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this edition of framework:afield, a 1 hour version of their piece entitled aurosion, has been produced in the uk by amanda wilson and justin gagen.
notes from the producers:
Aurosion: Eroding Sonic Landscapes with the Internet Audio Cyclotron
by Amanda Wilson and Justin Gagen
Aurosion: Eroding Sonic Landscapes with the Internet Audio Cyclotron was originally a collaborative, long-form studio performance by the authors, broadcast on June 6th 2016 by the radio station ResonanceExtra. The piece, whose seed material consisted of field recordings from locales as diverse as the laboratory and a tropical mangrove forest, ran for six hours: this version represents an edit consisting of around an hour of the original performance. Aurosion utilised a process conceived and designed by the authors to subvert the functionality of networks and compression algorithms – The Internet Audio Cyclotron, or IAC.
The IAC, is an audio hyper-processor, an information-destruction system, and a de novo musical instrument, that considers the ideas of Gustav Metzger, Jacques Attali and Alvin Lucier, among others, pertaining to memory and repetition, auto-destructive art, and non-linear, generative creation. Seed audio is introduced into the system and encoded using a compression algorithm. The encoded signal is then transmitted, via the Internet, to a remote distribution server and streamed to listeners. An instance of this stream is reintroduced into the encoder. Interaction with the signal, via mixer interventions and the introduction of further seed audio, forms the performative element of the instrument. Each cycle alters the seed sound and introduces a matrix of delays, compounded and layered with each subsequent round.
Aurosion was divided into ten sections, each with collections of samples from specific locales. Each section was gradually seeded, then ‘played’ until artefacts emerged to shape the piece, before decaying naturally. Many noise artefacts were introduced during the performance, both algorithmic and artist-generated, resulting in an unrepeatable microstructure with elements distinct from the seed sounds. The IAC, therefore, presents the artist with a method for the destruction of audio but, simultaneously, a method of creation.
More info at:
phasechange.info/iac
References
Attali, J. (1977) ‘Noise: the political economy of music’. Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press.
Lucier, A. (1969) ‘I Am Sitting in a Room’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Sitting_in_a_Room
Metzger, G. (1996) ‘Damaged nature, and autodestructive art’. London: Coracle.
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