NOTES
MIND, THE GAP!
FEBRUARY 2005
01. THE GESAMTKUNST PUZZLE
I have so far avoided referring to the Baroque style, Gesamtkunst and the
Futurists in connection with my project "Mind, the gap". In a similar
vein I have avoided referring to John Cage (prepared piano/chance happenings)
in my descriptions of The Emotion Organ.
Though the connections are obvious, I have been unsure as to how much emphasis
I should place on such notions (rather than just being aware of them as historical
references), and how my work will be consequently influenced by moving into
that landscape. It is, after all, synaesthetics that is my main theme.
Without coming to any definite conclusions, I am pretty sure that the Emotion
Organ is not based on the ideas of the Gesmatkunstwerk - even if I did/do
aim at making one, it would/will fail to BE one - or to tell the same tale
- in 2005/06.
While the Emotion Organ should elicit and evoke mood changes through subjective
response to sensory information (combination of somatic - bodily perception
or absorbtion, and semantic - "mental" reading of signs) it is the
code that lies beneath the sensory layers that seems to be the clue.
I am not trying to decode the external world (to bring "art and life"
together - as in Gesamtkunst), but rather to create code as writerly play-texts
- code that re-writes itself according to how a player subjectively re-acts
and re-sponds to sensory information. The code pulls together the various
fragments(and strange sensory connections) to enable the creation of new "compositions"
of sensory outputs - that can function simultaneously as input information
- both for the re-writing (generation) of code itself, and as sensory inputs
(feedback loops).
So, in this networked instrument it is also the internal that is being decoded,
and the "information code" lies beneath the level of sensory perception
as a set of fluctuating conditions.
Or is it?
If it IS, does this then create Conditional or Absolute time/space (as desrcibed
in 2004 - Met Geert Mul) on a conceptual level?
It is not quite clear for me ........
02: THE SCENTS OF FUTURISTS
One of the areas I have been working on is the emission of odors, and the
smells that keep popping up in my mind - the smell of hot tires on tarmac,
starter fuel, lighter gas, the smell of newly cut grass, burnt coffee, sweat,
etc - have to do with ignition and speed, passion. I seem to have inadvertedly
entered the house of the Futurists. Having once opened the door (and shuddered),
I have picked out some Futurist performance texts for further investigation.
They are interesting partly because the scenes are short and repetitive.
DETONATION (Detonazione)
Francesco Canguillo
Synthesis of all Modern Theatre
CHARACTER
A BULLET
Road at night, cold, deserted.
A minute of silence. - A gunshot.
CURTAIN
THERE IS NO DOG (Non c'è un Cane)
Francesco Canguillo - Synthesis of Night
CHARACTER
HE WHO IS NOT THERE
Road at night, cold, deserted.
A dog crosses the street.
CURTAIN
LIGHTS! (Luce!)
Francesco Canguillo
Theatrical Synthesis
Raised curtain. - Neutral stage. - Stage and auditorium completely in DARKNESS
for 3 BLACK minutes.
Voices Of the PUBLIC
11. ----- Lights! 2. Lights! 4. Lights!
20. ----- Lights!! Lights!!
50. ----- Lights!! Lights!! Lights!! Lights!!
(Contagious)
THE ENTIRE THEATRE
L I G H T S ! ! ! ! !
(The obsession for light must be provoked - so that it becomes wild, crazy
- by various actors scattered in the auditorium, who excite the spectators
and encourage their shouting.)
The stage and auditorium are illuminated in an EXAGGERATED way.
At the same moment, the curtain slowly falls.
1. The numerals indicate the number of speakers.-Trans.
VAGRANT MADMEN (Pazzi Girovaghi)
Remo Chiti and Emilio Settimelli
Theatrical Synthesis
Night. In a public garden near a lamp.
Summer.
On a bench a YOUNG MADMAN counts some gravel.
YOUNG MADMAN: 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . . 5 . . . 6 . . . 7 . . . 8 .
. . 9 . . . 10 . . . 11 . . . 12 . . . 13 . . . thousand 20,000! evening +
evening = evening . . . then finally . . . (Finishing in a heap.) a million!
. . . A beautiful night to count pebbles from 1 to a million . . . too bad
there is no moon . . . but there is a lamp . . . ah! Men are cunning . . .
evening + evening = evening . . . The lamp! . . . It's better when there is
a moon . . . The lamp is like a dried-up and pale moon . . . one pebble +
one pebble = moon + lamp = stars and atmospheric haze outside and inside us
. . . I knew a poem in the night . . . I only understand it now . . . that
it is: pebble + pebble - moon + lamps = scent of jasmine and a streetlight
. . .
(During this time another MADMAN, an old one, appears.)
OLD MADMAN: Stop taking rocks for lanterns! . . . Stop it!
YOUNG MADMAN: Evening + evening = evening. Pebble + lamp = scent of jasmine
and a streetlight.
