[The User]
Transcription
[The User]
[The User] symphony for dot matrix printers The Symphony for dot matrix printers is a work which transforms obsolete office technology into an instrument for musical performance. Specifically, the dot-matrix printer is chosen to illustrate one tangible by-product of technology that we unerringly fail to notice. Concentrating the listener’s attention on the physical nature of this nearly forgotten technology, . the Symphony is based on the noise made by twelve obsolete desktop printers. Leaving the constituent elements untouched, the process imposes a new order upon them, reorganizing the sounds of the printers along a musical structure. Dot matrix printers are thus turned into musical ‘instruments’, while a computer network system, typical of a contemporary office, is employed as the ‘orchestra’ used to play them. The orchestra is ‘conducted’ by a network server which reads from a composed ‘score’. Each of the printers plays from a different ‘part’ comprised of notes and rhythms made up of letters of the alphabet, p u n c t u a t i o n marks and other characters. [The User] uses these simple ASCII textfiles to compose, orchestrate, and synchronize thirty minutes of densely textured, rhythmically-driven music, which is then amplified and broadcast over a sound system. Technology is a continual process of becoming: the usefulness (and consequently the worth) of an object is determined by its proximity to the state-of-the-art. Is it new? If not, how close does its behaviour come to the newest? Progress is so deeply entrenched in our society that it has come to define the world’s economy. Independently of our desires, the technological project continues to precipitate vast societal and environmental change. How do we challenge society’s unquestioning acceptance of ‘newer is better’ and re-establish a relationship with technology based on choice, not necessity? The Symphony for Dot Matrix Printers addresses this question in an examination of contemporary attitudes towards technology. [The User] symphony for dot matrix printers “le cri primal des imprimantes... Pour célébrer la révolution numérique, quoi de mieux que ce pied de nez à la course au progrès technologique?” — Libération, Paris 1999.09.24 “Symphony for dot matrix printers... raises questions about many things, from the nature of technology to the limits of what we deem performance.” — Hour, Montréal 1998.10.15 “Pendant près de trente minutes, les imprimantes vont sonner et swinguer comme de la «vraie» musique instrumentale, avec rythmes, graves, consonances aquatiques, respirations et envolées lyriques. Incroyable d’entendre comment une technologie dépassée, l’imprimante matricielle, détournée de sa fonction première, génère cette techno industrielle, lancinante et mélodieuse.” — Libération, Paris 1999.05.28 “The piece hints at the commercial, inbuilt obsolescence principles which drive so much technological innovation and development. At the same time, it highlighted the ‘junkyard’ ethos which drives so much technological music, which advances as much by the reappropriation and misuse of decrepit machinery as by the application of new tools. In turn, the machinery is reborn when it is put to service performing new and previously unimagined functions.” — The Wire, London 1999.10 “Une œuvre intrigante... qui pose des questions fondamentales.” — Le Devoir, Montréal 1998.10.24 “A roaring chorus of carefully constructed mechanical chatter and grind.” — Mirror, Montréal 1998.11.05 Press [The User] The Symphony for dot matrix printers won an honourable mention in the Digital Musics category of the Prix Ars Electronica in 1999 and the Telefilm Prize for Best Canadian New Media Work at Festival International Nouveau Cinéma Nouveaux Médias de Montréal in 1998. symphony for dot matrix printers inhabitants of the trailing-edge of technology Formed one morning over breakfast, [The User] inhabits the trailing edge of technology. This vantage point affords an excellent view of technology from behind. Exploring the more prosaic side of the human condition, [The User] has chosen ambient noise, the byproduct of existence, as the subject of its current work. Sifting a few pertinent grains from the beach of noise is [The User]’s self-imposed and inexplicable task. [The User] takes its name from a term employed by our technocratic society, especially in design-related fields such as engineering, architecture and software development. The term ‘user’ objectifies and reduces individuality to an abstract and generic ideal. This reduction is employed wherever abstract rational methodology is applied to situations involving real people. Once this reduction is made, it becomes much easier to treat the faceless, formless ‘user’ in an inhuman fashion. In our society we employ the impersonal term ‘user’ to justify the infliction of neon lighting, plastic cutlery and Muzak on the huge majority of our population. [The User] is: architect Thomas McIntosh and composer Emmanuel Madan. The Symphony for dot matrix printers won an honourable mention in the Digital Musics category of the Prix Ars Electronica in 1999 and theTelefilm Prize for Best Canadian New Media Work at Festival International Nouveau Cinéma Nouveaux Médias de Montréal in 1998. [The User] symphony for dot matrix printers 1998-2000 tour information montréal, canada FCMM october 20 1998 paris, france théâtre l’échangeur may 26-30 1999 barcelona, spain SONAR festival june 19 1999 linz, austria ars electronica september 9 1999 karlsruhe, germany ZKM, net_condition september 22 1999 paris, france batofar september 24 1999 london, england ICA october 5-7 1999 hull, england HTBA october 22-24 1999 brussels, belgium beursschouwburg october 29 1999 lisbon, portugal festival atlantico 99 november 6 1999 montréal, canada earth day québec june 21 2000 brussels, belgium * bruxelles 2000 november 2000 * unconfirmed [The User] symphony for dot matrix printers Symphony #2 for dot matrix printers was co-commissioned by the Fondation Daniel Langlois and Hull Time Based Arts, with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. without whom it would not have been possible: thaddeus thomas & dave ozsvari le centre PRIM, Montréal régis hebette et le théâtre l’échangeur société des arts technologiques, Montréal ACREQ, FCMM, OBE [The User] symphony for dot matrix printers programming: Thaddeus Thomas @ ReDada Software hardware: Dave Ozsvari h t t p : / / w w w. s a t . q c . c a / t h e _ u s e r / mailt to: [email protected] la fondation Daniel Langlois pour l’art le science et la technologie