by Hannah Albrecht -

IRCAM Reflections 2.0: Dromos/Autos

The showcase of “Dromos/Autos – The Autistic Ontology as Performance” by Matt Rogerson at the Ircam conference (19th to 22nd of March) presented itself as especially memorable as an instance where Electroencephalography (EEG) is not just used as a technological tool in an attempt to free the hands of musicians, but instead directly linked to the story it helps to tell. In short: It was interesting from a narrative perspective.

Acting as both the performer and researcher, Matt Rogerson aimed to invoke sensory overload in a generative performance ecology by way of biofeedback to bring about empathy towards the lived autistic experience in daily life. By integrating sound technology and visuals into a piece of performance art, the artist acts as a “mediative human interface”, invoking a sense of depersonalisation with the symptom of delayed reactions. The idea is to be as passive a subject to the ongoing processes as possible instead of trying to assert agency over them.

A performance of „Dromos/Autos“ in a different setting

The significant aspect during the performance, confirmed later by the discussion of it, was that the titular theme and technology used were enough to create a narrative for what was going on stage – the further explanation was insightful and interesting, but I feel like I still would have walked out of just the performance with a sense of having gained insights and perspective, and this is what good storytelling does for me. Within this framework, there was still space for trial and error, as well as the surprising and unexpected, and the combination of research, preparation, and artistic execution was a sharp display of what Ircam is all about.

It’s hard to see the bigger picture with a brain that’s very detail-oriented.

Matt Rogerson during the discussion of the performance in Ircam’s Studio 5 on the 19th of March

In terms of sound design, the sounds that occurred within the generative framework were researched and adjusted to specifically induce sensory overload for the artist to help facilitate a feedback loop to enhance the performance, but what they also did alongside the visuals was to create an experience for the listener that is somewhat synchronised to that of the performer, albeit on a different scale. It created an atmosphere where the performer and attendee endured the experience together in a way, with the audience realising that acoustic ecology might not be the same for everyone. The takeaway here is that a good mixture of research, planning, considering the audience while keeping the main goal in mind and a transparent execution of the project can go a long way in creating a narrative experience. That being said, the realisation after the performance was once again that when designing the sound of the world we live in, it is essential to consider accessibility and find solutions that work for, and not against all kinds of people.

On another note – the performer made sure to warn visitors about strobe lights that would be part of the performance in a way that went beyond mentioning it as a rushed sidenote.  This consideration towards the safety and individual circumstances of everyone in the room was a thoughtful reminder that it is okay and important to integrate obvious disclaimers as part of a designed experience for others to ensure a smooth and safe event for everyone who attends.  

by Hannah Albrecht -

IRCAM Reflections 1.0: Three States of Wax

Out of all the contributions to the 2024 Ircam Forum Workshops that I have seen in Paris between the 19th and 22nd of March, one has kept me thinking not just for its content in terms of the (musical) arts, sciences and technology, but especially the philosophy behind it.

“Three States of Wax: The Nature of material in Live Electronic Improvisation”, brought to the conference by Juan Parra Cancino and Jonathan Impett framed composition as a critical technical practice through the lens of material as described by Descartes in his wax argument thought experiment and then taken further by Michel Serres in an investigation into the materials of physics.

„Three States of Wax“, in this video performed in 2020 at the New York Electroacoustic Improvisation Summit.

In doing so, the Cartesian and scientific way of thinking about material were interpreted alongside a plane where in the present, the history of the material plays a role as the material becomes its own memory through every interaction with it – memory is approached as a reconstruction from a point of view as a similar process to imagination through improvisation in an electroacoustic performance that incorporates extended techniques on the trumpet, guitar and electronics while coming up with points of communication and interaction.

The presentation also implicitly posed the question of authorship, suggesting that material can be something that transforms how we think about it (also depending on how it is presented) and depending on how it was derived – in an odd way this made me think of “Steal like an Artist” by Austin Kleon (why that is I have to investigate further). As an example, the emergence of paper was mentioned as a clear material that changed how we think: With it, we become aware that we can note down things that might be helpful for later, essentially transforming how we navigate an ever-changing landscape of information and knowledge.

In a similar sense, it prompted reflection on how the reiteration of previous materials and merging of individual contexts transforms into an interconnected web of knowledge, simultaneously creating new input and contributing to a network structure that works as a combobulator, at least in my interpretation. In the context of improvisation in music, the notion that came across to me was that if composition were approached as a design process in terms of thinking about and considering the materials one works with, continuity could be found even where layers are added.

While I would not dare say that I fully grasped the whole idea during the 30-minute presentation without any further input, it provided me with food for thought and new ways to approach and interpret the interweaving of material with an awareness of how information, too, is subjected to change in how it is understood and presented during and also after the creative process, if it were to be fixed and thus became part of a larger network of memories and associations ascribed to it. This blog is by no means meant to explain the presentation itself, but more my interpretations, reflections, and thoughts that came up so far as a result of taking in the information.

Further resources:

Echo, a journal of music, thought and technology – https://echo.orpheusinstituut.be/#issues

Orpheus Institute (Advanced studies & research in music) – https://orpheusinstituut.be/en/music-thought-and-technology/three-states-of-wax

G. Agamben – The Man without Content

A. Negri – Art and Multitude