OLD MADMAN (losing his patience): Yes, look if you succeed in blowing my nose
with your shoes! . . .
YOUNG MADMAN: Do you know? . . . I have now understood an old poem that I
learned from a baby in a corner . . . No! Enough! . . . I know it . . . streetlight
less, but moon more . . .
OLD MADMAN: You provoke my gangrene! . . . stop speaking and slip my hat in
your pocket! . . . I am hungry, by God! . . . I am hungry . . . No! I am not
hungry . . . I have the hat on my head . . . however, stop tormenting that
octopus and slip the hat in your pocket! . . . Enough! Enough! I am hungry!
. . .
YOUNG MADMAN: Do you want some bread? . . . I have a lot of it here in my
body. I am twenty years old and I have eaten a lot of it every day! . . .
You are hungry! . . . Turn the jacket inside out! . . .
OLD MADMAN: No! . . . The flies go respected! . . .
YOUNG MADMAN: Torment the handkerchief immediately! . . . or the tomato is
lost . . . the cicadas have always amused me! I want to save it, the red tomato!
. . . Watch out! . . . Watch out that the night and the night . . .
OLD MADMAN: Ah! Coward! I will give you the histories of the restaurant! .
. . (And he grasps him by the throat.) You make me laugh . . . you clown!
. . . Now I will give you a massage (He strangles him, lets him go, and the
youth falls to the ground.) Damn! New shoes . . . it's better to go in the
fields. (And he disappears.)
CURTAIN
FROM THE WINDOW (Dalla Finestra)
Arnaldo Ginna and Emilio Settimelli Three Moments
CHARACTERS
ALL THE SPECTATORS
SLEEPWALKING FATHER
SLEEPWALKING DAUGHTER
To understand the drama, ALL THE SPECTATORS, the protagonist characters, who
are here must place themselves, by self-hypnotism, in the place of a paralyzed
person who is unable to move or speak, to whom only life and light remain
for the intelligence imprisoned in a dead body and who finds himself in bed
near a window with its shutters opened by the wind during the three moonlit
nights in which the moments of the action take place.
FIRST MOMENT (First Night)
At the rise of the curtain one sees the very high wall of a castle looming
in a moonlit night. Gusts of wind. Midnight strikes on a monotonous clock
nearby. A completely dressed man appears from the left on the castle wall,
a sleepwalker who moves against the wind (which makes his cloak flutter) with
mechanical and secure steps. He disappears. Every SPECTATOR hypnotizes himself
into believing that the man is his father.
CURTAIN
SECOND MOMENT (Second Night)
Same scene, same wind, same clock, same time. A young woman comes from the
right with her clothes on and her loose hair blowing in the wind. She crosses
the stage with the same sleepwalking steps, walking on the same very high
castle wall. Every SPECTATOR hypnotizes himself into believing she is his
sister.
CURTAIN
THIRD MOMENT (Third Night)
Same scene, same wind, same clock, same time. At the same time the two sleepwalkers,
FATHER and DAUGHTER, appear on the wall, one from the right, one from the
left, moving toward each other in the wind. They approach each other, collide,
and fall into the void uttering a horrible scream.
CURTAIN
SYNTHESIS OF SYNTHESIS (Sintesi delle Sintesi)
Guglielmo Jannelli and Luciano Nicastro Theatrical Synthesis
Empty stage: a long dark corridor at the end of which a small red lamp flashes
off and on, a long way off. Then, a streak of white light appears like a carpet
along the corridor.
Five seconds.
A revolver shot. Scream. Noises. Confused cries.
Pause.
The fresh burst of a woman's laughter.
Simultaneously a door at the back is thrown open by a blow, blinding the audience
with a huge, powerful light.
The curtain detaches, and fails.
A LANDSCAPE HEARD (Un Paesaggio Udito)
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Radio Synthesis
The whistle of a blackbird, envious of the crackling of a fire, ends by extinguishing
the gossip of water.
10 seconds of lapping.
1 second of crackling.
8 seconds of lapping.
1 second of crackling.
5 seconds of lapping.
1 second of crackling.
19 seconds of lapping.
1 second of crackling.
25 seconds of lapping.
1 second of crackling.
35 seconds of lapping.
6 seconds of the whistle of a blackbird.
SILENCES SPEAK AMONG THEMSELVES (I Silenzi Parlano fra di Loro)
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Radio Synthesis
15 seconds of pure silence.
Do-re-me on a flute.
8 seconds of pure silence.
Do-re-mi on a flute.
29 seconds of pure silence.
Sol on a piano.
Do on a trumpet.
40 seconds of pure silence.
Do on a trumpet.
10 seconds of pure silence.
Do on a trumpet.
Ne-ne-ne of a baby.
40 seconds of pure silence.
Ne-ne-ne of a baby.
11 seconds of pure silence.
1 minute of rrrrr of a motor.
11 seconds of pure silence.
