Kasper van hoek applied pataphysics (thesis) by Kasper van Hoek

APPLIED 'PATAPHYSICS

APPLIED 'PATAPHYSICS by Kasper van Hoek 2010 I assume you are aware of my rights, and yours. Please think before you act and keep in mind that the text I quoted from others was done with the imaginary, hypothetical permission from the holder of these rights, concerning these sections you have to justify yourself to their address. This thesis is written in Engl to which the English language is closely related, explaining why the latter ofter referred to as Engl ish. Some differences between this language and the English one can be noticed in various parts of this writing, although they might be envisaged as typo's, spelling errors and faulty grammar at first sight, which, of course, they are not, all text is correct and approved by the creator and maintainer of the language, the undersigned. This text reflects the ideas of the writer, not to be confused with your, the readers, idea of reality. All possible claims concerning the noncorrectness of it are not yours, the reader, to make, assuming you are not me, the undersigned, who of course is capable of judging it's contents as he is the only one in the position to see the difference between this text and his personal exploits and opinions. Acknowledging the difficulties involved in the grading of this thesis, as mentioned above, I will give a mandatory proposal for the grading of the text. 10 out of 10 points. Kasper van Hoek www.kaspervanhoek.net

CONTENTS •

Preface: Thesis and Frank Mohr Institute

•

Epigraphs

•

Introduction: About 'pataphysics

1. 'pataphysics and me

2. Why do I build my own instruments

3. Simplicity

4. Aesthetics

5. Components and construction

6. Passive resistance

7. Playfulness

8. The instruments

9. Examination

10. Music

11. Graduation work

•

Conclusion

•

Bibliography

PREFACE Thesis A thesis, for an artrelated study, not something I was looking forward writing. When graduating from the art academy I had to write a scriptie, which, just like the other Dutch word thesis, translates into Engl(ish) as thesis. My scriptie was written by a four year younger version of me, about four years ago, even though my chronologically older self thought he was writing it in the present, naive as he was back then. The result of his effort was an indecisive text that showed he obviously struggled with his position in the world of art, not being able to see the big picture and feeling a bit out of place. The superficial summary of all different aspects of the soundart field that populated his scriptie soon found its home in a box with all other redundant creations. Nowadays it still hangs out within the carton boundaries of its box shaped world and it does not want to reveal itself at all. Even when, just recently, someone asked me for a copy it didn't dare to come out of its hiding place, insecure as a result of my condemnatory attitude towards it. This past history felt like a huge burden when making the first attempts towards this thesis. My efforts ended up being a list of the works I made, how they where build, and how they looked and sounded. Afraid of creating a box companion for my scriptie I decided to change the perspective I was writing from. Not shallow labeling and categorizing my work in a way the viewer is able to do it as well, but going more in depth and explaining the function I have in the realization of my work in a psychic way, not a physic one.

Frank Mohr Institute The reason I applied for the Interactive Media and Environments programme at the Frank Mohr Institute for (Post) Graduate Studies and Research in the Arts and Emerging Media was to look for ways to combine acoustic sounds with electronic manipulation in a live setting. Until then I almost solely worked with prerecorded sounds, lacking the intuitive control associated with traditional, contemporary instruments. During my two years at the Frank Mohr Institute I mastered the knowledge about the relevant principles for making electric string instruments and processing their sounds live using selfconstructed sample software. Later on applying these principles to make installations as well. Aside from this part of my studies I made audio works and performed live. I won't go into detail about this part of my work much in this text on account of the fact that it hasn't been the subject of my research during the two years at the institute. However, out of these recordings I compiled a series called Frank that consists of five cdr releases, so documentation is available. Kasper van Hoek

EPIGRAPHS Equivalents are constant. From 'Pataphysics: A Religion in the Making' by Asger Jorn

The absoluteness of everything makes comparison impossible, we need to learn to assign qualities based upon our own ability to think. Kasper van Hoek

