Skewed Remote Musical Performance and the Posthuman
This presentation challenges the primacy of vision in the Western sensorium. It is true, as Derrida has memorably argued in Of Grammatology, that the sound of the voice is not a sounding of presence. However, it is also true that sound itself is a guarantee of something that precludes presence altogether. This sound’ is the invisible ground that figures Derrida’s ‘voice’; this sound is the field-mosaic that is active even in the disappearing act of its translation into formal logic. The considerations that I will present are ultimately in the service of two theses: first, that sound can only be considered as technology; second, that technology in general (and sound particularly) cannot be thought technologically — questions of technology are always already epistemological statements. The necessity of the first thesis will be emphasized specifically through consideration of ‘Skewed Remote Musical Performance’ (SRMP), a practice whereby musicians collaborate remotely via computer network. In particular, this practice results in simultaneous ‘pieces’ of music in each location that sound distinctly different from one another. Towards the second thesis SRMP will be presented as a performance of a particular type of posthuman subjectivity, suggesting that this subjectivity has always been everywhere present (sic) as sound itself.
Bio
David Cecchetto holds the degree of M.Mus.(Composition) and is currently pursuing an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the Cultural Social and Political Thought program at the University of Victoria. David’s research is focused on the implications that arise when paradigmatic shifts instigated by digital technologies are reconsidered in analog artistic settings.
As an artist, David’s work has spanned a variety of forms and media ranging from sound installation to performance art to composed music. David’s work often uses incongruence and strangeness as tactics towards identifying and exploiting assumed notions of universality, privilege, and knowledge, and has been presented by orchestras, ensembles, and soloists in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Russia.
Links
Homepage: http://www.davidcecchetto.net
Conflation: http://www.conflations.com
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