In turn the reflected light is disbursed in a wonderful display.

Looking back on this work got me thinking about reflection as a tool more broadly and how I can implement it within my work. In April, I was experimenting with cymatics, how could I expand expand on these ideas in future experiments:

  • Finding/ Designing a larger container for the water
  • Composing with effect on water rippling in mind
  • Using larger light sources
Categories
research presentations

Meditation + Letting Ideas Come From Within

During my reading for this project, I have found a similar point echoed from a range of writers. For centuries, man has looked to turned to nature for solace or inspiration. I believe we are to live harmoniously with the ebbs and flows of nature. The ancient Chinese concept, Wu Wei, similar to the concept of flow, teaches us to align with these movements. Through this, we can find ways as artists to rekindle our relationship with nature, our environment and ourselves. The present, then, allows us to access the well of inspiration that is already inside us. We find that ideas will flow freely from us when we are in the current moment, focused on the task at hand and our bodily responses.

It is through communing with nature that we move closer to our own nature p. 52 The Creative Act/ Rick Rubin

Discipline and freedom seem like opposites. In reality they are partners. Discipline is not a lack of freedom, it is a harmonious relationship with time p.135 The Creative Act/ Rick Rubin

In this creative dance, where nothings is pursued, nothing is lost, and everything gracefully falls into its rightful place – nothing remains p.54 The Way Of Effortless Books/ Joshua David Hester

When practice becomes fixated on goals and end points, it distorts itself p.21 Structures And Synthesis/ Mark Fell

It is possible that playful participation can result in peak creative product, but the critical factor is that music is not held at a distance and objectified but instead lives as a process into which all members of the group enter, experience and enjoy p.11 Free To Be Musical/ Lee Higgins, Patricia S Cambell

Whether scientist or artist, coming to know our individual sense of the world is not a one-sided inquisition, but a constant collaboration between oneself and this nature and cosmos. Asking Questions Of Nature/ Patrick Lyon

Categories
specialising and exhibiting

Playful Experimentation

Joshua and I spent a few hours in 108 working on the movement and arrangement of the sound for the piece. I started the session by letting the soundscape play for around 10-15 minutes, giving us time to enter the right state of mind to get the best out of the work, each other and allowing Joshua time to warm up.

We then spent a hour or so going through the individual tracks to thin out the piece, as we thought there were too much going on to really appreciate the spatialisation. After this we focused on the movement, seeing how Joshua initially responded to the piece, I was reminded of the introductory scene for Sandman in Spiderman 3. The slow rising and falling, breaking and piecing back together felt very relevant to the themes of growth, decay and rebirth underlying my project, so we leaned into these types of movements. As a result arranging the soundscape happened naturally as we thought through how we wanted the movements to happen throughout the piece.

The next few hours were spent recording and rerecording everything and tweaking things with each take. We were working with the sunlight, as we liked how the light cast over Joshua as he moved. We wanted to keep that element as the sun went down, so I found a lamp for us to use which I think elevates the piece as a whole and helps to frames the movements.

(videos should be in ‘vids’ sub-folder of the blog folder if unavailable below)