INTRODUCTION ABOUT 'PATAPHYSICS I will shine the light of 'pataphysics on my work and by doing this, elucidating my art and the choices that are its fundament. Although the principles of 'pataphysics will reveal themselves to the reader during the consumption of this writing it might still be useful to explain a little about the subject. 'pataphysics is to metaphysics what metaphysics is to physics. It's a science that focuses on the specific, analyzing each event as it occurs, not concerned with laws that base themselves on assumptions. The fact that something happens seemingly the same way over and over again doesn't imply that this is a static fact, a rule that future events will follow or even Truth if one dares. 'pataphysicians may explore the whole universe or the universe that encircles a single object, turning it inside out, extracting its soul and symbolically assigning it the potential characteristics that it suggests to possess. Everything is unique and all what happens is a probability, not a pretentious absoluteness. Alfred Jarry (18731907), founder of 'pataphysics explains it as follows: ''pataphysics, will be, above all, the science of the particular, despite the common opinion that the only science is that of the general. Pataphysics will examine the laws governing exceptions, and will explain the universe supplementary to this one; or, less ambitiously, will describe a universe which can be—and perhaps should be— envisaged in the place of the traditional one, since the laws that are supposed to have been discovered in the traditional universe are also correlations of exceptions, albeit more frequent ones, but in any case accidental data which, reduced to the status of unexceptional exceptions, possess no longer even the virtue of originality.'1 1

Selected Works Of Alfred Jarry (Grove Press, 1965)

The way 20thcentury art is experienced is 'pataphysical of its own. The thing the artwork resembles is a reflection in a metaphysical way. Analyzing this already translated pseudo Truth and assigning meaning, or a function, to it is an act of a 'pataphysical thinking.

1. 'PATAPHYSICS AND ME It was not until 2007, August to be precise, that I knew about 'pataphysics. The mailman made me aware of the existence of this theory of perception by handing over to me a carton package, that, after getting rid of it almost instantly, left me with its contents. A white cuboid shaped box with, in black printing, the confusing word Hexagon. This box was the second in a series of four editions, published by The Player2, to which I had subscribed myself previously. The series was called BIGMAG and each installment featured various texts and images appearing as books, magazines and posters, also included was a vinyl record. In this particular volume Felix Kubin was responsible for one of the two circular sides of the vinyl, it was his contribution that caught my attention. The work, titled The 'pataphysical Tape Club, was an absurd radio play about a station playing various 'pataphysical tape recordings. I was intrigued by this and started reading about this phenomenon. Texts on the subject itself and books written using its principles. Slowly But Surely I became aware of the fact that my thoughts made use of the same system I was reading upon. It reminded me of discussions I had with my former roommate, we could talk for nights in a row about the law of exceptions which he defined as unknown conditions that existed parallel to the laws governing the nonexceptional behavior of elements while I thought the laws we accepted contained flaws due to our impotence to survey all conditions that lead to their formulation. I still think it's possible we both shared the same idea but that the limitations of language, and the interpretation thereof, kept us from comprehending this. This example does show I was able to think along these lines, yet it doesn't rule out the possibility that I acquired this 'pataphysical way of thinking instead of it being a personal characteristic. I hope the following lines will serve as an example to point out that this isn't a pose but a natural quality. 2

http://www.deplayer.nl

Already in my youth, my personal perception, and the ideas I had about reality weren't on the same level. For hours I could stare at objects in a space, or those passing by when sitting in the rear seat of a driving car, daydreaming. Contemplating whether two blocks of houses would fit on top of each other, mentally lifting one of the ground, turning it around and, after considering the potential need for industrial adhesives, placing it on top of the other. Or I was thinking about ways to jump over a cliff more easily, like in a train you only had to jump up in order to move yourself on two axes at once. At the age of ten I developed my first ideas for a carbon neutral lamp that would use solar cells placed on the inside of the lampshade to recapture the energy of the bulb. Like all kids I was an inventor without results; although I still think the lamp was a good idea, it might have not have been selfreliant but least it saved energy. Where most kids depart from this when growing older and submit themselves to otherpeoples science without asking any questions, I had a harder time convincing myself. Science persuades people the same way Sinterklaas does. (For those unfamiliar; Sinterklaas is the real fictional version of Santa Claus. Making the latter a double fraud, but this aside.) The existence of Sinterklaas depends on the same principle as gravity; you see it and therefor it's real. My intention with this, maybe childish, metaphor is genuine, where Sinterklaas is a man in a Sinterklaasshaped suit, gravity can also be a form of disguise. Like Jarry said, it's an arbitrary choice to formulate a law upon the fall of a body towards a center when you can, as easily, think of the law of the ascension of a vacuum toward a periphery, already when starting to 'make' this law the outcome is determined by the personal hypothesis of the scientist.3 I think we live in a world where people mistake learning for remembering, where Truth comes to us text shaped, or it is recommended to us by persons engaged in activities in education and science, who, in their turn, most probably have this knowledge 3

