ANTON *
Mr Jock
Ensemble, Audio, Video
Documentation
The piece addresses the difference between the messages spread by the political system (mostly in the form of propaganda) and the actual intentions of the system. In other words, it is about ideology. The term is a combination of two aspects: the values publicly proclaimed by a political system and the so-called "hidden flip side", a 'dirty' secret that, in order for an ideology to function and reproduce itself effectively, must remain unspoken. Ideology maintains its hidden mechanisms that ensure its sustenance. It always supplies an illusory surplus, the hidden message in its products, and it is precisely that which drives us to continue helplessly obeying. So there is a discrepancy between the perceived reality and the unattainable reality under capitalism.
The basis of the work is a forum thread from the Darknet. Due to the total anonymity, the boundaries of all contexts become blurred in the darknet. In these corners of the net abyss, it is hardly possible to assign information to contexts. There one surfs in a contextual vacuum in which one can no longer clearly say whether those involved in the thread are horny, serious, funny or whether they are planning a terrorist attack.
Each symbol of the text material from the chat is assigned a pitch. The typed text appears on the video, the corresponding pitches sound synchronously with the image over the sound system, the ensemble "types" along.
As the chat progresses, the messages become more obscene and violent. And the worse it gets, the greater the discrepancy between the audio/video and the ensemble.
At the beginning of the piece, the ensemble is in unison with the playback. In the course of the piece, the playback is gradually transposed upwards by a small second. At the end of the piece, the ensemble plays the actual pitches of the chat, while the audio sonifies symbols shifted alphabetically by one position.
The concept is also followed on the video: At the beginning of the piece, the text is clearly legible, but slowly it is overlapped with itself (analogous to the transposition of the playback) and then at the end of the process it is also encrypted: All symbols are shifted alphabetically by one position. The actual messages become unreadable on the video, but still audible in the ensemble! At the end of the piece only the ensemble delivers the hidden message.
Commissioned by Neues Kollektiv München.
The basis of the work is a forum thread from the Darknet. Due to the total anonymity, the boundaries of all contexts become blurred in the darknet. In these corners of the net abyss, it is hardly possible to assign information to contexts. There one surfs in a contextual vacuum in which one can no longer clearly say whether those involved in the thread are horny, serious, funny or whether they are planning a terrorist attack.
Each symbol of the text material from the chat is assigned a pitch. The typed text appears on the video, the corresponding pitches sound synchronously with the image over the sound system, the ensemble "types" along.
As the chat progresses, the messages become more obscene and violent. And the worse it gets, the greater the discrepancy between the audio/video and the ensemble.
At the beginning of the piece, the ensemble is in unison with the playback. In the course of the piece, the playback is gradually transposed upwards by a small second. At the end of the piece, the ensemble plays the actual pitches of the chat, while the audio sonifies symbols shifted alphabetically by one position.
The concept is also followed on the video: At the beginning of the piece, the text is clearly legible, but slowly it is overlapped with itself (analogous to the transposition of the playback) and then at the end of the process it is also encrypted: All symbols are shifted alphabetically by one position. The actual messages become unreadable on the video, but still audible in the ensemble! At the end of the piece only the ensemble delivers the hidden message.
Commissioned by Neues Kollektiv München.
Project information:
Category: Ensemble, audio, video
Instrumentation: SSax, Perc, Pno, E.guit, FOH
Duration: ca. 19'
DaDatetum Sep 22nd, 2018
Score: PDF