Eric Maestri

Simulation as Intimate Transformation of the Existential Experience

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In my recent pieces I use simulations to play with writing and think i.e the contact of instrument and electronics through their perception. This personal practice represents a current paradigm which uses computers to project and test the results of the compositional choices. As Rheinberger claimed, the Derridean concept of trace1 can be mobilised2. Following this author, I argue that this concept, can be understood as archi-écriture3. Simulation, as archi-écriture operates as a dynamic foundation of compositional practice, synthesising the operational and the perceptive aspects performatively4. The performance changes in type: it is a scaled and projective performance, a trave of a trace. The studio is the reality. This practice, pushed by the technological innovation, is not innocent: it concerns aesthetics. The musical practice can be seen as an existential trace. As Martin Heidergger claimed, the existential constitutive elements of the Being-here (Dasein) are defined by the coexistence of emotive situation, comprehension, dejection and interpretation5. In my case, music acts as means of the comprehension and interpretation of the existential musical condition. It is an isomorphic emergence of the temporal profile of my existence. In this sense, the utilisation of simulations enters in the existential hermeneutical cycle and transforms the artistical existential experience. In this presentation I will show how the computer is used in my compositional practice. Starting from two recent pieces (Trans for saxophone and electronics6 and Comme le vent, for ensemble and electronics7), I will show how the interpretation of my intimate musical experience is transformed and impacted by the simulative means. Under a Heideggerian light, I will concentrate on the practical aspect of their implementation and suggest an existential perspective.

1 Jacques Derrida, « La différance », in Marges de la philosophie (Paris: Les editions de minuit, 1972).

2 Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, « From Traces through Data to Models and Simulations », in Transpositions: Aesthetico-Epistemic Operators in Artistic Research, éd. par Michael Schwab (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2018), 215-25.

3 Jacques Derrida, De la grammatologie (Paris: Les editions de minuit, 1967).

4 Andrew Sorensen et Henry Gardner, « Programming with Time. Cyber-physical programming with Impromptu », in Proceedings of OOPSLA10 : ACM International Conference on Object Oriented Programming Systems Languages and Applications (New York: ACM, 2010), 822-34.

5 Martin Heidegger, Sein und Zeit (Tuebingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1927).

6 Commissioned by saxophone player Philippe Koerper and Ensemble l’imaginaire, Strasbourg. Premiere: march 9th 2019.

7 Commissioned by Ircam-Centre Pompidou and ensemble l’Instant Donné. Premiere: June 15th 2019.

{persons: [Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger]}

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meta: true

event: Simulation

author: Eric Maestri

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