Chrysanthemum

chrysanthemum

Through opened door the woman entered the limousine.

Inside the compartment a perfect, orange chrysanthemum adorned a black stone vase.

Noise and beats crescendoed slowly.

Liquid news flowed around digital stones across the video bar.

Present and future empires formed as marijuana smoke blown by air-conditioned breeze.

K. Atchley revised- 1.14.95

morning glory

Life climbs a trellis, blossoms to radiated heat and light radiated to blossoms, climbs a trellis, unfolds leaves to light, vines to transport life up the trellis to radiated heat and light, blossoms blue and seeds to transport life to earth and water, shoots pierce earth and vines vessel water and minerals of earth to leaves to radiated heat and light, life climbs cells green and life forms of fire and light radiated and climbs matter to energy to matter forms: earth, water, trellis, morning glory blue, leaves in dew, and morning sun.

K. Atchley January 9, 1995; 23:54

water lily

This noise arises from the relationship between musicians and highly sensitive, supercharged instruments. These instruments are so radically pre-amplified and processed ("hot") that they are sensitive to the instrumentalist's lightest touch. (In the specific case of my guitar setup, the vibration that results from the shoulder strap twisting as I move causes the system to resound.) It may not be possible to perform using this family of instruments "live," through electro-acoustic speakers due to the likelihood of uncontrolled feedback-response.

These instrument-systems are capable of producing subtle sounds regardless of and beyond the control of human performers. That is, small increments of moment-to-moment melodic, harmonic, and timbral shaping are largely beyond the command of performers; however, the composer and performer may determine and reproduce global as well as sectional forms by amplitude control and by paying close attention to broader (musical) materials such as degree and color of distortion. In human hands these noise-instruments respond more closely to the dictates of Chaos, rather than Pythagorean, Theory.

Noise-music of these systems reveal layers of interpenetrating melodies, harmonies, rhythms that shift with and direct the listener's attention. Computers may meaningfully describe behavior of this noise. Multi-processor controlled hardware, with real time acoustic analysis and response capabilities, could possibly manufacture an intricate, predictable, reproducible music in a variety of acoustic spaces.

Noise-harmonies are richer and more complex than those of Wagner, Debussy, Mahler, Penderecki, Ligeti; whose music, names, romances, shadows, personal and social histories, architecture, techniques, memories, broadcasts, injustices, explosions, riots, revolutions form the dark waters from which grow the blossoms of noise.

Small groups of information coalesce into noise that in turn form larger arrays of noise of momentary reflections of information that disappear into even larger pools of noise that--upon closer attention--reveal great detail turn into the plant's root, follow the stalk up to petals, open as the blossoms of the water lily: floating on sunlit lake fed by crystal streams from faraway and invisible sources.

We turn from the lake and enter a little gallery filled with imagery induced by: our visit to the water garden, by noise, and post-noise works that compose the fertile ground through which the fragmented and splintered art, philosophy, science, and soul of our era may push green leaves of noise-form through the waters, sky, atmosphere of earth, and blossom in space.

Kenneth Atchley, fall-winter 1994 revised: December 23rd