Amazed oooooo's from an eleven-year-old little girl.
DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION (Morte a Trasfigurazione)
Augusto Mauro
Symphonic Poem
ELECTRIC-VIBRATING-LUMINOUS
in Four Parts
THEMATIC MOTIFS
LIFE: ovoid expression with RED, DARK BLUE, YELLOW lights.
NOSTALGIA: expression of VIOLET and GREEN points grouped in an oscillating
nebula.
AGONY: gradual dissolution of BRIGHT BLUE nebulas with OFF-WHITE stripes.
FIRST PART (The Struggle with Death)
The BLACK velvet curtain rises and the "sensitive darkness" appears,
star-spangled with motionless lights placed in concentric circles: a dim tone
with a predominance of GREEN and YELLOW. In the centre of the smallest circumference
the thematic motif of life slowly unfolds (ovoid expression with RED, DARK
BLUE, and YELLOW lights) and endeavours to spread beyond the circular rim
in which it was enclosed.
The circles shrink and enlarge time and again, as if breathing, and in the
movement they intensify for an instant the tone of their own colour, while
the thematic motif of life undergoes contortions and BRIGHT BLUE shudders.
SECOND PART (The Dance of the Past)
The theme of life recomposes in its original form and, after a final YELLOW
flash, remains immobile radiating luminous vibrations of RED, DARK BLUE, and
YELLOW. The concentric circles enlarge and begin to turn one against the other,
unravelling their colours with maximum tonal force. Then their circular forms
gradually dissolve, so that the sensitive darkness appears covered with a
nebula of luminous drops with a prevalence of YELLOW.
The thematic motif of nostalgia (expression of VIOLET and GREEN points), which
is located in the upper right corner of the sensitive darkness, appears. The
other lights go out with small metallic clicks, and only the theme of nostalgia
stands out. It begins to disperse in ORANGE vibrations around the theme of
life that is situated below.
Now from the other corner pour groups of lights that lose themselves, vanishing
first by touching the ovoid of life, then by alternating with moments of darkness
immediately followed by the musical-luminous comment of the theme of nostalgia.
Thus:
1. MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD: rain of WHITE lights, then PINK, then BLUE, which
descend skipping and plucking the sensitive darkness.
- DARKNESS - the theme of nostalgia performs a tune.
2. MEMORIES OF LOVE: flashes of RED-SCARLETVIOLET that flow down from above,
kneading themselves into an ORANGE dart, which darts away from the bottom
skimming and making the thematic motif of life quake
- DARKNESS - the theme of nostalgia unwinds intensifying the tonalities.
3. BATTLE OF THE ASPIRATIONS: turbines of BLUE, YELLOW, RED, VIOLET, BLACK,
WHITE, SCARLET lights, which resolve in dynamic expressions of ellipses, curved
lines, parabolas, hyperbolas, ellipsoids, etc., etc., that, by slowly darting,
form a homogeneous and compact nucleus, which shatters into many WHITE vibrations
that lose themselves in every direction
- DARKNESS - the theme of nostalgia unwinds with luminous variations trying
to make the tonality of colours brown, until the nebula that expresses it,
passing from GREY to BROWN to BLACK, will become completely absorbed by the
sensitive darkness.
THIRD PART (The Last Agony-Quivers)
The thematic motif of life remains on the dark plane, its ovoid expression,
serenely moved at first by fixed lights, begins to vibrate intensely and,
quaking, assumes queer deformations.
For several seconds the theme begins unwinding with grotesque contortions
and spasms, then a second of complete darkness, followed by a sharp rain of
RED bars. Darkness again, and the theme of life reappears and, rotating in
the centre of the sensitive darkness, grows smaller and becomes intensified
into a SCARLET point.
FOURTH PART (Transfiguration)
The SCARLET point gradually discolours until it becomes GREY. Then metallically
it goes out - DARKNESS - The point reappears in BLUE and suddenly a luminous
and roaring spiral turns around it, enlarges over the whole plane, and, turning
with fantastic speed, shoots off luminous vibrations of ALL THE COLOURS AND
ALL THE TONALITIES.
DARKNESS
CURTAIN
WEARINESS (Stanchezza)
Angelo Rognoni Physical State Written as a Script
Stage: a grey background.
A MAN enters. He is visibly tired. He stretches out in an armchair. He closes
his eyes.
Sound of a violin; a dirge without a well-defined tune.
Humming far off.
From above a transparent curtain descends that blurs the environment.
Lengthy hissing far off, insistent.
The sound of the violin ceases.
A faint howling.
From above a black exclamation mark descends at left.
The howling becomes more sinister.
Blue lights.
The humming increases in intensity.
A second, very tall exclamation mark descends at centre.
All the noises cease.
Absolute silence.
The MAN reclines his head. (He is asleep.)
Darkness.
CURTAIN
These texts were sampled from:
http://www.futurism.org.uk/