TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

11:14 PM
Posted by jodi rose

stop the press... I've finally done it!

in at the museum today, checking out the cabinets for my work, and I realise that it's the most minimal piece I have ever managed to create. mind you, it took an exhibition designer and team of contractors to actually make, but, the point is, no frills and furbelows, no bells or whistles, no colour and movement (well not yet anyway), no clutter or baroque anything of any kind. Strictly functional, anonymous looking signal box type structures, with pearl grey glossy finish and perfect windows for the tiny screens and speaker - the latter spookily are exacty the same size as portholes in the fire hydrant cabinets. The grey blends perfectly with the walls. Genius. No-one will ever know it's 'art'!!!!!


Got the spacing and placement sorted out, thinking through the concept and content a little more, but really just need to get the material in and play around. Now for the fun; add two parts glitchy noise, a few bars of abstract textural variations, and top with minimal bell tones. Voila!

It really does amuse me sometimes, having conversations with 'serious' musicians, I realise that my attitude to 'composing' is one of happy mayhem, more about finding a path through the sound, and trying to strip away as much of my influence as possible, to get to something like the essence of a sonic object, less layers, less manipulation. I had the absolute pleasure and privilege of hearing Walter Murch speak at the australian film and tv school, when I was 18 or 19, and his philosophy has always stayed with me. Doing the soundtrack for 'Apocalypse Now' (that's twice referenced in one week, although the first was maybe private email about fruit skins used to create fragrant white smoke, we got lucky with the rain on hot lights in the walkway... but that's another story) and he said people were inevitably impressed by the 200 or so tracks made with various audio layers. But the ultimate, he said, is just one track, or zero - the most high fidelity sound is the one people can hear inside their own heads. I guess that's why I became a conceptual sound artist! ;)

Hordes of art friends streaming into singapore next week for isea, can't wait, and feeling sad that it's already coming to an end. I'm not ready to go back to berlin, and leave this nice tropical bubble. How will I survive?? Eeeeeeek. Guess the European Sound Delta trip along the Danube will provide a nice landing buffer for 3 weeks. Came up with a genius plan to streamline my workflow and production for that, will keep it under my hat for now. Stay tuned.

Tommorrow night think I'll just talk esoteric philosophy. Need a change from process and outcome oriented details. Abstract high art all the way.