performed by Gyre Ensemble live at ESS Chicago on April 21, 2017
recorded by Alex Inglizian
(2017)
“there are no species, and they have no origin”
- Timothy Morton
One learns about species as if they are distinct and clearly delineated. Upon close scrutiny however, one can see that the tidy taxonomy of species breaks down, that boundaries fudge together, that species is more of a smudge than a square. This smudge may also cause a sense of discomfort. Human subjectivity becomes de-centered in a universe that emerges from blind process, feedback loops, cruelty, and a touch of humor. Maybe for this reason, humans assiduously re-inscribe the square.
In We Are Predatory, Air-Breathing: Theme and Variations, I imagine variation form as an analog of speciation in which the work issues from an arbitrary theme, and the variations, while sectional, often share much with the others. While each variation reveals a distinct profile one gets the sense that the variations could spin out endlessly and that any one of them could be the original variant.
23.11.17 Live @ Ackermannshof, Basel
Franz Bannwart, Video and Sound Production and Editing
