Unlike instruments that are designed to exhibit a given set of sonic properties, chaotic instruments are, instead, designed to open up to an expanse of sonic behaviors that are found along countless strange attractors. As such, the research explores these expanses of the unknown, celebrating ephemeral qualities that are encountered yet remain too unstable and fragile to become mapped out. With each performative gesture, the strange attractors disperse and reform, compelling the sounds into new trajectories.
“[...] an action will not necessarily trigger a direct effect in the whole system – as a linear connection between cause and effect. Instead, it will trigger an unfolding chain of effects – where one effect becomes the cause of the next.”
It should be made clear that the instruments are not merely inspired by chaos, or are the result of a sonification of chaos. Instead, the instruments are chaotic processes and the sounds are the sonic manifestations of their chaotic behaviors. Designing such instruments means setting up nonlinear feedback loops, not knowing in advance how they will translate into sound. What follows is an extended period of modifications, tinkering with each aspect of the design in the knowledge that every minor adjustment sets off a chain of potentially unintended consequences.
As this work progresses, there comes a point at which the instruments begin to speak in a voice of their own, exhibiting a vocabulary that is beyond my grasp. It is at this point that the instruments are ready to leave the studio to be played in concert situations, shared with audiences. Each performance is a new exploration, a search for a new pathway through the sonic universe that the instruments contain. These explorations also form the basis of an aesthetic that is concerned with ongoing processes and emergent qualities. In his most recent book, Imagining for Real, the anthropologist and philosopher Tim Ingold discusses a form of aesthetics that addresses this point:
“[...] I aim to establish an alternative to this aesthetics of final forms. Its guiding ambition is to resituate the generation and apprehension of beauty within a relational ontology that accords primacy to processes of growth and emergence rather than to the things to which they finally give rise.”
Tipping Points
In order to frame these processes of growth and emergence within the context of my practice it is needed to discuss the concept of tipping points. Tipping points within chaotic processes can be described as thresholds that, once crossed, cause destabilizations and reconfigurations. The first thing to note here is that although a process may be chaotic, that does not necessarily mean that its sonic behavior is always noisy and harsh. In layman's terms, chaos is often associated with destruction, whereas the field of chaos theory paints a more nuanced picture. Instead of mindless disintegration, chaos becomes associated with complexity, harboring fractal structures with infinite detail. Chaos lies at the roots of a plethora of complex phenomena: from dripping faucets to turbulent streams, from billowing smoke to tornadoes and hurricanes. Similarly, the sonic behaviors that are encountered while exploring chaotic instruments are incredibly rich and varied, encompassing hosts of different musical qualities. However, these qualities are always in some sense fragile as they are interwoven with myriad tipping points. In a sense, this fragility is precisely what makes chaos so appealing and full of tension. Tipping points indicate irreversible differences. They delineate boundaries that, once crossed, fundamentally change the status quo of the chaotic processes in which they are embedded. But, instead of viewing this process negatively, as a nuisance, or as a problem, it can also be seen as harnessing an astonishing expressive potential, specifically due to the fragilities and irreversibilities embedded in its operation. Tipping points can be utilized as a method of tension building, carefully approaching the edges of chaos. Near those precarious areas, where the sound is bound to become reshuffled and rearranged, new and unforeseen musical forms emerge.
Instruments
The new electronic instruments that are developed as part of the research place these tipping points at the heart of their operation. The instruments sound different each time they are switched on and playing with them results in an array of sonic behaviors that are experienced only once in that specific configuration. Taking a few steps back, it may be useful to describe what is meant by "electronic instrument" within the context of this research. The instruments involve technologies that are custom-made to investigate particular forms of chaotic processes in regard to their musical potential. Both digital and analog forms of electronics are used and more often than not, there are bridges that connect both approaches within the same instrument. Most of these instruments consist of a selection of interconnected elements, carefully wired up to constitute a chaotic process. There are countless different ways to create chaotic processes using electronics, but the main ingredients are feedback combined with nonlinearity within the feedback path. Recursion, or feedback, points to processes in which the output is routed back as an input into itself. The most well-known sound example of this is the feedback between a microphone and a speaker, often resulting in a piercingly loud squealing sound, also known as the Larsen effect. This type of direct feedback is not necessarily chaotic, as it lacks nonlinearity. Once several of these feedback loops are introduced, influencing one another, the process becomes chaotic, and the sonic behaviors become complex and unpredictable.
“This is why I like to think of audio feedback as sort of the negative space around a sound, like a sonic shadow. A dark counterpart. Or like the roots of a tree even, a sort of complex dirty reflection of its other half.”
