Songlines
Media:
Computer animation, video and soundscape
Duration: 14'20
Date: 1994
Commissioned by:
International Symposium on Electronic Art
& Silicon Graphics Limited
Audio Extract
File Size: 80k Duration: 0'11
Soundscape Only
*new video samples*
Video Extract 1
(for slow connection)
File Size:1,326kb Duration: 1'33
Video Extract 1
(for fast connections: ISDN+)
File Size: 3.7Mb Duration: 1'33
Video Extract 2
(for slow connection)
File Size: 1,243kb Duration: 1'27
Video Extract 2
(for fast connections: ISDN+)
File Size: 3.4Mb Duration: 1'27 |
 |
a
non-narrative narrative
1. lost for words | 2. found objects | 3. seachange
This piece has nothing directly to do with Australian culture, but it
was inspired by the phenomenon of songlines. These ancient paths through
the Australian landscape are not marked; navigation is achieved through
knowledge of aboriginal songs that describe the landscape through which
the paths travel. In my case, the 'landscape' was a large gathering
of texts, primarily folk myths from a variety of cultures. Texts were
deliberately chosen that had points in common, allowing a 'path' to
be laid through them, travelling not only linearly - along a particular
text; but also laterally - crossing between texts by means of these
common points.
|
 |
Songlines is not the landscape or the path, but rather a 'song' describing them. Only the faintest trace of the texts themselves remain. The map has been thrown away - path and landscape forgotten - leaving an abstract structure with the form and ceremony of a narrative, but none of the original content.
One attraction of such a method of working is that the paths could be travelled any number of times, in any number of ways. This made it ideal for an open-ended project that could be open to input from a number of collaborators. Thus far, two versions exist, one sound-based, the other incorporating computer graphics, video and dance.
Additional Information
- Written in response to a commission from the International Symposium on Electronic Arts and Silicon Graphics Ltd.
- Performed, in both versions, at a number of Electronic Arts and Music festivals, including ISEA 94 (Helsinki), CREAT (St. Petersburg), Imagina (Paris), Sonic Arts Network PLUGGED! (London, South Bank) and the 1995 ICMC in Banff, Canada.
- Music won second prize in the programme music category at Bourges in 1994, and was released on a Chant du Monde CD.
- It also won first prize in the Concorso Luigi Russolo
- Released on a CD by the Fondazione Russolo-Pratella.
- Broadcast on BBC Radio 3 (1995).
- Revised version (1997) performed by Electric Phoenix at IRCAM and by Singcircle at the Dartington International Summer School in 1997.
|
