This one is weird, but definitely something of interest to us droneheads. Antonio della Marina released an indeed fabulously executed book (hardcover, shiny ink on matte black, 200 pages) to guide his work “Fades/Costellazioni”. The book comes with a card containing details on how to log into a website where you can listen to the result – which I did. But somehow, I find it challenging to write about this, as it is meant to be heard in a certain space and setting. But! I will try.
The basics of “Fades/Costellazioni” is a continuous process of slow cross-fades between harmonic structures created with electronic sounds carefully tuned to each other. That is what’s on the website. Simply said, the piece shows sounds produced according to a specific algorithm that is all in some way connected. Yes, ‘shows’, the visual aspect is a constellation of the frequencies and the coherence between that point; The particular sound depicted is emphasized and played as a drone/chord/sound. The notation system inspired the ‘constellation’ of possibilities for just intonation invented by the Mexican-American music theorist Erv Wilson. A final fact: The 1/1 root note is an A at 432 Hz located in the centre.
All possibilities of coherent notes forming the chords are depicted in the book, so as a reading book, it’s not very interesting, but it’s the book that gives you access to the website, and that’s what it’s about. I can imagine it will be an installation that will be seen in several MOMA’s in the future, but to travel half the world to see this is maybe too much. The next best thing is this book and access to the website where you can at least hear the beauty of sine waves connected through logic. Very beautiful and moments of Eliane and Eno.
So I asked myself: Is it a website I will visit frequently? And I answered myself too: Not really. In fact, I was a bit saddened that there was only a card in the book and not a CD where Antonio (or some other artist) took the output of the constellations’ chords and created a journey within a limited amount of time. Don’t get me wrong, the book, artwork and website are great, but … The book’s opening paragraph says it all: ‘It is to be considered like a sculpture, a painting, or as architecture’. In this day and age, I would love to have a giclée of a painting or a copy of a sculpture at home, not paint something myself or listen to stones being carved each time I visit a website. With an additional release – or releases – of the artist travelling through a constellation, or maybe even several artists travelling and becoming aware of how their journeys differentiate – and why. Now, THERE would be an exciting addition.
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