Only a relatively small amount of interfering recursive loops are required to establish such a chaotic process. Within the context of the research, the instruments that are developed examine this balance between the simple and the complex. The ingredients that make up the instruments are straightforward and simple, but the specific, recursive ways in which they are combined turn them into chaotic processes exhibiting intricately complex behaviors. Although the instruments are relatively small, easily fitting on a desktop, and compact enough to be transported without much hassle, their sonic vocabulary is extensive, despite the lack of any noise generators to introduce random variations.
Interdisciplinarity
It is important to stress that my artistic practice is in itself a deeply interdisciplinary affair. As an artist, working in the field of live electronics, there are a multitude of roles to fulfill, ranging from: the theoretical to the hands-on, practical side of things; sometimes engaging with purely technical aspects of coding or circuit design; only to switch around to the physical act of music-making through performance. These roles operate like a meshwork, a situation in which the various activities are bundled up tightly together, intertwined to the point where it is impossible to distinguish where one ends, and the other begins. Whenever a challenge is encountered, there are many potential actions to be undertaken, each reframing and handling the questions from different perspectives, allowing for the results to leak and spill over, affecting one another. One example of this entanglement concerns the overlap between the design process of the instruments and the compositional considerations as the instruments eventually leave the studio to be played in concert situations. The design process involves long intervals of tinkering during which the technologies that underpin the instruments are altered and adjusted in order to establish a sonic vocabulary that is distinctive, able to breach expectations, and displays a diverse range of spectromorphological qualities. Each of these considerations is investigated through exploration, play, and listening; relating equally to conceptual, technical, compositional, and performative concerns.
Compositional Strategies
At some stage, the technical development of the instrument is, at the very least, temporarily put on hold. This is a necessary step in the process, and it boils down to a compositional estimation that the sonic vocabulary of the instrument is of such a nature that it is ready to be performed in concert settings. What this concert setting entails is the next compositional concern to be investigated. Some of the instruments are better suited in solo contexts while others function better within collaborative environments. As the sonic behaviors of the instruments are by definition unforeseeable, efforts are made to avoid separating the stage and the audience; favoring configurations in which the performers and the audience come together in a common encounter with the music. The music is shared with audiences rather than shown. The content of the music is another question in itself, one that is always dependent on the sonic behaviors of the instrument during the performance. During the research, various approaches to structuring these behaviors have been explored. One example is a performance in which a series of videos were used as guidelines for improvisations. These videos functioned as a temporal structure, dividing the performance into different sections. Within each of these sections there were basic instructions regarding who would take a leading role and who would follow. Another example includes a nonlinear score, instructing two performers to either mimic, support, contrast, or ignore one another. Returning to the citation earlier in the introduction, musical composition is seen as enabling a voyage into uncertain territories. On the one hand, this consists of all of the work that needs to be in place before the concert, including the development of the instruments, instructions, rehearsals, collaborations, and other concerns such as space, spatialization, seating arrangements, and most often visual aspects. On the other hand, there are the activities that are concerned with performance during the concert itself, involving deep listening, and playful responses to the unforeseen sonic behaviors that continuously emerge.
Performance
Performing with instruments centered around chaotic processes can be an unnerving affair. No matter how much time is spent in rehearsals, the instruments will always produce different timbres in different configurations, placing the performer in a vulnerable position. As the concert starts and the first sounds leave the instrument, there is always a sense of uncertainty hanging in the air. This uncertainty becomes useful when it is channeled towards a state of full attention to every tiny detail in the sonic behaviors. Before any gesture or playful action is performed, the sound is taken in and opens up a space of possibilities as it stirs the imagination. From this point onwards, the performer is engaged in a rigorous yet imaginative sense of wonder. Although the sounds defy prediction, wondering allows for an explorative and attentive attitude that integrates any sonic development as a new springboard for further wondering. This springboard also cultivates a sense of curiosity towards the evocation of the sounds. Playing with the instruments involves a continuous effort. Here, attention, listening, curiosity, wonder, and exploration are taken together to form a method that allows for the investigation of meaning and beauty in the sonic behaviors that are encountered. There is one dichotomy that is directly related to the chaotic roots that underpin my research. The processes of instrument design and composition can be described as meticulous, and precise, requiring attention to detail, and an awareness of how different elements are working in relation to each other. The resulting music and sounds, however, can be volatile and disruptive, spewing out complexities and differences. The act of performance can be placed right in the middle of these two poles. Performance requires deep listening to the smallest details of the sounds, while only offering influence on the much larger scale of macroscopic developments in the music. The practice as a whole centers around this negotiation, the back and forth between the meticulous and the volatile, which ultimately accumulates to set off processes of sonic chaos.
