Research update response // Dallas 13 April 2005
Colleagues, thank you for your questions. They have prompted a thorough re-consideration of my work and the methods of my research. In writing this response I've found grounding, clarity, and perhaps the beginning of a research question. I will address your questions in a discussion of artificial life, music, interactivity, modes of listening, and compositional intentions.
Artificial Life
First let me clarify the claim that Artificial Life is real. This statement may seem contradictory but it is in fact one of the tenets of the field. In the paper "Artificial Life" (1988), Chris Langton explained:
A-Life systems such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) may look like a simulation but I don't think of them in this manner. In my practice, these artificial systems "live," and through their life a composition is created. My work reflects the continuum of this existence.
At this point the new knowledge I'm seeking is in music and composition. The PSO algorithm demonstrates how social behavior optimizes. I expose this behavior as music in order to infuse its characteristics into each composition. I am interested to learn how A-Life dynamics such as emergence and self-organization can impact music composition in the context of an interactive system.
New knowledge may also be found in relation to the way that A-Life scientists use visualizations. Graphic displays allow them to track the changes within their systems. Similarly, musical representation could also serve this purpose. Aural observation may lead to conclusions that are not visually apparent. PSO is elegant but much of that elegance may be lost in the way I've chosen to represent it musically. A compositional and mathematical reconsideration may be a useful exercise to expose new characteristics within the system.
Music + A-Life
A-Life systems, when applied to music, don't necessarily hold any specific musical properties or qualities. They do, however, have their own emergent properties through which a system will self-organize and exhibit behavior that is indicative of life. These behaviors can be represented musically, and the way in which a composer chooses to do this will affect the musical outcome. Classical, Bluegrass, and Punk compositions may not be feasible, but there are more interesting possibilities. These systems break the traditional notions of how music 'should' be composed, and put composition in more open territory. Whereas certain music software or hardware will mark a composition with a signature sound, an A-Life system is an open framework for new music.
My interest in producing something that is endless in time stems from two sources, one creative and the other practical. The practical was formed around the observation that most music for interactive applications was unimaginatively composed. Interactivity affords an openness of possibility. Music that is part of an interactive space should reflect this. Unfortunately "possibility" is not a quality reflected in contemporary practice. An attachment to old compositional models and modes of thinking has stunted the creative growth of this field. To move forward it is essential to re-think our understanding of time and expression within composition.
Time is the most difficult issue to confront creatively in the scenario of interactivity. The duration of an interaction is always indeterminate. For music to operate in tandem, or as part of an interaction, it must also have variable duration.
Detachment from the notion of musical tension and release erodes time. This approach has led to a kind of musical expression that is important in this kind of music. This expression has come to define the generative art that I create. In this work there is no overt dynamic contour; simply a line that the music follows. Along this line sounds can be heard and considered in relation to others that proceed or follow them. Any aural moment heard along the line produces an instance of musical perception. The unexpected surprise heard in these moments leads the listener to something undiscovered. As relationships between the sounds change and evolve, I want to expose the beauty of these moments, and allow them to stretch endlessly outward into time.
Passion, in the conventional sense, is irrelevant to what I do. A composition doesn't need to follow an emotional contour to have passion. Passion can be found in the subtleties of music. It can be experienced without the peaks of tension and slopes of release. In the Japanese tea ceremony, the wabi aesthetic is a good example of this. The tea ceremony isn't built around highs and lows, it is a continuum of experience along which ones attention can shift and find unexpected beauty in an appreciation of subtlety, asymmetry, and the incomplete. While there is no outward display of emotion, there is an inner focus-a kind of meditation that is inwardly passionate. This is a component of consciousness that identifies the qualities I want to express.
Artificial Life
First let me clarify the claim that Artificial Life is real. This statement may seem contradictory but it is in fact one of the tenets of the field. In the paper "Artificial Life" (1988), Chris Langton explained:
"The 'artificial' in Artificial Life refers to the component parts, not the emergent processes. If the component parts are implemented correctly, the processes they support are genuine-every bit as genuine as the natural processes they imitate."
