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Metamorphosis 4 2

Live instrument maniplulation and sound diffusion

Metamorphosis 4 2 explores the affective nature of the transitionary state and its’ relationship to performer and surrounding environment as a measured potential to persist toward transformation. This relationship seeks to offer variations of the original form beyond its’ original spatial, temporal and spectral morphology.

 

As a site-specific work, Metamorphosis 4 2 aims to address the unique conditions of the performance space to shape the spatial and spectral morphologies together with the performers response to the electroacoustic work. This open variation forms an essential component to the piece and its overall performative form. Metamorphosis 4 2 is a work for two performers with electronic music over eight loudspeakers using classic diffusion techniques, and live audio signal manipulation.

 

Metamorphosis 4 2 was presented as part of the PULSE Rooftop Sonic Arts program.

In August 2008 I was invited to present a new multichannel work for PULSE (Performing the Urban Landscape), a multimedia project funded by Arts Victoria and the City of Melbourne. PULSE was made up of a series of monthly sound, dance, video and theatre performances. In 2009 the program ran over a period of four months, with one performance per month, each focusing on a specific discipline. The proposed site was a rooftop situated within the heart of the urban environment. This was a unique opportunity to design, compose and realise a multichannel work exploring an open space situated above street level. The work was presented as a two-channel composition, manually diffused over an eight-channel loudspeaker system.

Metamorphosis42 is a response to the notion of the heterogeneous space, expressed through an electroacoustic work that is performed within the urban environment. The work is site specific, using sounds from the surrounding environment to inform the degrees of variation, and this forms an essential component for its realisation. Metamorphosis42 is a two-channel piece that explores an approach to designing for a complex sound environment.
 
This work draws from two sources for inspiration: the metamorphosis effect as described by Cresson, and, Paul Zucker’s visual interpretation of a heterogeneous space. Cresson describes the metamorphosis effect as a perceivable change in the sonic environment that is characterised by a temporal instability in the relations that link the components of an entire system (Augoyard, 2006). This decription fits Zucker’s interpretation of the heterogeneous space, which describes a perceivable change in the arrangement of objects characterised by instability in the spatial relations existing between objects within an entire system. This instability gives the listener the impression the system is continually shifting.
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