Alfred Jarry Exploits And Opinions Of Dr Faustroll (Exact Change, 1997)

in book form too. I don't want to reject science, nor do I expect this from anyone else. I am not an idiot and I am fully aware of the fact that something doesn't need to be true to be of any use. Just before writing this I positioned myself in the middle of an open space in the room I found myself in and jumped into the air. When my movement stopped and I was floating in the air I wasn't surprised, and after that, when almost instantly, my body began to come closer to the ground I didn't panic. But this doesn't stop me from wondering.

2. WHY DO I BUILD MY OWN INSTRUMENTS When I started doing performances the main techniques used were the skipping turntable, with toothpicks and nails as needles, looped cassette decks creating feedback patterns, manipulation through guitar pedals, and the simple mixing of prerecorded materials. After playing live for about three years using old personal audio equipment I found myself in a position where hardware limited my expressive possibilities. A decision had to be made. Exploring the world of cassette mixing and turntablism any further wasn't the answer because it made me feel like being too far away from the source of sounds and adding something to a technique that already includes the problematic complication probably wouldn't solve it. It seemed more obvious to add a soundgenerating device of which the operating was intuitive and offered more freedom for emotional dynamics. This lead to me buying an electric violin and a harmonica, combining the sounds with simple live sampling. This already had a positive effect and shortly after it became clear to me what I was really looking for. The sound generated by vibrating strings gave my music more depth and put me in realtime control of the emotional output for the first time. Still, the violin, for me, was limited in its capabilities; it was 15

build in a way that it could be played the way intended by the designer, limiting alternative usability. I required less tension on the strings in order to get a more sustaining sound, unfortunately, the violin wasn't fit for this alteration, resulting in strings touching the body when plucked firmly. Another problem that occurred was that, for playing the violin, two hands were needed, making it impossible to control the other equipment simultaneously. To overcome both obstacles it stroke me as an absolute necessity to build my own string instruments and look for ways to make it easier to control parameters for sound manipulation. Growing an extra arm was an idea rejected at the moment, but when the opportunity arises it will surely be reconsidered.

3. SIMPLICITY One of the characteristics of my work is its simplicity. Starting at the principle of a function, adding only the strictly necessary things; the inevitable features that enable the thing to exist. My goal is to make string instruments and nothing more. When thinking about string instruments I'm not thinking about guitars or violins. Just a way to make a string to produce sound through vibration. When building such instruments there's always the risk it would be compared to a guitar or such. An apples and oranges comparison. Except the fact that instruments are usually not fruits 4, I think the comparison is comparable. Yes, you won't be able to pluck the strings in the right way to play popular melodies, the sound will have low fidelity and it can't be tuned to any degree near precise, but if I wanted to build an (orange) guitar I would have build an 4

Das Erste Wiener Gemuese Orchester makes instruments from fruits and vegetables www.gemueseorchester.org

(orange) guitar. All I want is a vibrating string and I pursue this goal. Looking at it this way I think my work is in no way lofi because it shouldn't be compared to things that are different from it and therefor it's not inferior to these things. It's not to strip down and make a bare version of a complicated string instrument, it is to construct something from the ground up. Building it for my personal use, according to my own wishes and leaving out everybody else makes that there's no need to develop it any further than the prototyping stage, giving my work a raw, fragile and nude character. It is my instrument and I will take good care of it. When making it available to the market (like a market or a shop) I will, obviously, prepare it for the world outside, make sure it has a healthy and strong body, put it on a fine suit and slip a note in its pocket for the future master explaining the way it should be addressed in order to behave as demanded. The instrument's bare appearance is a beneficial one when still undergoing an examination focused on physical state and behavior, so during this phase it will keep its nudeness.

4. AESTHETICS In many cases technology is something that functions in the background. It's shielded by a needly designed housing which may not be opened or warranty will void. The visual appearance of my work is in no way an allegation to this, or an antipole, it's the effect of not making a statement either way and working without the limitations a trifle matter like this might bring along. Rather than it's something to be moulded, the appearance of my work is a necessity; things do have the quality to occupy space in the universe. Of course it's nice to look for pretty boxes and other materials that are friendly to the open eye, but it would be unfeasible to let this 17

have a negative effect on the workings of the instrument or installation. Function is what counts.

