Tuesday 22 October 2013
Fielding a Far-off Force - An Artist Statement
Fielding a Far-off Force is about making contact with the Other.
This "Other" could be anything, really: a new idea, a different culture, a god form, an angel, an entity, an alien--whatever it is that we've made a connection with, it is something that lies outside our normal range of experiencing, interpreting, and being.
Making contact with the Other is generally not a "pleasant" experience: creating a space for the mutual manifestation of something foreign to ourselves typically involves what Rudolf Otto called the mysertium tremendum. This is a feeling of both awe and fear, of attraction and repulsion--a paradoxical state deriving from the collision, meeting, and connection of our smaller self with something that is greater, different, wholly Other.
The audio piece itself seeks to create a sense of this through its wave like manifestations of foreign sounds. "Spooky" or "odd" noises pulse towards and around us, grabbing our attention, washing over us, creating that space where something Other can come to be revealed, or, rather, can reveal itself to us as we open ourselves up to it, show ourselves to it as it shows itself to us. Some of the sounds can be irritating, grating, annoying, yet, these same sounds can suddenly seem soothing, calming, relieving: a sonic attempt to represent that feeling of the mysterium tremendum.
The video that accompanies the piece is also an attempt to represent the process of coming in contact with the Other. At first we see some glimmer of a thing, perhaps something far-off, through a grainy haze of our habitual interpretations. Have we noticed it first and drew its attention or did it notice us, and draw ours? The video tries to convey a sense of ambiguity here: is it one, the other, both?
Whatever the case, this Other begins to communicate with us. Flashing information to us in shapes that we can recognize, yet not readily interpret. Communications with the Other are not likely to come with ready made interpretations. The images this Other pushes on us are mysterious, foreign, unknown, yet not unknowable.
As the video progresses the images get stacked one upon the other--coming at us faster and with greater intensity. As well, the far-off force begins to get closer. Are we moving towards it, is it moving towards us, or are we moving towards One and Other? Again, there is intentional ambiguity here. Whatever the case, we find ourselves in a space--in a field--that is opening up to both our self and this Other in order to allow contact and communication, mutual recognition and response.
In the end the Other has come so close that it practically envelopes us. It has attempted to share with us something of itself while we have, perhaps, allowed it into our own being: a mutual exchange of informative manifestation.
And then, it is gone.
Will it return? Shall we again experience the Other? Perhaps, perhaps not, but the experience has left us changed somehow, different, maybe as something greater than before.
The audio piece itself seeks to create a sense of this through its wave like manifestations of foreign sounds. "Spooky" or "odd" noises pulse towards and around us, grabbing our attention, washing over us, creating that space where something Other can come to be revealed, or, rather, can reveal itself to us as we open ourselves up to it, show ourselves to it as it shows itself to us. Some of the sounds can be irritating, grating, annoying, yet, these same sounds can suddenly seem soothing, calming, relieving: a sonic attempt to represent that feeling of the mysterium tremendum.
The video that accompanies the piece is also an attempt to represent the process of coming in contact with the Other. At first we see some glimmer of a thing, perhaps something far-off, through a grainy haze of our habitual interpretations. Have we noticed it first and drew its attention or did it notice us, and draw ours? The video tries to convey a sense of ambiguity here: is it one, the other, both?
Whatever the case, this Other begins to communicate with us. Flashing information to us in shapes that we can recognize, yet not readily interpret. Communications with the Other are not likely to come with ready made interpretations. The images this Other pushes on us are mysterious, foreign, unknown, yet not unknowable.
As the video progresses the images get stacked one upon the other--coming at us faster and with greater intensity. As well, the far-off force begins to get closer. Are we moving towards it, is it moving towards us, or are we moving towards One and Other? Again, there is intentional ambiguity here. Whatever the case, we find ourselves in a space--in a field--that is opening up to both our self and this Other in order to allow contact and communication, mutual recognition and response.
In the end the Other has come so close that it practically envelopes us. It has attempted to share with us something of itself while we have, perhaps, allowed it into our own being: a mutual exchange of informative manifestation.
And then, it is gone.
Will it return? Shall we again experience the Other? Perhaps, perhaps not, but the experience has left us changed somehow, different, maybe as something greater than before.
