Music for the inner ear

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

Our fantasy has crumbled - yet we must go into utopia to articulate alternative realities that will allow us to escape the current systems we are living in and by. What can we do if we only dream pragmatic and rational dreams that speak into already existing paradigms and systems? When a catastrophic or sudden event occurs we often say that reality exceeds fantasy, this being the exception of the norm, but what if reality exceeding fantasy is in fact the norm - and not vice versa? - what if our fantasy has crumbled in such a degree that we only are capable of imagining realities and solutions which already fit into a dysfunctional system? Are we doomed? - or do we dare to go full on into utopia? In the artistic research project; Music for the inner Ear - Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard looks into the realms of imaginary sound and sonic potentiality unfolded within different artistic domains - raising the questions; Is it possible to create imaginary music only audible for the inner ear of the listener & when does something actually exist? In the project the notion of potentiality is a main driver both in activating the listener but also simply by addressing the potential of potentiality.

While attending the 9th SAR - International Conference on Artistic Research in Plymouth (April 2018), I was introduced to the work of the French philosopher Catherine Malabou.

Her thoughts on plasticity and destructive plasticity as a creative force were especially intriguing to me.

I realised that I had encountered the force of destructive plasticity within my own work, during the course of this artistic research project - I had encountered an explosion.

Catherine Malabou became an important source of inspiration to me in my work. I did not read or understand Malabou like a philosopher would, and I probably misunderstood some aspects of her work completely - but that is not important to me. For me, that’s an artist’s privilege - we can be inspired and informed by a variety of different sources, without necessarily understanding them to the fullest extent. If these sources can lead to new artistic discoveries, it doesn’t matter if we don’t understand the sources in the academic sense.

That being my artistic disclaimer and what I consider my artistic right, I think upon the people mentioned on this page as sources of inspiration and contexts relevant to this project (not a complete list).

Also - since this project hovers within a superposition between different artistic domains I feel a need to address the upside and downside of the notion of context and artistic discourse in relation to this project.

The upside of choosing a specific context and artistic discourse is that it makes it easier to grasp what the project is about and therefore also easier to communicate. The downside of choosing a specific context and artistic discourse is exactly the same - it becomes easier to grasp what the project is about - an answer is provided and I’m not interested in that. By choosing a certain context and artistic discourse, the project will be placed and locked within the chosen discourse.

This project behaves like plasma - suspended between different artistic domains in which certain artistic discourses are embedded.

A paradox is embedded in this position though - a contextual paradox. While this project refuses to place itself in a certain context or artistic discourse - it is the very existence of these contexts and artistic discourses that make the artistic outcome of this project behave like plasma.

The system that the project seeks to escape from is the same system that makes this project possible.

MUSIC FOR THE INNER EAR

-an explosion of sonic potentiality

Discourses & contexts

- The Plymouth incidences

The ’new world order’ means the impossibility of any exotic, isolated or geopolitically marginal event. Paradoxically, this saturation of theoretical and natural space is felt as a vacuum.

C. Malabou The Future of Hegel, Plasticity, Temporality and Dialectics.