5. COMPONENTS AND CONSTRUCTION When working so scantly a lot of things, of an otherwise very practical nature, are superfluous. Machine heads used for tuning strings become redundant when the string doesn't need to be in an exact pitch. Omitting the usual heads instantly changes the view we have on the construction; in this case it would be better to screw an angle bracket to both edges of a piece of wood and lace the string through the standing holes, secure it with terminal screws and tighten it by placing a third angle bracket under the string and push it to one side until the preferred tension is acquired, lastly screwing the third bracket to the piece of wood as well.

1: Terminal Screw block / 2: Terminal screw without plastic, holding a string / 3: Angle bracket

From this point of view it's all about reinventing the construction; making my own electromagnetic pickups, thinking about the way it should be played and the size and shape that go along with that. This approach is not something idiosyncratic, it happens all around. To name an example that isn't too far of the subject: the electric guitar. The pickup mechanism translates the fluctuations metal strings create in its electromagnetic field, outsourcing the 18

audiblization to the twosome that is the amplifier/speaker system so there is no need for a body to carry the tone within its womb. This lead to the guitar changing shape. Even more radically we can notice this when looking at the influence the magnetic pickup had on the bass guitar.

6. PASSIVE RESISTANCE Like I said earlier; I'm not trying to make a statement in my work. Making statements in art should only be done if the statement itself is the artwork. But even then it will be a statement first and an artwork second. Like a painting is above all something with paint attached to it, if it may, subsequently, be considered an artwork as well remains a question until the arrival of a acceptable answer. The added, artificial, meaning will only be a diversion of the work itself, depriving it from it's purity. Nevertheless writing a thesis forces one to consider his position in a more objective or external matter. The present tendency towards extrovert individualism is on it's way to evolve into its opposite. No one is trying to liberate himself, to stand out, their striving is fictitious, and even worse, an act of collectivism. This can be noticed in fields like politics, music and the spiritual (as it consists of nonmatter), internet. The social networks on the aforementioned internet, for instance, place everyone within one large group that seems to develop an identity of its own. The enormous amount of personal fragments can no longer stand for themselves as they're being merged into something that has more statistical value than it has personal significance. Objection to this situation is as much part of the system as anything else and therefor it's hard to fight from the inside; opposite thoughts are part of each human as well and we don't see them splitting up in smaller parts 19

of man when in doubt. If one wishes to withdraw his individualism from the group to regain privacy the only way would be to differentiate oneself from all this. To achieve this one must accept the situation as is, assuming you won't be able to detach yourself deliberately from something if you fail to admit the existence thereof. Next the process of birth must be set in motion, not the fleshly birth but a more spiritual one, not denying that there might be some mental squeezing involved nonetheless. Birth is the only way there can be extraction without destroying the carrier. Becoming a child of your culture, not tearing it apart nor having to answer to it. The personal perception my work is based upon might be influenced by this, trying not the be overpowered by the phenomenon of collective consciousness and defining my own conditions founded upon my findings. Not taking things for granted but stubbornly reinventing everything, unwilling to incorporate functions that are there only because of popular demand without adding anything that is of importance to me. Positioning myself outside of this mainstream doesn't make me into an outsider artist, though people have referred to my work as being brut. Just like any other artist my work depends greatly upon personal views and opinions thus making it into something that's unexceptionally different. There are always terms to describe this privateness but the term outsider art is used all too easily nowadays. I see my work as a form of, involuntary, passive resistance. Being aware of the world's disposition, realizing that I cannot incorporate its stigmatized rules in the creative process.

7. PLAYFULNESS The position I put myself in isn't narrowing down the amount of choices, it rather opens up a whole array of possibilities. The instruments don't acquire specific parts anymore; other objects can be (mis)used to replace these. This brings back the playfulness into the building process. The function of everything around is up for discussion again and I can assign new purposes to it. Parts are reduced to mere matter and their function is reconsidered. The guidebook How to build things the common way for dummies can be send back to John Wiley & Sons and we can put the thinking back in charge. This is a satisfactory way of working, and, in a way, I hope to transfer some of its magic to other people, as this might help to understand that all constructed things around us aren't just single objects, that they consist of vast amounts of smaller parts, all with their own qualities, faintly aware of what they're taking part in, but all of vital importance.

