Objectives

Objectives #

Abolish the difference between Composition and Synthesis #

While com-position and syn-thesis are synonymous in their respective languages of origin, computer music systems as well as dominant musical perspectives on sound production and composition make a clear distinciton between both. This distinction is partly technological and partly inherited from the separation between the composer and the performing musician, which itself reflects the different values assigned to intellectual and physical labour. A central objective of this project is to abolish this difference and to regard the synthesis of sound and it’s underlying operations as compositional acts, not as a material substratum that supports higher disembodied artistic goals.

Establish a Speculative Practice #

We understand speculation as an idea of experimentation. By studying how we conduct research, we engage in a reflection that feeds back into the project’s questions and objectives. On a large scale, the project thereby tries to establish a speculative artistsic research practice. Its methodology, the way it critiques and reconstructs technological and aesthetic notions, is itself an objective of the project.

Develop a Series of Speculative Sound Models #

The case studies will center around experimental models of sound, which speculatively explore diverse fundamental approaches to sound synthesis by means of computation and symbol processing. Such models will establish operative connections between computation and its audible traces while striving to evade representational relations between the two.

Establish Formats of Aesthetic Discourse #

We try to develop ways of presenting and experiencing the works and fragments produced within this project that allow for an aesthetic reenactment of its research process. The conceptual and practical trajectory that has produced a certain piece is to be exposed in manifold ways and the epistemic “thing” an aesthetic artefact revolves around is to be rendered experiential. Such a discoursive form extends the idea of open source to the aesthetic realm as well and lets the audience participate in artistic thought process.

Develop Formats of Exchange and Experience #

We aim to realize such forms of discourse and exchange by openly sharing thoughts and technical objects, including code fragments, ideas and notes by transposing these ideas and objects into a variety of different forms and media. A central objective is thus the experimental development of presentation and documentation formats, which we see as one of the project’s major contributions to the field of artistic research.

Contribute to the Formation of a Research Community #

We aim to contribute to the formation of a research community centered around speculative sound synthesis practices. By inviting artists, organizing workshops, giving courses, organizing concerts and a symposium as well as by means of the continuous online documentation and sharing of the code, we try to create a space for exchange. The project can thus act as a focal point, bringing together different approaches to speculative sound synthesis and increasing the visibility of this underrepresented field of research.