Locative Media & The City

I thought there was a lot to be obtained from Erwin's presentation aside from what might be referred to as his 'business model' (which, of course, should obviously be a sound one). I found it very interesting to hear an artist--particularly an artist working mostly with visual materials--discuss work which is almost entirely concerned with the formal and structural components of experience. Erwin made it clear in citing his interest in the music of Steve Reich, other 'phase musics', algorithmic music (Xenakis), and computer music that his interest resides in this area. The music of James Tenney, I believe, is entirely pertinent to this discussion as well; this is a music that, in some ways, asks a listener to deal with structure and form in as direct a manner as possible (of note: early Bell Labs Computer music, Diapason, Having Never Written a Note for Percussion). This intention can be related, as Erwin discussed, to minimal artists such as Carl Andre, Robert Morris, or Donald Judd whose interest in 'form for form's sake' can be related (and perhaps traced) to Cage's interest in 'sound as sound' (to paraphrase: 'I don't deal with meanings I deal with sounds').

An aspect of all of this that is particularly interesting to me is the role of signification. I have various issues with the assumption that music, in general, somehow embodies de facto 'pure form'. As I brought up in the presentation, an important Steve Reich piece, Come Out, an early tape piece that uses similar 'phase techniques' as It's Gonna Rain, is often discussed entirely in relation to its formal/procedural properties. This piece was in fact written to be performed for the retrial of the Harlem Six who were arrested en masse for a murder committed by only one young black youth. The quote Reich used for the piece was from Daniel Hamm, one of the acquitted boys: "I had to open the bruise up and let some of the bruise blood come out to show them." There is definitely clear and intentional reference and signification in Come Out though signification in music and perhaps other 'phenomenological work' is not always as obviously recognizable.

The noted Feminist musicologist Susan McCleary contends that there is no 'absolute music' (the term applied to music that describes its purely 'formal' or abstract qualities); even the tonal muisc of Beethoven and much of Western tonal music in general contains constructions of gender and sexuality and can even be construed as hegemonic and oppressive (see: Feminine Endings, McCleary). For my purposes this might introduce the idea of 'latent signification' or the signifying properties of (supposed) non-signifying systems.

One of Erwin's pieces, MATRIX VII, introduces the idea of 'the ramp'. This piece like the majority of Erwin's works of the series consists of a geometrical grid of LED lights arranged in a space though for this piece the entire array of lights was slightly tilted downward which suggested to participants, who were free to walk around in an almost completely darkened room, that they were actually descending (or ascending depending on their direction). I found this to be interesting as it was one of Erwin's works that explicitly incorporated time (though each piece used time in some manner) and used a simple ramp structure. With this piece I thought of some of James Tenney's early Bell Labs which used stochastic algorithmic processes to express certain formal structures (one of James Tenney's frequently discussed structures was, as he described it, 'the ramp' (related to his concept of 'the swell')). One Tenney's early Bell Labs pieces, Ergodos II (for John Cage), is based entirely around the idea of a so-called ergodic form--that is, the equal possibility for any and every sonic outcome (within specified limits) at all times--almost in direct opposition to the concept of the ramp. This is a quote from James Tenney in liner notes to the CD Selected Works 1961-69 written by Larry Polansky [http://www.newworldrecords.org/linernotes/80570.pdf]

“Both the String Quartet and Dialogue made use of programming facilities enabling me to shape the large-scale form of a piece in terms of changing means and ranges in the various parameters in time. Now my thoughts took a different turn—an apparent reversal—as I began to consider what this process of ‘shaping’ a piece really involved. Both the intention and the effect here were involved in one way or another with ‘drama’ (as in Beethoven, say)—a kind of dramatic “development” that inevitably reflected(‘expressed’) a guiding hand (mine), directing the course of things now here, now there, etc.
What seemed of more interest than this was to give free rein to the sounds themselves, allowing anything to happen, within as broad a field of possibilities as could be set up. One question still remained as to the possible usefulness of my controls over the course of parametric means and ranges: are there ways in which the full extent and character of the ‘field’ may be made more perceptible—more palpable—by careful adjustments of these values?”

Earlier in the notes Larry Polansky describes Tenney's intentions exactly as an attempt to remove traces of "dramatic intent". This implies that 'drama' can occur with only a simple curve or shape ('the ramp'). What goes into the creation of such 'drama' (especially Beethoven) can be related to the aim of McCleary's project (though she deals mostly with the common practice music of the and 18-19th Centuries).

I suppose that the next permutation in my series of neologisms would have to be 'non-signifying properties of signifying systems'. I have been thinking lately that this is, in part, where my current work resides. For a few years now I have been writing pieces for instrumentalists which take geographically-derived field recordings and abstract them for their structural/acoustic/spectral properties using a completely algorithmic(/automated) process. Here 'music' in a remotely traditional sense, in that there are tones which are performed by instrumentalists, is derived from noise which is usually saturated with (perhaps textual, signifying) information.

I am still very much in a questioning and wondering mode when it comes to these things. Curious to know if anyone has anything to suggest.