fluxus events / environments for forest, wildlife and grand piano, spring edition (2009)
total duration from a few moments to one month or more; also exists as a limited edition artist book
During a residency in the Leighton Artists’s Colony in April–May 2009 to compose a work commissioned by Trio Nexus (Berlin), I also composed a series of fluxus works in response to the surrounding environment, Banff National Park.
These sonic events rely partly on humour (irony) to foster a heightened awareness of the forest context; listeners become active participants perceiving both subtle and complex acoustics and sound emanating from within and from outside the natural environment. For example, the performance of individual events makes the performer aware of the specific acoustic characteristics of the performance environment (#5, 9, 10), the biodiversity of the region (#8) and the eating habits of local wildlife (#1, 6, 7), among other things. The involvement with — or intrusion of, some would say — the environment ranges from entirely or relatively unobtrusive observation of local flora and fauna (#1–3, 8) to actively engaging it in intellectual (#7) and cultural (#5, 6) activities, with a personal risk level ranging from virtually nil to almost certain death (#4).
- #6 — attach a raw top sirloin steak or filet mignon to a tree and wait seated nearby at the piano for a wolf or cougar to come by and eat it. as dinner music to accompany your guest’s dining experience, play chopin’s nocturne #13 op. 48/1 in C minor.
- #8 — quarantine a section of forest and observe it for one month. submit a full report on the progress, changes and difficulties the area encountered during this period to an appropriate authority.
The events can be performed individually or all in sequence (in any order with pauses of any length between them), or all events can be performed simultaneously to form a fluxus orchestral work. The events / environments were initially conceived for springtime performance in Banff National Park, but can of course be performed anywhere the items necessary to perform the individual events can be found, and in many cases, can be performed at any time of the year. The performance of the events is not limited to musicians or even to artists alone.
artist book
I returned for another short Leighton residency in early June 2009 in order to produce a limited edition (5 copies) Artist Book around the fluxus events. Each book contains a number of objects somehow related to the events and the environment in which they were composed:
- a full set of event scores;
- a score for Chopin’s Nocturne #13 op. 48/1 in C minor (for the performance of event #6);
- unique rock fragments gathered on various hikes during my residency;
- a “bear bell”;
- three (3) pellets of deer droppings encased in paraffin wax;
- the lower front legbone of an elk (book #2 only);
- photo documentation of event performances.
The Artist Book is intended to be a “living” art work, it is not intended as a static object that can simply be placed on a shelf or table and admired. Active involvement in the creative process on the part of book owners is encouraged. Containers or casings are provided with the Artist Book to hold or present the various objects but the owner may replace these according to his or her whim. Each book owner will receive copies of all photo documentation of any future fluxus event performances in such cases where these are made available to the artist. Book owners are encouraged to perform some of the events themselves and to contribute to this “living” process.
There is a possibility that a second edition of the books will be made in Spring 2010 in order to make copies available for sale to the general public…
Contact the composer for more information on the individual books or if you are interested in purchasing one of the books.