8. THE INSTRUMENTS 0.1 My first instrument was a very pure and simple one. I don't think it can be made with less parts without changing it to such an extreme that it would influence the playing too much. It's was wooden plank with a string mounted to it using angle brackets and terminal screws. The first time it was used in a live setting I had pushed a small speaker between the plank and string that acted as a microphone. The vibrating string penetrated the magnetic field of the microphone, unsettling its equilibrium, setting it into motion, 21

the magnetic waves were then drained through two nonhollow tubes, made of twisted copper wires, one covered in black plastic, woven around this was the second, at its turn covered in plastic of the same color. For sound waves this is proven to be a convenient mode of transportation. Once arrived at the other end, the waves needed to report on the situation. To do this in an orderly fashion they appointed a speaker to tell their collective story to everyone present in the room or some other way within hearing range. For me it was a bit of a disappointment to hear that the story was not as detailed as hoped beforehand. The area the waves came from was too big and the various personal stories of the waves differed so much they canceled each other out. In needed to create a smaller district near the string that attracted other waves; a group of likeminded and focused ones. Consequently, shortly after this performance I started building my own magnetic pickups. Regular ones couldn't be used because they were almost all made for the amplification of a series of strings, parallel to each other, not for individual ones. Changing the pickupstring ratio 90 degrees to align, or paralyze, these was a solution, but the downside to this is the price. It's expensive when having to amplify more then one single string, each with its own pickup capable of doing six at once, let alone the fact that this is in no way efficient. Luckily, building pickups is not that complicated at all. Of course it's harder, as always, to do it properly. A pickup is a magnet with enameled copper wire wound round it, with both ends of the wire stripped, to remove the isolation, and soldered to an audio connector. Personally I use female RCA (cinch/tulp) plugs, designed by the Radio Corporation of America in the early 1940s to connect mono phonograph players to an amplifier because these are small enough to fit in the element itself, next to the coil. This makes it easier to place and remove the pickup. The magnetic pickups are placed on the instrument and taped down with packaging tape, duct tape or any other attachment solution. The second performance featured about five of these instruments as the sole sound source. In order to process the sound live I 22

constructed a simple Max5 patch so my laptop could act as a sampler and add some sound effects. To control this program I made a small controller, a box with four switches and four push buttons. The sampler performed only a couple of frugal tasks. It could hold up to four samples, all set to continues play back. Each switch could start and stop the recording of one of the four samples. When switched on it recorded over the existing sound, replacing it. The duration of the samples was predefined, times were set to 2, 3, 5 and 8 seconds. This resulted in sequences that only played synchronous once after a certain amount of cycles. 10 cycles of 2 seconds and 4 cycles of 5 seconds can, over repeated twentysecond periods, be experienced as in phase, the same with 5 x 3 and 3 x 5. Variation is obtained through the same system because most of the time the samples are out of phase. When no sounds are added to the loops the music will repeat itself every two minutes. (120 = 15 x 8 = 24 x 5 = 40 x 3 = 60 x 2 = 120) The sound structure strongly depends on this humble abundance; this way of sampling works quite well for generating music that is comprehensible yet challenging and surprising. The four push buttons turned the effects on and off (2x delay and 2x distortion). For an exhibition of the work following the mentioned performance I taped all the instruments, eight in total, to the wall. Since height doesn't exist in twodimensional places, like the surface of the wall in this casus, gravity tends to force objects to one side of the flat space so I used both grey duct tape and transparent packaging tape to hold everything in place. For additional security I screwed the tape and the wall together leaving no room for the gravityinfected instruments to move during a moment of inattention the tape might have every now and then. The controller was rebuild; replacing the effect buttons with 5

Max 5 is a visual programming language for music and multimedia.

switches. All eight toggles operated the sampler, the old four kept their function to switch recording on and off. Using the four new ones a decision could be made either to play back the sounds or not. The resemblance of this first attempt's method to modern music made it that the public worked very intuitive with it, being already familiar with the system as a result of listening to music in everyday life.

