Preface
Background
It was in the middle of October 2012, when I visited Yaniv Schonfeld who was living in The Hague. He showed me how to turn an analog mixer into a synthesizer. Plugging the output of the mixer back into the input, just one cable, nothing else in between, and there it was. The mixer became alive, squealing out a piercing, sustained tone. A second cable was added, connecting yet another output back into itself. Suddenly, the sounds themselves became alive. Stutters, bleeps, rhythms, noises, crackling, shuffles, melodies, ticks, clicks, and so much more. Exploring this wondrous sonic universe quickly infiltrated my artistic practice, although back then, it was not yet entirely clear where it would all lead to. Now, the ten-year anniversary of this first encounter is here. What had started out as an ambiguous sense of importance grew into a decade of extensive exploration, all revolving around these chaotic processes. It led to the creation of new electronic music instruments, based on self-designed hardware and software. It also initiated a rethinking of what it means to perform music with chaotic sonic expressions, and in return, reconceptualizing what it means to express in the first place. In other words, investigating at what point the exploration of these instruments becomes meaningful. These are the kinds of wonderings that have been guiding me for the past four years while deepening the understanding of my practice through a Ph.D. in Artistic Research at the Department of Music of the University of Bergen. This research is based on my own music practice and involves the production of new musical instruments, and artistic works that explore chaotic processes, based on nonlinear feedback. The title, Tipping Points, refers to the very thresholds within chaotic processes, causing destabilizations and reconfigurations in the behaviors of chaotic systems. Musically speaking, these are not so much the moments in which a normative is disrupted, rather, this is when the relationship between what is perceived as normative or a disruptive is in the process of becoming redefined.
My works explore the sonorous qualities of my instruments by employing compositional strategies and sharing them in concert performances. At the same time, I have been engaged in a continuous effort to build a language that can be used to describe the thought processes and strategies for working with chaotic processes that are, in themselves, unstable and unpredictable. This language should not only be faithful to the volatile nature of chaotic processes but also be able to capture their evocative qualities when genuinely new sonic behaviors emerge while the instruments are reconfigured through play. Working with chaos begins with setting processes in motion that are unruly and vibrant. These are then attentively examined and explored through active listening while playfully influencing them. Many prototypes are constructed, altered, and adjusted through tinkering until an instrument emerges that has a voice of its own. These instruments function as carefully constructed playgrounds. Yet, as the playing ensues, the most enticing evocations emerge just outside of them. In this sense, the research is truly a celebration of the experimental. It is an investigation into the cultivation of processes that never quite repeat themselves but rather continuously breach and exceed expectations. It reveals new and exciting sonic universes to venture towards, filled with the wonder and curiosity that sparked the exploration in the first place.
Intended Audience
Consequently, the insights that will be discussed throughout the research are not just relevant for artists whose practice is situated in the same field as my own, but can rather speak to a much broader segment of artistic practices that have vested interests in curiosity-driven exploration. These may include practices focused on nurturing processes rather than consolidating fixed outcomes. Practices in which notions of control give way to notions of influence, or rather confluence or conflux, with multiple and mutual influences merging together. Practices, where artistic intentionality is challenged through attentive engagements with an entangled meshwork of things, events, situations, materials, processes, and others, etc. Some of the chapters will delve into details of my own practice and will include examples of computer code and schematics of electronic circuits. Other chapters will discuss more theoretical and philosophical concerns and contextualize the practice within a larger field of artistic research. They will feature anecdotal and even poetic metaphors that are aimed to clarify particular aspects and approaches of an artistic practice built upon chaotic foundations. For those readers who are not familiar with live electronics, there will be an overview of the upcoming chapters near the end of this preface, providing pointers to where relevant reflections or diffractions can be found. First there will be a brief overview of the themes that inform this reflection.
Chaos & Duration
The main theme running across this reflection component deals with the consequences of a musical practice informed by chaos. In my understanding, chaotic processes are always on the move, ongoing, always differentiating, and changing. They are contingent, but extremely sensitive to conditions, so much so, that their pathways into the future remain shrouded in uncertainty and unpredictability. In this sense, the particular nature of chaos points to a tension between the present and the future, and as such, it has inspired an investigation into the perception of time and duration. The present is the evocative encounter with the complex sonic behaviors of chaos, with my attempt to comprehend the multiplicities of the sonic events that they are made from. The future is derived from these complexities, but it proves impossible to fully appreciate the importance of each minute sonic detail. Yet, sensitivity dictates that these details matter, and even the smallest fluctuation could end up altering the course of the future and the music associated with it. The uncertainties and confusions that are commonly experienced signal a return to the senses, focusing on the events that are currently happening. There is little time, on the one hand, to lose oneself in reminiscence, and on the other, to dream up future predictions. It is the now that matters most, attempting to grasp the full spectrum of experience. It means allowing the now to be vivid, becoming a vessel robust enough to follow the volatile and unpredictable pathways wherever the sounds may lead.
Curiosity & Exploration
Engaging with these chaotic processes comes down to an act of exploration which can be daunting. The instrument might produce a whole range of timbres, textures, frequencies, and rhythms, but it is unclear what form of logic is operating behind it. This is where the difference between deterministic chaos and indeterminate randomness becomes apparent, because soon enough, a mirage appears, shimmering at the horizon. This mirage gives off an ephemeral structure, a hidden logic behind the sonic behaviors that captures the curiosity and guides the exploration further along. The chaos appears to be more musical than expected, but still too complex to grasp. There might be a quasi-repeating phrase, or perhaps even a drone, implying a sense of near stasis. Of course, the mirage dissipates and reforms again further up ahead as the exploration closes in, and as a result, curiosity is propagated forward, constantly engaged in renewed wondering.