Getting Started
Like some, but not all, other people, I am the queen of starting something--a creative work or project, typically--and then not finishing it. I don't know if I get bored with it, frustrated that it's not coming along more to my liking, end up trying to do much more than I initially planned or what, but I often begin things and then leave them unfinished. Of course, some of you may have heard the saying that "a work of art is never finished, simply abandoned," and, sure, there is truth in that, but I don't even really get to the "abandoning" stage most of the time--much more like "another aborted attempt," heh.
Maybe it's partly because it seems that I am much more of a thinker than a doer. It sometimes seems to me that I have a wellspring of ideas (for novels, stories, art, music, etc.), but the gumption fountain generally runs dry. So many things never even make it outside my head! And I guess I've created this blog, site--whatever--as a device to keep me motivated to finish more things, or, at least get them to the part where I can push them out of the nest and let them fly or fall on their on merit.
This blog resulted as an extension of me being sick of not getting anything done. I had set myself a challenge to finish one piece of sound work--one simple piece--and put it out there. I haven't put anything out into the public domain sound-wise for almost two years. Of course, I've got oodles of compositions in some state of beginnings. So, I started working on something new with the aim to get it finished and try to stick with the K.I.S.S.principle (in case, somehow, you're not familiar with that acronym, it's "Keep It Simple, Stupid"). I failed at the latter, but succeeded at the former, and now the piece "Fielding a Far-off Force" has seen the light of day.
But, instead of Keeping It Simple (Stupid), I ended up making a video for the piece, made this blog, started a Bandcamp, made a new Soundcloud account, made a CafePress shop, and etc.. This supposedly "simple" project turned into some multilayered thing somehow (it's because those ideas don't stop, they keep flowing, so...). I really don't know if this will help my EMP (Electronic Music Project) get any sort of audience--and I find the idea that I might actually sell some of my work through Bandcamp incredibly unlikely, perhaps even laughable (and don't even get me started on the Cafe Press merch, heh)--but, I suppose that the worst that can happen is that nothing changes except maybe I actually continue to finish more projects to the point of abandonment in the public space instead of merely sitting partially formed on my hard drives.
Certainly nothing will change if I merely continue to do the same old things, so...
Without further ramblings, welcome to "getting started" on making the Heir to Chronos project more "real" than mere ideas and dreamings in my head.
Maybe it's partly because it seems that I am much more of a thinker than a doer. It sometimes seems to me that I have a wellspring of ideas (for novels, stories, art, music, etc.), but the gumption fountain generally runs dry. So many things never even make it outside my head! And I guess I've created this blog, site--whatever--as a device to keep me motivated to finish more things, or, at least get them to the part where I can push them out of the nest and let them fly or fall on their on merit.
This blog resulted as an extension of me being sick of not getting anything done. I had set myself a challenge to finish one piece of sound work--one simple piece--and put it out there. I haven't put anything out into the public domain sound-wise for almost two years. Of course, I've got oodles of compositions in some state of beginnings. So, I started working on something new with the aim to get it finished and try to stick with the K.I.S.S.principle (in case, somehow, you're not familiar with that acronym, it's "Keep It Simple, Stupid"). I failed at the latter, but succeeded at the former, and now the piece "Fielding a Far-off Force" has seen the light of day.
But, instead of Keeping It Simple (Stupid), I ended up making a video for the piece, made this blog, started a Bandcamp, made a new Soundcloud account, made a CafePress shop, and etc.. This supposedly "simple" project turned into some multilayered thing somehow (it's because those ideas don't stop, they keep flowing, so...). I really don't know if this will help my EMP (Electronic Music Project) get any sort of audience--and I find the idea that I might actually sell some of my work through Bandcamp incredibly unlikely, perhaps even laughable (and don't even get me started on the Cafe Press merch, heh)--but, I suppose that the worst that can happen is that nothing changes except maybe I actually continue to finish more projects to the point of abandonment in the public space instead of merely sitting partially formed on my hard drives.
Certainly nothing will change if I merely continue to do the same old things, so...
Without further ramblings, welcome to "getting started" on making the Heir to Chronos project more "real" than mere ideas and dreamings in my head.
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