2007-04-11 [slightly edited]

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michael delia: 22:26:18

well, i guess, the question for me is the idea of a reductive approach to the content, a kind of filtering the initial source material through the strings to create a reduced sound from the strings.

shisoqu: 22:28:02

for me, maybe coming from a visual angle, the question is in how to appropriate the space, both in its nature of passage as well as in its structural aspect

michael delia: 22:29:36

i have thought of this as well. in both the installation of the strings and their relationship to the architecture and also where the sound will be heard from.. from the strings acoustically or from speakers, in the room and where.. how loud or quiet..

shisoqu: 22:31:40

i see the strings as re-structuring the space, in a kind of an optical illusion or, better, enhancement. the sound coming from them and incorporating the rhythm of the video, will relate them, i feel

shisoqu: 22:32:53

i tend to think of the whole space/atmosphere as rather quiet. not to imply any particular level of noise, but there is a meditative serenity about the center

michael delia: 22:32:59

this goes back to using the soundtrack from whatever you film as a kind of tracking method which will enable me to then compose something which will have a feel of being with the movement of the video.. but also something else

shisoqu: 22:33:52

precisely. on the other side, the visual elements of the projection and the structural elements of the strings can create a whole new space

michael delia: 22:34:51

yes, i agree; and i still like the idea of speech of some kind in the sound.. it activates the strings which creates the different tones, but you still here this distant sounds from the speech which can be interesting in this quiet atmosphere.

shisoqu: 22:36:01

when you say speech: are you referring to a social atmosphere such as a Viennese coffeehouse, or legible interview-style talk

michael delia: 22:37:51

so far, i have used the radio.. talking of individuals which has a percussive nature which seems to work well with the strings.. but it can be anything i guess that allows you to here the tones of the strings in the pauses of whatever is being played through them.. the ups and downs found in speech allows for this.

shisoqu: 22:39:49

it might be interesting to note that Brussels, as a city of only a million inhabitants, call three languages their native, aside from many others that are being privately spoken by all the people coming from all over the world.. a modern, yet charming, babel

michael delia: 22:40:57

yes this is interesting.. it can be something to consider.. as a collage of language, reduced together.. is the idea of a text which is spoken in the 3 languages intermixed together sound interesting...

michael delia: 22:38:55

i saw one installation there was a projection of an opening which was then silhouetted on the wall so people thought there was an opening going on where there wasn't..

shisoqu: 22:43:50

Alexandra made a piece there once where she recorded people and backplayed them 22:44:56

http://www.alexdementieva.org/ > installations > post-opening 

yes, interestingly i had an idea quite similar, just before hearing that it already happened

michael delia: 22:48:48

well it is a nice idea i guess, but i think we can go beyond

shisoqu: 22:41:30

the beauty of this opportunity lies in its site-specific nature. therefore i summarized some ideas on water, the canal, the city shaped as (some say) a heart, (others) a pentagram

yes - the idea of the portal. i keep thinking of mixing live and recorded images. such as having an existing 15' loop, that alters with actual presence or movement. a simple idea would be a big eye projected that follows people around, and closes when no one is there. 

michael delia: 22:43:21

well that is interesting, but how to do it? i can imagine having a microphone in the space which mixes with a recorded loop.. this could work for the sound.

shisoqu: 22:48:56

i am curious about purity, simplicity, perfection (even if that means imperfection in a world of mass media

but mostly i am curious about evoking 'something' in the visitor's mind

michael delia: 22:50:12

yes i am too, think of reducing down like in cooking when you are left with something pure.. like distilling down from something and getting say alcohol..

shisoqu: 22:51:00

i am more thinking an 'alchemist elixir' :) 

shisoqu: 22:51:24

maybe this is why i feel curious about 'non-objectiveness' in the context of ccnoa

michael delia: 22:51:49

well this is where it gets interesting for me, because it seems with the reductive non-objective approach, evocation of something else is not referential to the things itself.

shisoqu: 22:52:15

.. i mean this is a very new term for me, but one that vibrates quite deeply. i am thinking a lot about 'what does this mean for me and my work'

michael delia: 22:52:16

meaning to the object in itself

shisoqu: 22:54:02

i mean, we all look at the same thing, and have different perceptions of it. this is psychological in nature, since our brains process incoming information vs stored-experienced knowledge. it is therefor, that we experience differently..

