Speculative Sound Synthesis is an artistic research project by
David Pirrò, Ji Youn Kang and Luc Döbereiner. The project deals with the
relationship between technology and artistic thinking in computer
music. In doing so, it attempts to productively destabilize this
relationship by artistically questioning the standards of digital
sound synthesis.
The idea of speculation is central to this project, both methodogically as well as aesthetically. Speculation concerns the how, what, and the why of this project, its methods and its objectives. For the team, speculation does not refer to unfounded conjecture or purely theoretical thought removed from concrete practice or experience. On the contrary, speculation can be understood as situated oscillation between experience and imagination that is characteristic of processes that bring forth new forms of knowledge.
The project is seen as an attempt to release aesthetic potentials of sound synthesis for artistic practice that would otherwise remain unknown, concealed by standard technological gestures. In this sense, speculation is capable of overcoming inductive or deductive processes and able to dynamize the interrelation of technology and aesthetics.
