A Swedish Taste of Technology!

Once again, me (Frans) and Theo have begun going through ideas concerning Aron's collection of poems, "Hägringar i en blomstrande öken" ("Mirages in a blossoming desert" or something like that). It's been a while since we relfected actively on the co-op, but as Aron, just efore his return to GB, whiped the dust from the project by issuing a wish the painter and musician woke up, we realised it simply had to be done. The evening before Theos departure back to Munka-Ljungby we met up to see what had changed in our minds since we last discussed the subject.

I realized that my musical vision of the poems hadn't really changed that much, I still interpreted the themes into drones, both in the bass and treble registers. I get these late 60's early 70's sci-fi and Magrittesque images in my head, something I against my will tried to pass on to Theo. I aim to imitate that space sound of sci-fi movie soundtracks but also incorporate more oriental elements, seeing that the scenery is a desert (I hope you don't consider me too much of a narrowminded exotist).

Theo's ideas, however, had changed dramatically. Initially he sketched on paintings, but upon seeing the old sketches again he now rejected the thought of a classical two-dimensional rendering. We both suggested the use of movie projectors in a small, cubical room, a vision apparantly Theo and me had had before even discussing this. The projections would recreate the atmosphere of a truly desolate place, maybe an empty worker's town in the south of Sweden (during nighttime).

I came with the suggestion we use a main theme, built around a massive bass drone that nearly drenches the entire environment. Splitting the collection of poems into perhaps five or more parts, we could place loudspeakers of some form close to every slice of of the collection. Every slice would then be represented by its own theme, in the middle and upper frequencies. These themes could revolve around simple rhythms on bells, string instruments, maybe even voices. If everything works out as it should, the experience of the music will change, depending on where in the room the participants have their location. A more advanced way of presenting the music would be motion sensors enabling interaction between the sounds of the room and the visitors. Perhaps the wall projections could also be interactive...

We have come up with more, and it will be great to publish reports on the progress of the project here on the blog. Hopefully, our non-existent readers would like to comment thoughts on our enormous performance.

And as a little conclusion, I am happy to inform you that I have started drawing again. Here are two portraits of Klara and a self-portrait. You haven't seen the end of this temporary seizure of mine! There's more where this came from. I am very satisfied with the second portrait of Klara as I succeeded in synthesizing her straight hair into a simple pattern. I don't really know what to say, I have never been the master at evaluating my own work, neither music nor drawings.




Cheers! /Frans