michael delia: 22:55:47

it seems to be about process and what it means to the work.. it is in someways a very formal aesthetic.. one which in its purity is a starting point.. like math, music, formulas  of geometry.. what is found in nature is seen through this filter..without the personal

shisoqu: 22:55:29

.. media products (and i am being all-inclusive here) are, in my view way to often repeating their messages 'redundantly'.. maybe a product of the mac-world (as opposed to a 'slow down' approach)..

michael delia: 22:57:18

well yes that is true.. the message becomes a thing in itself.. a mere sign which is devoid of its content through its repetition.. the sign becomes the thing in itself.. but this is post-modern semiotic thinking..

shisoqu: 22:58:07

i think the personal is always a driving force, since artists proclaim their work as investigations into such and such a matter, but that aside, it seems that in the geometric-mathematical-aesthetically are somehow connected more then we currently understand

michael delia: 22:58:26

we have repetition in nature, but everything is never repeated the same twice.. it is not possible.. but the idea of the original in art.. is something else

shisoqu: 22:59:36

it is repetition in nature? or some evolution? i mean look at the nautilus shell, and - like many other natural processes - follow the Fibonacci sequence..

michael delia: 23:00:21

 well the personal is a driving force in the sense that we choose as individuals who we are and what we do.. but then to have an approach, process which identifies with a non-personal process somewhat removes the subjective.. 

shisoqu: 23:01:12

nature repeats, we might say, in cycles, but it does not ever really repeat.. Heraclitus mused about the river into which we can never enter twice 23:02:17

subjective is all of perception.. how to extract objectiveness from that is rather hard. specially since we are looking 'at the system' from 'inside the system'

michael delia: 23:02:18

yes this is a natural order of progression which comes from investigation and understanding of .. but yes this is what mean.. snowflakes are all different and the water flowing down a river is always new.

shisoqu: 23:03:45

so objective is an illusion to a sensorial being with a memory. that reminds me of an image i read somewhere, and which has been floating through my mind: by looking at the stars .. we really look at the history of the galaxy

michael delia: 23:04:37

i think perception is the key here.. because non-objective reduces perception. it is not about what you see and how you interpret it but that it is what it is.. like to create something which only reflects back on itself.

michael delia: 23:05:09

and how it interacts in the space and with the viewer

shisoqu: 23:06:20

but that in a way undermines a notion about art (and not only) that only finalizes itself in the eye of the beholder. without it, there is merely a ripple of intention, or even manifestation .. but separate somehow.. or maybe i am biased here, like .. let's say the reader of a novel.. without him there is no story coming alive in the mind; i mean if a book is written but never read.. what does it make it?

michael delia: 23:09:57

i guess art and communication and non-objectivity communicates the present moment.. but a book in the narrative from tells a story.. whereas the non-objective art is the story

shisoqu: 23:10:32

for me personally, good art works evoke something.. they trigger something inside, remind of an inside, are an inspiration

michael delia: 23:10:38

a book never read is a rectangular object.. a brick made of paper

shisoqu: 23:10:55

i like this one! 23:11:12

so, art never perceived is..

michael delia: 23:12:13

we might not be non-objective artists..  but i can relate and like to incorporate, but with humor.. like if i transform an object which has a function into something else 

shisoqu: 23:12:59

i mean i understand the notions of abstract art and minimalism, i favor the later maybe.. dragan used to call me a minimalist.. i thought another stamp..

michael delia: 23:13:47

but in terms of space and site-specific this is where we can integrate ourselves into this aesthetic..

shisoqu: 23:14:32

no - i wonder, if non-objective laughs at the pretense of the subjective.. polishing it into perfection and mastery.. and achieving a quite inspirational setting

shisoqu: 23:14:53

like .. providing a setting for new neural pathways

michael delia: 23:20:16

there is a spiritual nature about this.. a zen buddist idea of nothingness...

 23:37:44

http://sofia.lemurie.cz/pro/noa/index.html