Re: [microsound] laptop hell

[edo <edo@xxxxxxx>]

> 
> No they are not the same thing. Everyone knows how a piano works and most
> people have some idea of the level of skill and feeling that a pianist puts
> into their performance. The nuances of each note can be appreciated because
> the audience basically know what's involved in the technique and know that
> that sound is being generated in their presence. This experience of the
> work could be defined, as Kim says (after Benjamin), as its "aura."
> This is what is missing in the laptop performance. The laptop is more or
> less a "black box" in the sense that it has input and output but what
> happens in between is not known. This does not mean that the performance is
> not real, or  as good musically as any other performance. Its more that the
> audience is not able to connect the sounds that they hear to a certain
> process or technique that  would help constitute the "liveness" or aura for
> them in that particular situation.
> Also different situations demand different requirements  from the
> performer. A performer at a rock concert might need to exhibit charismatic
> qualities that would not be so necessary in a dance music environment. A DJ
> at a dance party might need other qualities such as rhythm and timing and
> to be able to respond to audience feedback. But these things might not be
> so relevant in the context of an experimental electronic music performance.
> I think that part of the problem is the inability to think of the
> experimental electronic listening environment as being radically different
> than the dance music environment.
> 
> But, as I said before, its not just laptop performances which suffer from
> this loss of aura. Most purely electronic acts suffer from the same
> problems when put in the experimental performance environment (my own
> performances included). However, there are exceptions which, to me,
> maintain the aura of live performances: Scott Horscroft's piece with four
> guitarists keeps me captivated every time I see it.  The Loop Orchestra - 5
> blokes with reel to reel taperecorders putting loops on the machines and
> playing them together - you understand whats going on immediately and
> appreciate its live aspect. Toy Death, who make all their music with toy
> instruments. All of these acts convey something in the excecution of their
> live performance that cannot simply be written off as mere entertainment
> value (as if entertainment were something only required by phillestines,
> and beneath the values of the digirati).
> 
> I think this is a genuine issue that needs some careful thought, (not
> hot-headed  kneejerk responses, as has happend with many posts on this
> subject). The objectors to laptop (or computer) performance cannot be
> conveniently written off as philistines or luddites. On the other hand,
> those who  mystify electronic music with the term "digital" - meaning cool
> and cutting edge, or avant garde - are also contributing to the same
> problem.
> 
> I don't feel that visual stimulus, in the form of video projection, is the
> answer either (especially in the form of tedious syaesthetic patterns). I
> reckon its time for a bit of content in the work. Something for the mind to
> engage in rather than the continual retreat towards new age immersive
> interiorization justified by the concept of (corporate)technological
> innovation.

First of all want to say that I find that ressurection of the W Benjamin's
Aura very interesting. In fact the intensity and value of the live
experience depends on the way the performer can create "the right here and
right now" context. Much of that relies on the sensation of a unique and
non-repeatable performance (notice I say sensation because it hasn¹t to be
exactly true). Before I advance to my point just want to remember the
aesthetics of Hegel in which he considered the judgements about technical
aspects of the art piece not belonging to a true aesthetic experience. Not
that I go along with this but I thought it would be interessant to dig this
out. In this regard the performer would resemble an illusionist who create
magic hiding out the mechanism of the phenomenon he produces for the senses
of the audience. What happens in this case is that the audience is invited
to leave their cultural baggage and knowledge to enter in an evolving
experience.
The problem is: can the laptop performer create this state of aesthetic
experience? Well, I think no. I think the laptop performer is in a situation
of ambiguity where he neither does offer the means to make his process
transparent nor hide it away totally, he doesn¹t manage to create an
"experience" neither one way nor another. Would dare to say that he is in a
situation where he wants to fit the traditional performance model but not
being able to. What would you say about this?
To me the solutions is in trying to find new relationships between audience
and performer. The laptops performers still maintain a oneway direction
attitude toward the audience. You can tell me musicians always look for
feedback on the audience. Ok. But it doesn¹t go further than this.

Before unfolding this ideas its me who would like to have some feedback now

Edo