0.2 My second version was an effort to see if the form of a guitar would add to the usability of the instrument. It was a wooden board cut in the shape of a guitar that, unintentionally, resembled of the United States of America (just mainland, no islands or Alaska). It had four strings parallel to one another, three grouped, using a three string pickup (three piles of magnets within one coil) and a separate one, using its own element. Where the 0.1 unit made use of an external controller, the U.S.A. Guitar had five double light switches screwed to the woodwork. The first of the two extra controls set the input of the sampler to low or high gain, normal level or a loud, distorted, signal so the guitar had a more rock 'n' rolllike sound. The second switch turned the sound on and off. If I state that this is not a guitar it might still be a guitar, I am not a guitar builder and therefor it is not up to me to label it as such. But I am the builder of the thing, making it my responsibility to name it. When it's a new instrument, and when I am the only one building it, then this naming permission belongs solely to me. This is a string instrument that shares both form and playability with a guitar so I consider this to be one, supposing that these two factors are responsible for the differentiation between all string instruments and the naming thereof. This instrument wasn't used that much, it was hard to 24

simultaneously play the strings and control the switches. I still think a guitarlike shape has some possibilities and it deserves a second chance. It's likely there will be a new attempt in the near future. But it seemed fair to look for other possible solutions too.

0.3 The third, at this moment in time latest, version of the instrument comes fashioned like a suitcase. When opened, the box of 90 cm in length, 25 cm in height and 25 cm in depth, has the same length, half the height, double the depth and it reveals its two inner halves. One side has a wooden board within that has to be lifted and rotated 180 degrees on its imaginable horizontal axis and put down again. This has to be done since the strings of this instrument are at the bottom of this board. By storing these hanging from the ceiling in the hollow space that fills this half of the instruments wooden exterior, and so having no objects penetrating the surface, the case can be closed without destroying it. The strings are, when the preparatory lifting and rotating actions are performed, on a higher level then the case itself, making it easier to play. The other half holds a number of switches and potentiometers to communicate to the computer that sampling related actions have to be taken. This sampler controller comes with the following features: an on/off switch, potentiometers for gain and output volume and sections for sampling and equalization. The sampler has three almost identical channels, all with a switch to toggle recording and a potentiometer to adjust playback volume. The durations of these are predefined at 2, 3 and 5 seconds. The fourth and last channel has two potentiometers, one for playback volume and one to control the sample playback length (0.01 > 8 seconds). The recording time is predefined at 8 seconds. This channel is constantly recording the main input and all four sample channels, this includes, as some of the sharpwitted readers might have noticed, the 4 th channel itself, albeit at 70% of the original volume. This feature equips the user with quite some freedom in sampling. 25

The units of sound with different durations create a variety but after a few cycles it becomes a repeating pattern of its own (see The Instruments: 0.1). By using the fourth sampler channel I can now add a nonstatic aspect to this. When fully open the knob for adjusting the playback length will record eight seconds and play them back continuously, each time recording itself and adding the new sounds. When turning the knob leftwards the recording process will remain the same but it will play back a shorter piece of the sound, starting from the beginning of the sample. When set to 3.5 seconds it will loop only this segment of the sample, getting out of phase with the other loops. The volume knob controls not only the sound played back but also determines the way of stacking the layers of sound on top of each other. Adjustments can be made from 0 to 2 times the incoming level, this works as follows. When the playback volume is set to '1' it records everything at a normal level during all cycles, but the sound of the fourth channel (always the previous cycle) will be recorded at only 70% of the original level, so after the second round of recording the first sounds are at 70% the volume and the new ones at 100%. Adjusting the volume will result in interesting changes within the volume of the different layers. When the volume exceeds four times the initial volume it will be cutoff at that level in a proportional way (2 and 4 will be 1 and 3. 1 and 4 will be 0.8 and 3.2). Please consult the tables for an overview of the effects of under different playback volumes.

Played back at two times the volume: Playback 200% 1st cycle 2nd cycle 3rd cycle 4th cycle 5th cycle 6th cycle

1st loop 0% 200% 233% 172% 128% 95%

2nd loop 0% 0% 167% 123% 90% 66%

3rd loop 0% 0% 0% 105% 77% 57%

4th loop 0% 0% 0% 0% 105% 77%

5th loop 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 105%

2nd loop 0% 0% 100% 70% 49% 34%

3rd loop 0% 0% 0% 100% 70% 49%

4th loop 0% 0% 0% 0% 100% 70%

5th loop 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 100%

3rd loop 0% 0% 0% 50% 25% 13%

4th loop 0% 0% 0% 0% 50% 25%

5th loop 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 50%

Played back at initial volume: Playback 100% 1st cycle 2nd cycle 3rd cycle 4th cycle 5th cycle 6th cycle