"The big claim is that a properly organized set of artificial primitives carrying out the same functional roles as the biomolecules in natural living systems will support a process that will be 'alive' in the same way that natural organisms are alive. Artificial Life will therefore be genuine life-it will simply be made of different stuff than the life that has evolved here on Earth."
"The big claim is that a properly organized set of artificial primitives carrying out the same functional roles as the biomolecules in natural living systems will support a process that will be 'alive' in the same way that natural organisms are alive. Artificial Life will therefore be genuine life-it will simply be made of different stuff than the life that has evolved here on Earth."
A-Life systems such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) may look like a simulation but I don't think of them in this manner. In my practice, these artificial systems "live," and through their life a composition is created. My work reflects the continuum of this existence.
At this point the new knowledge I'm seeking is in music and composition. The PSO algorithm demonstrates how social behavior optimizes. I expose this behavior as music in order to infuse its characteristics into each composition. I am interested to learn how A-Life dynamics such as emergence and self-organization can impact music composition in the context of an interactive system.
New knowledge may also be found in relation to the way that A-Life scientists use visualizations. Graphic displays allow them to track the changes within their systems. Similarly, musical representation could also serve this purpose. Aural observation may lead to conclusions that are not visually apparent. PSO is elegant but much of that elegance may be lost in the way I've chosen to represent it musically. A compositional and mathematical reconsideration may be a useful exercise to expose new characteristics within the system.
Music + A-Life
A-Life systems, when applied to music, don't necessarily hold any specific musical properties or qualities. They do, however, have their own emergent properties through which a system will self-organize and exhibit behavior that is indicative of life. These behaviors can be represented musically, and the way in which a composer chooses to do this will affect the musical outcome. Classical, Bluegrass, and Punk compositions may not be feasible, but there are more interesting possibilities. These systems break the traditional notions of how music 'should' be composed, and put composition in more open territory. Whereas certain music software or hardware will mark a composition with a signature sound, an A-Life system is an open framework for new music.
My interest in producing something that is endless in time stems from two sources, one creative and the other practical. The practical was formed around the observation that most music for interactive applications was unimaginatively composed. Interactivity affords an openness of possibility. Music that is part of an interactive space should reflect this. Unfortunately "possibility" is not a quality reflected in contemporary practice. An attachment to old compositional models and modes of thinking has stunted the creative growth of this field. To move forward it is essential to re-think our understanding of time and expression within composition.
Time is the most difficult issue to confront creatively in the scenario of interactivity. The duration of an interaction is always indeterminate. For music to operate in tandem, or as part of an interaction, it must also have variable duration.
Detachment from the notion of musical tension and release erodes time. This approach has led to a kind of musical expression that is important in this kind of music. This expression has come to define the generative art that I create. In this work there is no overt dynamic contour; simply a line that the music follows. Along this line sounds can be heard and considered in relation to others that proceed or follow them. Any aural moment heard along the line produces an instance of musical perception. The unexpected surprise heard in these moments leads the listener to something undiscovered. As relationships between the sounds change and evolve, I want to expose the beauty of these moments, and allow them to stretch endlessly outward into time.
Passion, in the conventional sense, is irrelevant to what I do. A composition doesn't need to follow an emotional contour to have passion. Passion can be found in the subtleties of music. It can be experienced without the peaks of tension and slopes of release. In the Japanese tea ceremony, the wabi aesthetic is a good example of this. The tea ceremony isn't built around highs and lows, it is a continuum of experience along which ones attention can shift and find unexpected beauty in an appreciation of subtlety, asymmetry, and the incomplete. While there is no outward display of emotion, there is an inner focus-a kind of meditation that is inwardly passionate. This is a component of consciousness that identifies the qualities I want to express.
