MUSIC FOR THE INNER EAR
-an explosion of sonic potentiality
I would like to map some of the potentials of the project, on this site.
In the first section, I would like to describe the potential of the project in a direct link to the act of composing music and to generating new ideas, as such.
In the second section, I would like to address the potential of potentiality in correlation with sustainability.
To go into utopia
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 to such a degree that we are only capable of imagining realities and solutions, which already fit into a dysfunctional system?
What can we do if we only dream pragmatic and rational dreams that speak of already existing paradigms and systems?
We must go into utopia to articulate alternative realities that will allow us to escape the current systems we are living in and by. Are we doomed? Or do we dare to go full on into utopia?
The concept of composing music using the inner ear can also be a tool in teaching and communicating music. By conceptualizing imaginary music, all kinds of systems are bypassed; you don’t need to be able write down music in a conventional score - you can explain (with words and text) what you basically have heard using your inner ear. Write down the imaginary piece of music as a story - and suddenly you have written a piece of music. The potential of liberation lies within this method, as the preconception of what constitutes a composer opens up - and more people are included in the process of creating music, broadening the notion of ownership and authorship.
The notion of going full on into utopia has value in a broader artistic field, as entering utopia is a way to challenge and try to escape the saturated reality - a focus that is relevant in all artistic fields. When entering utopia and thereby using the imagination, we are also confronted with our own imaginary limitations, and in that perspective this project points towards how we can revitalize our imagination and our imaginative capabilities - something that is needed across society, as such.
The sustainability of potentiality
Usually, potential is given value with the expectation that it should somehow actualize itself and become something else. Actions can of course be a good thing and indeed we live in a time where action is needed. But, what if we were to let some of the potential remain in a state of potentiality - never becoming something else - remaining within the oscillating state of potentiality?
An open question without an answer - a habitat of numerous answers oscillating between countless utopias within a state of multiversal reality.
Could a more sustainable way of living be achieved by allowing ourselves to remain within a state potentiality, and not hail the action of actualizing it in all its forms?
To open the present
The last seconds before you open Christmas present are very intense - here you are (if you are a kid anyway) in a state loaded with potentiality. That present could contain a variety of things, but in those seconds just before opening the present, the present itself is operating in a multiversal state - operating within different realities at the same time, each reality depending on what is actually inside. The present is both dead and alive at the same time - just like Schrödinger’s Cat.
When you open up the present (and thereby step into one singular present) you will get the answer - this was inside the box - this was the reality chosen, and all the other potential realities collapse at once. Perhaps you will feel joy, if you received what you had wished for, or perhaps you will be disappointed that the present was just some woollen socks. Regardless, you will receive an answer, and the Christmas present ceases to be a multiversal object.
After some time of being joyful or disappointed you will start to forget about the content of the present, you will feel empty and feel a need for a new present so that the level of potentiality will rise again and you’ll be allowed to dream about the content of that present within a multiversal state.
This dynamic described above is how consumerism works - you want something - you will get it (an answer) - you will feel empty - you want something new - you will get it - you will feel empty - you want something new - you will get it - you will feel empty etc.
But what if we were to remain within a multiversal state - what if we were to remain within potentiality?
Not buying that thing, not going to Argentina to eat that steak, not buying that summerhouse etc.
Perhaps by underlining the importance of potentiality and not potential - we could break this cycle of consumerism?
Lets all embrace potentiality.