The work is created with Sox, a command-line toolkit for audio manipulations created in the early 1990’s. (https://sox.sourceforge.net/)
No GUI and no mouse clicks.
Only a bare terminal interface as the stage where gestures (i.e. typing) and commands (i.e. code) face one another, in search of a still-denied embodied unity informing a performing subject.
The work presents a series of commands generating sounds (and more will be added on a quasi-daily basis until the end of November 2023).
The commands are presented sequentially - from the simplest to the most complex - so as to shows how complexity, by generating articulate sonic landscapes, only distracts us from the true and yet unresolved issue at hand: can a command be the basis for an art practice?
- Digital tools transform any artistic practice lived through them in a list of commands given as code.
- It does not matter if one's digital interactions are provided in the form of endless mouse clicks upon a nicely wrapped graphical interface.
- It does not matter if one sees the code or not.
- All there is to it are commands given in the form of a logico-quantitative syntax that separates command from its executor.
- As I command the device to execute, I am substantially delegating an action and in this delegation the output does not belong to me.
As Agamben(2019) I want to ask: "what happens when someone expresses a non-apophantic discourse in the form of an imperative" (p50), as for example: execute!
These commands can be commanded by me, by you, by anyone. Just type them on the Terminal interface!
The idea of artistic gestures, i.e. gestures pointing to the uniqueness of an executing subject/artist (authorship, individuality, agency), is severely compromised.
play -n synth 5 sine 200
play -n synth 5 sine 200-300
play -n synth 5 exp 100-400
play -n synth 5 triangle 300-50
play -n synth 5 0 0 30 20 90 triangle 130
play -n synth 5 pluck A2 fade h 0 4 1 echos 1 0.5 1000 0.3 2000 0.25 3000 0.1
play -n synth 4 pluck A2 fade h 0 3 1 repeat 2 | play -n synth 4 pluck C2 fade h 0 3 1 repeat 2 | play -n synth 4 pluck E2 fade h 0 3 1 repeat 2
for n in 1 2 3; do play -n synth 4 pluck $(( $RANDOM % 100 + 200 )) fade h 0 3 1 | play -n synth 4 pluck $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) fade h 0 3 1 | play -n synth 4 pluck $(( $RANDOM % 100 + 200 )) fade h 0 3 1; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 pluck $(( $RANDOM % 100 + 200 )) fade h 0 3 1 | play -n synth 4 pluck $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) fade h 0 3 1 | play -n synth 4 pluck $(( $RANDOM % 100 + 200 )) fade h 0 3 1; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 100 + 200 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 100 + 200 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 100 + 200 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 100 + 200 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 300 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 300 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 300 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 300 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) gain -9 fade p 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) gain -9 fade l 1 2 1; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 300 )) gain -9 fade p 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 300 + 400 )) gain -9 fade l 1 2 1; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 triangle $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 square $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade p 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade l 1 2 1; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 triangle $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 square $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade p 1 2 1 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade l 1 2 1 bend 0,3000,4; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 triangle $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 bend 0,3000,4 | play -n synth 4 square $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade p 1 2 1 bend 0,3000,4 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade l 1 2 1 bend 0,3000,4; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 4 triangle $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade h 1 2 1 bend 0,-3000,4 | play -n synth 4 square $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade p 1 2 1 bend 0,-3000,4 | play -n synth 4 sine $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade l 1 2 1 bend 0,-3000,4; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 100 trian- gle $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade h 10 80 10 bend 0,-1000,4 | play - n synth 100 square $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade p 10 80 10 bend 0,- 1000,4 | play -n synth 100 sine $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 250 )) gain -9 fade l 10 80 10 bend 0,-500,4; done
for (( ; ; )); do play -n synth 100 square $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 210 )) gain -9 fade h 10 80 10 bend 0,-10,100 | play -n synth 100 square $(( $RANDOM % 200 + 210 )) gain -9 fade p 10 80 10 bend 0,10,100 | play -n synth 100 square $(( $RANDOM % 190 + 200 )) gain -9 fade l 10 80 10 bend 0,20,100 | play -n synth 100 square $(( $RANDOM % 190 + 200 )) gain -9 fade l 10 80 10 bend 0,-20,100; done