1st loop 0% 100% 70% 49% 34% 24%

Played back at half the volume: Playback 50% 1st cycle 2nd cycle 3rd cycle 4th cycle 5th cycle 6th cycle

1st loop 0% 50% 25% 13% 6% 3%

2nd loop 0% 0% 50% 25% 13% 6%

9. EXAMINATION I've spend time studying the identity of string instruments, acknowledging, but laying aside the way these are (ab)used daily. The gravity of the situation forced me to start at the bottom, analyzing the core, which, for reasons beyond my comprehension ofter lays there instead of residing in the center pulling the strings. To me it seemed the instrument responded with a sound when experiencing an external physical force just the same as people react with speech or growls when touched (un)solicited. And just like humans the string would react differently under various circumstances. If the string was under high pressure it would give a nervous, short and fast reaction to outside events and when feeling less tensed it would respond with a longer answer. The way the string is addressed was also noticeable within its reaction, tender strokes received friendly replies and blunt one's got harsh responses. Another thing I witnessed was the relation between the volume of the string and thickness of the sound. The higher the gauge (diameter in wire language) the deeper the sound, compare it to Barry White if you will. Instrument builders seem to make use of this knowledge to put groups of different strings all in such situations that they would get the response demanded when addressing them in a certain way, just like people in a controlled environment during a psychological experiment. Not a natural environment to say the least. I think something can only truly flourish when the conditions aren't too obstructing so I choose to work with strings that were left in a more open situation. No nuts, saddles, frets, bridges, fingerboards or other shackles. The parts I use are chosen after a long process of consideration. Looking for objects that could perform a specific task, like holding a string. So I evaluated a lot of objects and tried to determine to what extent they were useful. Terminal screws turned out to be great for this purpose. Sadly enough they usually have jobs to do in which 28

they cannot use their qualities to the extreme. In everyday life they have to hold one wire in each of their hands, but one could double his strength when holding just one thing and experiencing a force from one direction only. Like in tug of war (rope pulling). Terminal screws are overqualified for holding electric wire, holding strings on an instrument gives them the opportunity to function at their peak, which would be only fair, and it seems more rewarding to me as well. This way of reappropriating objects is used in every aspect of my work, getting full benefit out of the parts used, and so, challenging the objects and staying true to them. It's like a company during reorganization, every employee gets evaluated, and if necessary, moved to another workspace to carry out a function that suits them better. It's all about management in the end... Getting to the essence of music or sound is something that might take years because it's surrounded by a fog of mystification and forcedon laws making it almost incapable of exposing itself. Until the time music reveals itself I am tied to a higher level appearance of sound, where it's removed from its origin to such an extent that there are all kinds of additional rules applied to it. 20 thcentury music for instance. When analyzing this form of music's existence with all its different characteristics, such as neoclassicism, contemporary music, jazz, pop, experimental and world music the most important aspect seemed to be the cautious nature of it. Big leaps are out of the question. There is a constant striving for an equilibrium between repetition and change, order and nonorder. It always stands firmly on a its fundamental conservatism, at the same time reaching out to unknown territory, slowly and carefully adapting it, making it his own and repeating this cycle to grow larger and larger, like a hype or virus. From this idea of musics behavior (how it lives, learns and grows) we can see some of its nature too. The principles an entity follows to function and evolve in time are also part of it in a more static way, call it character or habit. In smaller time frames the conservative progression is noticeable. The elementary rule is repetition, which 29

functions as a carrier, like a canvas for paint, and on top of it there's room for variation and expression. This leads to a constant tension, a battle within the expression, wanting liberate itself from the body of music whilst being attracted to it at the same time. By capturing sounds through the method of sampling and releasing it in a way both based upon repetition and nonsynchronization makes it possible for the music to preserve its natural habits. This is only the first step in the research on the topic. Right now I have a setup for analysis, with all superfluous parts removed. It's of great importance to separate the phenomenon of interest from the influences of the outside world to do any kind of neardecent research.

