opening

a scene

characters: me, myself, and I (I, eye, other)

are sitting in a void

all black only voices are heard. no other sound.

a black screen. subtitles.

me: I'm sitting here writing a beginning which cannot be located. Is it a fools quest or inevitability of collective emersion in the aether... But how can I even begin without sculpting out definition from the morass of indiscernible postulates? How can I write without first knowing the language being spoken, how to invent a technology of multiversal translation, the dream of being understood by all. I suppose I will write a self into being without distraction, to attempt to separate one particular floating in a sea of undifferentiated energy currents, and so I speak while never knowing the speaker directly. Where does this voice emerge from? How can I peer into the wellspring of subjective depths without being implicated in disturbing the experiment, just another clumsy scientist sending negligent shockwaves through the phenomenological dimensions.

voice: Just begin already then. Why don't you begin with describing a scene you know well, use some music you've already written. Go ahead, put it on. Set the scene with a mood, lay the foundation and raise high the roof beams, perhaps a sky light. Remember to remember the path is already discovered and continuously refined, so simply lay bare those elements and observe their natural interactions.

me: Ok, well then I guess we begin with music.

[Södermalm Suite begins... me's voice takes on a strange effected intonation]

me: Begin with walking around Stockholm. It's as good ov'a beginning as any. There was a feeling to that place which inspired technical movements, visual observations of the commonly overlooked minutiae of our multisensory experience. This music evokes a primordial posturing, let us all take it up! Yes let's let the music serve as our medium for distilling the liquid sensations of our selves, a sounding board so that we may hear ourselves hearing, or perhaps oracle of invisible influences?

voice: But on the other hand - let's not get hung up on hands at the moment - this music has already been made, predates this production although admittedly anticipating its arrival. It is the beginning, in its own way, of the being you are currently active in reflecting upon. You already depicted that scene, let that recording serve as document to a process and stay focused upon the active components: creation! Remember to remember, a processing of unfurling understanding and forgetting. The music is highly structured, temporally aware, depicting a flickering array of cerebral spaces. It does not need to be replicated or recontextualized, but improved upon. Observe the functioning components and improve upon the remainder.

me: No it has to be an original composition. [walks over and stops the music abruptly]. Of course one project will inherit the potentials and processes of the previous, but they are more than mere simulacra of each other. The new project will be an addition, a greater-than of before. Remember to remember how it went: activity. Play music and record it, write songs and let the narratives emerge. To constantly be working is be stay within the morphogenetic cloud, to keep writing! The environment is key, so set up the scenario for composition. Remember to let the songs write themselves, just as this which I am speaking will serve as the libretto. It's not a question of which came first so much as how to modulate both sound and language simultaneously.

begin montage of words to images with corresponding sound:

work schedule:

daily autobiographical libretto

daily recordings of readings of the libretto

-currently only sound but later video

daily music production - *see music processing below

daily drawing session - short sessions, fast drawings, carefully archived

weekly video screenings of work in progress

weekly metanarrative organization - the large wall

weekly editing of libretto into linear-additive script

weekly audio editing

*weekly tasks occur over 1-2 editing intensives - requires own itinerary

Lots of ideas: making the music > free improvisations broken apart into units, time and tone mapped to a base structure. Base structure is a single sonic idea, conceptually related to a musical-technical idea = impressions of present/place. The daily writings will also be a capturing of the present line (from another angle) so can be applied over the music. Realistically speaking, with diligent work ethic one song (= music+libretto+video container) may be completed per week. Current goal is 10 videos to make an opera. First renditions should happen now, as soon as possible. The beginning has already begun. Take existing text to collage libretto. Record daily music improvisations and speak libretto sections in relation to the sound > let the exchange take place dynamically. Other sessions may be dedicated towards improvising new music over existing voice recordings > simultaneous process. Every media should be susceptible to collage technique. Remember to remember: the work has already been done. The new project is to chart that which exists and illustrate its origin. Recontextualize everything so that people may access it. Paul demarinis. Sound-text pioneers. Fluxus and lettrism. Robert ashley. Numinous marginalia. Grisaille. Ö.

Here is the schedule.