Speculative Sound Synthesis is an artistic research project by
David Pirrò, Ji Youn Kang, Leonie Strecker 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.
