CYCLE#3 - RADICAL ECOLOGICAL THINKING & THE RHYTHMIC POTENTIAL IN THE SONIFICATION OF NON LINEAR BIOLOGICAL OSCILLATING SYSTEMS

It is interesting to me, that the first definition of the word “circulation” in the Oxford Dictionary represents “the movement of blood around the body that is induced by the pumping action of the heart and vasculature, & serves to distribute nutrients and oxygen to, and remove waste products from all parts of the body”

A big subject and focus area in CYCLE#3 was to shine light on an ecological context of the cardiovascular system which defined the theoretical, philosophical and practical foundation for this particular investigative cycle.

You can read about it here.

Even though some of the research questions that arose from the continuity of that exploration couldn’t be further developed, it laid the ground for further potential focus areas.
It was with the hydrophones that I started an investigation series of heart meditations in which I created a daily routine in which I tried to cultivate an enhanced cognitive awareness through applied meditation practice - and listened concentrated to my own heart in various pick up positions. The first and foremost intention of this practice, was the bare basic & open research aspect of giving my full attention and awareness in form of listening and experiential research to an unfamiliar context. A second intention was to develop a way of capturing the acoustics of the heart in the most clear and full spectrum possible, most suited for further artistic integration, sonic processing and sonification of the heart in order to incorporate the material in my electronic music creation. Within this working process I noted the commencement of an enhanced awareness to my chest region throughout the day. My emotional responses to the experienced life in my everyday got linked to a more physical examination in quality to my heart and it showed that through the recurring practice of amplified, concentrated listening, I experienced glimpses of what Steven Harrod Buhner calls „heart-perception“  

A significant challenge during these heart meditations represented the problematics of locating an electromagnetic pick up like the hydrophones in proximity to my heart over an extended period of time. I experienced subtle but clear perturbations of both electromagnetic fields, the one from the hydrophone and the one of my heart. I learned that „energy systems like the heart, are open systems; they are always interacting with other energy systems. The heart is always using, storing, and emitting energy.“4 And especially during very long listening sessions I felt a slight sensation of uneasy tensing in my chest region. Again these sensation were very subtle, but yet clear that there was an interference between both electromagnetic fields.  Therefore a refined adaptation of the pick up instrument was needed. The change to a mechanic pick up instead of an electromagnetic seemed obvious, even more so when the history of listening to the heart already utilized a wonderful & refined examination tool: the stethoscope. I experimented with the deconstruction of a stethoscope into the modular manufacturing of a stethoscope microphone and eventually settled with an easy mechanic, closed tube-system. 

What I’ve found through viewing the heart as an open energy system, always interacting with it’s environment, was a particular aspect of ecological thinking about the cardiovascular system which caught my attention and interest in artistic potential:
From a musical point of view, during those heart-meditation-listening-sessions, I linked a new interpretation of the irregular, non-linear dynamic oscillation of my heart to my sequence based music creation: The ecological significance of a responding, adapting, changing and life giving oscillator.

In those moments of concentrated listening, I found experiential knowledge of what researchers in this field confirm: That „the beating of a healthy heart is a highly refined non-linear system and, like all such systems, respond unpredictable to stimuli.“

Exactly this nonlinear unpredictable aspect in biological oscillators and „natures rhythms“ seemed a big potential of investigation to my musical, - and particular rhythmical practice.
A new focus emerged in this investigative CYCLE#3 as the examination of an ecological perspective to the rhythmic potential in dynamic non linear biological oscillating systems, in which I used the method of sonification from the circulation of my own heart & defined it as the rhythmic non-linear center point for the improvised circulating electronic patterns.

                    {Heartperception with Hydrophones}                                 {GNOSIS CARDIACA}

I’m fascinated by the few movements I managed to record: It unfolds a completely new aesthetic outcome in rhythmic flow and interactive possibilities, simply by setting the dynamic pulse of the sonification of the heart as the non linear rhythmic center point in which all other parts of the music creation- melodic, rhythmic and textural elements are transforming upon.

Even upon polyrhythmic application in the second part (0min 59s), where the changing pulse is constantly analyzed and divided in it’s rhythmic subdivisions.

This revealed another dimension of viewing the cyclic perception in circular systems as dynamic, living and responding. I became conscious of the possibilities for further dissolving a linear perception of a sequence based system through rhythmic dynamic variability.

The concept of sonification was unfolding new rhythmic possibilities to my linear sequenced based electronic circulations.

A main discovery of CYCLE#3 was the investigation of the artistic potential of a circular electronic music creation in the context described above, that would explore biological oscillating, non linear based rhythmic circulating systems as an addition to the linear sequence based processing in my music production.

Even though the potential of the sonification & ecological thinking as an artistic format became a new point of reflection and interest, I want to state, that I relatively soon left this investigative cycle and moved on to explore others. Yet, I’m very much looking forward to dedicate a full branch of my coming research in the future to this discovery. Other non linear based rhythmic circulating systems include breathing and countless other movements in natural organisms, pointing also to more abstract fields in the sonification of data, like the tidal rhythms & impact of the moon & so on.

So to summarize: In this investigative cycle, I discovered a musical expression that combines linear rhythmic circulating electronic music processing with non linear systems of biological oscillators through sonification. Also further insights into the paradox between linearity and circularity are explored through rhythmic variability. Overall I intended to investigate the aesthetic potential in (poly)rhythmic dimensions within an electronic musical context through integrating and contrasting the aesthetic possibilities of biological oscillators - like the heart - with straight linear quantized rhythmic events.

Another note & thought for further artistic research regarding the responding aspect of the cardio vasculature system in a life-processing performance:

Imaginative contextualization of the radical cardiovascular- & ecological synthesis:
How would the relationship of the heart interact with the direct feedback of a resonating room, as in the context of Lars Greve, giving an immediate reflection and response of the own electromagnetic & emotional state to it’s animating circulation, rhythm & quality ?