Sonic Expression
The resulting music reframes the manner in which expression and meaning are negotiated. Both the performer and the audience uncover the sonic expressions simultaneously and are each invited to engage in wonder and to author their own sense of meaning and appreciation. Although the performer has some level of influence on the sonic behaviors that take place in a concert, the instruments operate according to their own internal chaotic logic circuits, troubling concepts of communication, control, and intentionality. Rather, meaning emerges from the disconnect between anticipations and occurrences, and the breaching of expectation. The instruments function as non-human collaborators, contributing to the music in accordance with a unique form of logic that defies comprehension. All of the confusion, astonishment, wonder, and discoveries that bubble up as a result, become the elusive and evocative sources of sonic expression within the chaotic processes.
Research Question
The research question How can the exploration of tipping points in chaotic processes inform the development of new electronic music instruments, compositional strategies, and performances, in relation to sonic expression? has functioned as a point of departure to create a series of artistic works. Each of these works is based on a different chaotic process. The works are centered around the tipping points of these chaotic processes, resulting in unstable, volatile, yet enticing sonic qualities. Although the research question distinguishes between three separate aspects of my practice, the research has shown that these activities are thoroughly entangled, meaning that the development of new electronic music instruments, compositional strategies, and performances are not separate entities but are rather all part of one larger practice. In addition, the more philosophical aspects of the research have been caught up in this entanglement as well, informing various aspects of the creation of the works. The instruments, compositions, and performances, that are presented as the artistic outcome of the research, have led to a series of reflections on what it means for music to be sonically expressive. Intention makes way for attention, focusing on emergent sonic qualities. Virtuosity makes way for curiosity, as chaos can not be controlled, but should rather be explored. The form of sonic expression that my research has uncovered does not come about through the prediction of sonic patterns, but rather through the breaking of those patterns. It is within those circumstances where expectations are exceeded, that a sense of wonder is instilled, becoming meaningful in its own right.
Research Questions
The artistic research project, Tipping Points, is situated in the field of live electronic music, and focuses on the exploration of chaotic processes as its main subject of investigation. This introduction will take the central research question as a point of departure, after which a number of core premises and definitions will be discussed. Throughout the whole reflection component, an effort will be made to place the artistic research in an appropriate context, whether in regard to the artistic field or the theoretical frameworks that inform the research. The central question that guides my artistic research reads as follows:
How can the exploration of tipping points in chaotic processes inform
the development of new electronic music instruments, compositional strategies,
and performances, in relation to sonic expression?
Exploration
The italics added to this question already implies that there is a lot of information to unpack within these twenty seven words. Starting from the top, we encounter the word exploration. Exploring means facing the unknown. It points to a departure from the safety of the comfort zone, a rejection of the familiar in favor of the new. While reading the forewords to the Spectres publication on Shelter Press, an important distinction is made that speaks to the spirit of experimentation and exploration within my research and practice:
“Although the term 'experimental music' may now be understood as referring to a genre, or even a particular style, we ought to hold on to the original use of this term, which was based more on an approach than on any particular aesthetic line to be followed. The experimental is first and foremost a spirit, the spirit of the exploration of unknown territories, a spirit of invention which sees musical composition more as a voyage into uncertain territories than as a self-assured approach working safe within the bosom of fully mapped out and recognized lands.”
F. Bonnet, B Sanson (2019, 12)
This spirit of exploration is a feature that could be attributed to a wide range of research, yet there is a distinction to be made. While many research projects seek out a slice of the unknown in order to shine a light on its inner workings and add it to an ever-growing body of knowledge, the unknown that is explored through my artistic research will remain at least partially shrouded in darkness due to the fragile and unpredictable nature of chaotic processes. No matter how often the instruments are explored, they never become fully familiar, as the chaos continues to produce variations within the possibility space of their operation. This possibility space is vast, and even after many hundreds of hours of playing, its outer boundaries remain unclear. The instruments that are developed as part of the research never quite play the same tune twice. This statement requires some elaboration. Although some of the sonic behaviors seem to imply a sense of repetition, these repetitions themselves are fraught with instabilities. It is more accurate to describe them as quasi-repetitions, an emergent and self-balancing property of chaotic systems. The music orbits around strange attractors embedded within the chaotic operation of the instrument.
Chaotic Processes
