The Spatiothastic Objectar
The Spathiothastic Objectar is multichannel work for electric guitar.
It encompasses the picking up of the sounds of the guitar with 10 different microphone systems. Every one of them can be switch on and off seperately. The sound that these microphone systems pick up is be projected in an open space. This open space can have different sizes whereby the sound projection will be done through 10-100 speaker system which are adressable by every microphone system through a computer that is running a Max MSP patch. With this patch it is possible to let every sound be projected through every speaker. Therefor a sound can be heared on 0-100 locations and be “moved” through the space by changing the speaker that projects the sound. There can also be several sounds be coming from one speaker at the same time.
With the help of the computer it is possible to sustain every sound of the guitar over long durations of time and create a flexible network of different sounds that is spread out through the space of the performance.
Through this setting it is possible to have an architectural access to the sonic material of the guitar. Every single block of material is defined as soundspace. These soundspaces are stretched out in the space by projecting them in different places in the space so that they develop an architectural dimension.
The topological position of the sound will be, other than in a concert, one of its paramters that can be used to compose with the sound. Because every sound can be at different places at the same time, it is possible to formed a soundspace as a distinct mass of sound in space.
The listener is able to move through the space of the performance. The movment of the listeners is an integral part of the piece because there is no absolute perspective in this piece. the perspective on the structure of the sounds is given by the position of the listener on the wide open space.
In a concert situation the idea of an absolute sperspective on the sounds is at play. The social institution and format “concert” needs this concept as it is the only possible way to work with the concept of absolute music, which a concert always does.
“The Spathiothastic Objectar” wants to give a very different perspectives on sound in which the listener is responsible for moving in the space and therefore creates a perspective on the projected sounds that is unique to every listener. Other than in a concert there is no absolute perspective on the sound but only individual perspectives that change as the listener is moving. The sonic field that is created through the guitar, the computer, the speakers and the surrounding never stays the same.
The philosophical backbone for this perspectivical idea of sound can be found in the language game philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Richard Rorty. A language game is constituted by its terms and rules of usage of words. Every language game forms a specific perspective on things that can not be taken on through another language game. Through the vocabulary the language games forms a perspective in which certain things exist and other things do not exist.
In other words: language games form sensefields and things do appear to us in a sensefield. In the language game theory our vocabularies form a sense field that has a relative autonomy as language games incommensurable to each other.
In “The Spathiothastic Objectar” the sound idioms of the guitar are interpreted as sensefields, whereby the term field gets interpeted as a topological term: the soundstructures do appear in an ordered, pure way on their own but are also spread in the space as blocks of material, which makes them form sculptural structures of sound in the space.
The performance takes several hours (5-10 hours) and is an installative performance that makes it possible for the recipient to move in the created sound sculpture.