Attention & Listening
The metaphor of the mirage rests on the assumption that full attention is being paid. If this is not the case, events will pass by unnoticed, and the sonic behaviors will seem to lack any form or structure. While the importance of attention holds true to at least some extent in all artistic practices, it warrants some elaboration in the case of chaotic music. The sensitivity of the instruments is such that the act of playing the instrument not only changes the sounds themselves, but it changes the underlying system that is producing the sounds. This translates into situations where a repeated performative gesture may result in a wholly different response from the instrument. This means that each time the instrument is played, it must be rediscovered and explored anew. It is therefore also ill-advised to rely on prior experiences. Instead, each performance requires undivided attention to all of the sonic artifacts emerging from the speakers. This amounts to a practice that continually re-evaluates the correspondences that emerge when performative gestures engage with chaotic processes. This then produces sonic behaviors that are actively listened to, re-informing the performative gestures in a feedback loop that involves the player as well as the instrument.
Wondering & Astonishment
The question now turns to the artistic approach or methodology: how to approach the designing and building of these instruments; what strategies to employ toward the formation of this kind of artistic work; and how to engage in playful correspondences with the instruments. The unpredictable nature of chaos troubles any effort to foresee how the musical patterns will develop, but it still leaves plenty of opportunities to wonder ahead. To wonder in this sense is not about foretelling the future, but open to a broad range of adjacent possible futures. Wondering calls things to attention. Given any current state of sonic behaviors, there are many pathways for that state to evolve, differentiate, collapse, or perhaps linger. These pathways become encapsulated in sprawling assemblages of wonderings.
When working on circuit designs or code, wondering takes the form of tinkering. In my case, this starts with simple designs that are then permutated in every conceivable way, by circuit bending my own circuit boards or hacking into the datastreams that my algorithms are generating. When playing or performing, wonder guides the exploration of the ergodynamics that the instrument exhibits, nurturing a curiosity toward the instrument as a form of reflection-in-action. My compositional considerations involve placing my instruments in environments and situations where performers and audiences alike are engaged in active listening. Concerts in this sense are shared events rather than showcases. These activities accumulate toward an important tipping point where the music acquires the ability to exceed anticipations, to astonish the attentive listener, and leaving them filled with wonder.
Throughout the writing, there are several themes that reappear in different guises. Each chapter of the reflection investigates these themes through a particular lens. To name one example, the concept of emergence is an important feature in chaotic processes and rears its head at several places. N. Katherine Hayles describes the notion of emergence as follows in her book, How We Became Posthuman:
“Emergence implies that properties or programs appear on their own, often developing in ways not anticipated by the person creating the simulation. Structures that lead to emergence typically involve complex feedback loops in which the outputs of a system are repeatedly fed back in as input. As the recursive loop continues, small deviations can quickly become magnified, leading to the complex interactions and unpredictable evolutions associated with emergence.”
Each time this term, emergence, is used in my writing, it is approached from a slightly different angle: either more generally, or as a method, or pointing to the use of the term within a wider artistic field. What follows is an overview of how this reflection component is structured, and where these different uses can be found.
Chapter Overview
In the first chapter the research is introduced, with an unpacking of the leading research question. This research question does not necessarily close in on any clear-cut answers, but instead, opens up to a much more comprehensive range of further elaborations. The language that is used in stating the question matters greatly, and this holds true for much of the writing that follows. Before moving on to the next part of the reflection, a list of delineations and premises is provided. Many of these terms will be returned to, in the main body of the text.
Chapter two discusses the field and context within which my practice is situated. Live electronic music in itself is much too coarse of a descriptor, so an effort will be made to draw useful distinctions that should clarify where my research is coming from. In this chapter, the first steps are made to contextualize the research and practice. Throughout the reflection component, this contextualization continues in the form of footnotes, citations, sound examples, and interludes.
In the third chapter, the strategies and methods that are employed throughout the research are discussed. One of the main methodological approaches can best be described as diffraction or interference. Recursive correspondences occur when new insights diffract and interfere with the development of new works, which consequently fold back by placing these insights into a new perspective. In this manner, each activity tends to ripple outwards and affect the entire practice in a number of unforeseen ways.
The fourth chapter goes into the documentation of the practical outcomes of the research, and is divided into three parts, aligning with the three instruments that have been developed. After a run-through of the technical specifications and a discussion of the artistic works that have been developed using the instruments, there will also be a review of the reflections that were written around the time that the works were developed. Some of these writings serve as a reminder of the trajectory the research has taken, and it allows me to comment on these reflections with the benefit of hindsight.
The fifth chapter aims to address the question that started the research. The unpredictable nature of chaos opens the door to a type of music whose meaning only emerges as the work unfolds in concert. Audiences are invited to actively listen and wonder along with the performer and become silent accompanists to the sonic behaviors that resonate within the concert space. Attention opens a window into a music that is always yet to come, the beauty of which resides in the ear of the listener.
At the start of the sixth chapter, there are elaborations on how my practice contributes to the field and how my work relates to that of contemporaries working within it. Finally, there will be a discussion of avenues the research has not touched upon, but could prove to be fruitful endeavors for future research.
The sounds in this example are made with the STATES guitar pedal setup, including a recursive granular process, generating many layers of sonic behaviors. Some of the sounds are short and snappy, while the bass layers move in much slower waves. There are several micro rhythms at play, bouncing off eachother.
Documentation: STATES.
The Physeter instrument plays a quasi-repetitious pinging sound. Even when these sonic behaviors seem stable, there are still possibilities for hiccups, variations, and other modulations to occur.
Documentation: Physeter.