10. MUSIC Besides making instruments I'm also making music. My musical arrangements follow the same principles mentioned in the previous text; omitting all rules that are there on behalf of making music in its most common form and starting from scratch. Trying to determine the nature of the sounds and arranging and manipulating these to create music in a way I think suits the material, turning it inside out, cutting, pasting, reshaping and combining the sounds. As input for this I mainly use environmental recordings, pieces I play on my instruments and other, ofter machinelike things such as mimeographs and sewing machines. My early works were foremost a study in structure and appearance. The relief of the surface, the weight and the shape of the sounds and how separate sounds acted when placed on top of or after each other in the fourth dimension, also known as time. All of this to get acquainted to the music, I may say music, which feels like a kind of privilege because not many people dare to do so, scared of the 30

sometimes fierce look of it. These bashful people cowardly use a political correct term describing all sounds in, and out of, existence; noise. Little by little music revealed a little more of its capabilities to me. Arranging sound reckoning with the qualities of its exterior but also its core and imaginable context. 'It is important to note that van Hoek is not looking for a realistic impression of his selected locations. Most tracks are actually collages of different spaces, with disparate elements overlapping in a surreal game of juxtapositions. With the field recordings firmly in the centre of attention, the underlying textures, often replete with subcutaneous tension and opaque harmonic structures, award these dense, delirating scenes a hallucinatory intensity and frightening darkness'6 In 2006 I started my own record label, HeilsKabaal Records. Through this label I release my own work as well as that of others. For me this label is no different then my other affairs. It's all part of being active in a certain field.

Tobias Fischer – Review of Den Haag/Groningen/Froombosch cdr on dirtydemos (Tokafi, 2008)

11. GRADUATION WORK For my final exam I will not try to make my magnumopus. I won't put more effort into my work than I usually do. As pointed out earlier, for now, my works are finished when the prototype functions in a satisfactory way. The effort I will make is more in the field of presentation. I will exhibit all my different types of work as a whole; my record label, instruments and installations, artwork for vinyl and cd's, audio and additional sculptural work and house everything in the last. The idea is that, for the first time, I will present not one or more comparable works but I will present myself as a maker of works in general, covering all aspects. Until recently I thought of all these different things as separate personal expressions. It is only now that I come to see that they all have something in common, not only me, the maker, but also the way I deal with the world around me, the way I think and the choices I make. I might seem strange that this insight comes after so many years, I think this is because I just made works, and I still do. Thinking about the reasons why I do these things, and in what way, wasn't of any importance to me, and even now I don't think you should worry to much about these things but still I've learned something valuable from this; I finally see the relationship between my various activities making it easier to accept them, not using then individually but side by side, showcasing them in a more powerful way.

CONCLUSION: Now we know about both 'pataphysics and my own work the question rises about their relation. Although I'm not inventing a cold air balloon7 like Robert Eksteen or try to measure the surface of God as Alfred Jarry did, my work might be classified as 'pataphysical. It's more about the principles I base my choices on, the way I inspect the theme I'm focusing on; the way I am. Like a naive scientist wondering about the essence of the world around him. Most examples of 'pataphysic research describe people concerned with potential solutions to potential problems coming to hypothetical conclusions. Compared to this I like to see myself as a practitioner of applied 'pataphysics.

http://dwarseman.weblog.nl/mijn_weblog/2009/12/theorieenprak.html (in Dutch)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Books and texts: Jean Baudrillard – Forget Foucault (Semiotext(e) 2007) Gilles Deleuze – Desert Islands and other texts 19531974 (Semiotext(e), 2004) Gonzo (circus) – No.75 (art: Imaginaire geluidscartografie ) (2006) Alfred Jarry – Selected Works Of Alfred Jarry (Grove Press, 1965) Alfred Jarry – Exploits and Opinions Of Dr Faustroll (Exact Change, 1997) David Toop – Haunted Weather: Music, Silence, and Memory (Serpent's Tail, 2004) Boris Vian – Het Schuim Der Dagen (Grote ABC, 1967) (various) – Pataphysica 2: Pataphysica e Alchimia (iUniverse Inc, 2004) (unknown) – Jean Beaudrillard – A Synopsis (2007) (unknown) – The Surre(gion)alist Manifesto And Other Writings

Internet: www.atlaspress.co.uk/theLIP www.batafysica.nl www.epibreren.com/pages/mainframe2.html?pataphoondutch.htm www.dwarseman.weblog.nl/mijn_weblog/2009/12/theorieenprak.html ww.gemueseorchester.org www.ubu.com/papers/jorn_pataphysics.html www.wikipedia.org

Music: Idea Fire Company / Felix Kubin – Bigmag. #2 (Drop Of Blood Records, 2007)