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MAX COOPER:
This video is from my 'Unspoken Words' project, where I tried to express things with music and visual art which I could not put into words. I turned to the writing of Ludwig Wittgenstein, who tackled this issue of the problems with words and their inability to capture every aspect of our lives. It approaches issues of human expression and the links between our symbolism and existence, but does so in an incomprehensibly dense way, for me at least, which was ripe for presenting as art rather than a technical reading challenge. It's full of feeling and suggestion that we've played with here.
The name, Symphony in Acid, references the combination of orchestral-like synths with 303-like synthesis of acid house fame. I was trying to merge some disparate ideas in the context of a highly dense and complex, but gridded and rigorous structure, one reminiscent of the Wittgenstein text.
Ksawery did an amazing and painstaking job mapping every sound to text presentations & manipulations following the same principles. Each musical, visual and methodological unit is simple, but in concert the result is this complex information onslaught. I love the effect of trying to take in the meaning and messages of the project, particularly when presented on a big screen and sound system in live context. If you give yourself to it, it's a really intense experience with all the text meanings triggering a tapestry of mental responses. I apologise to non-English speakers though, I'd love to make multi-language translations of the project as well.
Ksawery has also created a live rendering website version of the project at symphonyinacid.net where you can interact with the system and even have your own face rendered in Wittgenstein's words. If you would like to collaborate with us to create digital art with your own unspoken words you can submit those at unspokenwords.net/
► Provide your own Unspoken Words: www.unspokenwords.net
The final thing to note is that we added a couple of words at the start. Wittgenstein's statement that "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world" is one that I seek to refute with Unspoken Words.
KSAWERY KOMPUTERY:
Max suggested using discourses by German philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein for the "Symphony in Acid" video right from the start. Wittgenstein’s subjects & conclusions serve as excellent extenders to the fundamentals of the "Unspoken Words" album. Especially in "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" (1921), he explores in depth the concept of limits of language. Wittgenstein investigates various aspects of language, from the atomic point of view (form) to the wide picture (content). The thinker famously stated: "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." I tried to challenge that notion here in the field of visual art.
I build most of my works with code. In this case, I chose a coding environment suitable for rendering typography - an element central to this project. Running code as a website, through a modern internet browser, became the perfect solution. I find the gap between hypertext & 100-year-old paper both significant & inspiring. With my former experience in commercial web development, it was fun & refreshing to use my tools from back then for this new approach.
The dense soundtrack triggered my code in powerful ways. As I listen to it now, I can almost hear atoms interacting, gravitating towards each other to form an object, & then - a whole scenery. Such a wide perspective fuels the imagination & matches the logical-philosophical soul within Wittgenstein’s papers. The ever-evolving atmosphere also helps to create new systems, new scenes. The video starts with just a few letters, that build a word, then a sentence, & finally - whole blocks of text. Having said that, the meaning remains between the lines. The letters can’t exist solely for their form. Eventually, they have to carry information.
We released the website simultaneously with the video as an integral part of the project. The final video shows a single recording of the website being browsed. For the nerds out there, interested in the programming aspect, you can easily access the source code. For a more immersive & playful experience, I added a few interactive options to play with visuals using your mouse & keyboard: www.symphonyinacid.net
CREDITS
Video: Ksawery Komputery
Music: Max Cooper
Label: Mesh
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All video & audio copyright is owned by Max Cooper - no use without permission.