Der Stromausfall / Cloudbursting

Published on 05.30.2017 in [music]

During the Everything Without a “Real” is False: APA (aka Xuan Ye) Artists-in-Residence @ Being Generation & JØ (aka Johann Diedrick) @ Friends-at-Home Mirco-Residency (2015.5.30), the two impromptu music performances Der Stromausfall / Cloudbursting happened as a result of unexpected electrical outage and fortuitous power-back on Dundas West, Toronto. Der Stromausfall was improvised completely without wall power. In Cloudbursting, the instrument (eventually the performance) allows the performer to use a one second vocal recording as a sound source for a tactile interface. When touching two contacts, thereby closing a circuit, the vocal sample is played back in a fluttering staccato of pitches based around a pentatonic scale. This allows for a wildly expressive sonic palette that is driven through touch between oneself and others. When the circuit is used in reverse, a group can form a connection together that results in silence. As they start to let go of each other, melodic voices shower down.