During the time of this project, I faced several challenges that questioned my process, available energies, and intentions for Sounding Numbers.
I fulfilled a variety of roles that stretched from being a sonification artist and researcher to the composer, group leader, and performer for the artistic outcome, plus doing administration work for performances and fundraising proposals, and the challenge of attending the IT University. Besides, on a personal level, I dealt from an unbreakable distance with the loss of my father. This was indeed a difficult and busy time, I am still surprised with the outcome I accomplished in comparison to how thin time can become when dealing with so much.
I can truly say that support and clear strong planning were key elements for the successful development of this project. The support and guidance from my peers to create meaningful and critical observations on the project, and from the musicians to perform my abstract, poetic, complex, and demanding compositions felt like a gift.
On a methodological level, the big gap between the needed knowledge and my aesthetic intentions, in combination with the desired amount of art production, made the documentation of my research clumsy. Luckily, I could rely on my structural planning, which helped me push forward and keep my mind focused on my set goals. Many of the reflections that you read on this exposition were built out of notes from many sources that I used to register my research journey.
I also built two collaborations by the end of the project. One with a light artist to explore the idea of interpreting data with light instead of sound, and the second with a filmmaker to explore an audiovisual layer of my project and make communication more clear, efficient, and direct. These collaborations have recently started, so it is too soon to evaluate their outcome.
It is interesting for me, to listen and see how my different processes became more complex and with more robust results, as I got more knowledge and was able to calibrate my sonification craftsmanship. I also gained perspective on my work, by presenting it at the Data Art for Climate Action conference in February 2022. I understood the aesthetic value I created in relation to the contemporary sonification scene and defined my position inside the genre through the potentialities of my vision as an artist. This leans much on the compositional side of the field, further from the scientific analysis and closer to abstract very emotional communication.
Earlier this year, I also had an interview for a Ph.D. in connection to sound design and machine learning algorithms. Writing a project proposal based on my artwork in Sounding Numbers, gave me ideas for upcoming projects by setting my exploration intentions towards AI for aesthetic development and interactiveness within sonifications.
As a saxophone player, my practice changed, especially regarding extended techniques. I suddenly needed to understand how the sounding layers of my multiphonics, could develop a similar movement to the sound that I was coding, or how could I imitate percussive electronic articulations using different slap techniques. To meet these challenges, I developed more controlled nuances and more articulation techniques on my instrument in dynamics ranging from triple piano to triple forte.
This project has been to every extent, an emotional and mindful journey towards my true empowered self.
THE JUNE CONCERT
For my last concert at RMC, I would like to explore the combination of my music composition and my sonifications for the installations, being the music performance the driving act of the set.
I will perform a trio arrangement (saxophone, double bass, and electronics) of the two compositions I created for Sounding Numbers.
To perform the music in a trio formation, instead of a sextet, has two intentions. First, it seeks to create a working group easy to book and tour after the soloist program. The reduction of the orchestration also allows exploring the music with more freedom.
Secondly, I want to explore a leadership role with my saxophone in this music. This intention falls under a question that Torben Snekkestad would ask after every exposition at RMC: How does this research project change you as a saxophone player?
The intended format of the concert is:
1. Opening. A sonification of deforestation sounds in the PA.
1.1 The audience enters the space and finds on their seats a text about the project and the topics I address in the music.
1.2 I recite the text from ‘I AM THE FOREST’ as a meditative opening act, preparing for the music.
2. The trio starts to play the FOREST piece.
3. The FOREST piece ends, and ‘I AM THE OCEAN’ music starts.
4. Closing. A sonification of ocean pollution sounds in the PA.
4.1 I recite text from I AM THE OCEAN with a closing meditative intention
All these movements are meant to follow each other in a constant flow of sound, where movements 1 and 4 last for 10 minutes each, and 2 and 3 for 20 minutes each.