This installation consists of three pieces. Untitled #1, Untitled #2, and So It Goes… The two pieces labeled as Untitled were composed using a technique that exploits a strict, rigid, and selfish plan in order to create totally new, loose compositions that induce a “book reading” experience in which the listener’s imagination is called upon to paint it’s own visual picture. So It Goes… is a piece comprised of short loops pitched to create musical “chords” that loop at different speeds within a set time frame. The “chords” fade in and out of one another to create the feeling that they are “unstuck” in time.
[Oct 11-13 2013] Tim Fodness: Untitled Suggestions + So It Goes
Tim Fodness
Friday, Oct 11, 2013, 7pm Opening
Sat/Sun Oct 12/13, 2013, 2-5pm Installation
Location: Harvestworks – www.harvestworks.org 596 Broadway, #602 | New York, NY 10012 | Phone: 212-431-1130 Subway: F/M/D/B Broadway/Lafayette, R Prince, 6 Bleeker
This installation consists of three pieces. Untitled #1, Untitled #2, and So It Goes… They were all composed within the last two years. The piece entitled So It Goes… was created first. The main concept behind this work was to create an environment largely inspired by the Kurt Vonnegut novel Slaughterhouse Five, in which certain characters are “unstuck in time.” This was achieved by working with very short sound loops of different lengths. The loops were placed into groups of three and pitched to create musical “chords.” As the chords play, the sounds within them loop at different speeds due to their varying length and pitch. The looped sounds travel forward in time, but are eventually brought back to where they started by a larger loop. This is a set timeframe in which all the sounds are bound by. The groups, or “chords” also fade in and out of one another to create a back and forth breathing effect. In the novel, the characters who are “unstuck in time” find themselves shuffling back and forth between different parts of their lives. They have seen their birth, death, and parts in between. In this piece, the chords represent the character, and the larger loop represents their life span.
After undergoing the process of building these “chords”, the piece began to take on a new meaning. Getting the loops to fit together musically was difficult. Individual characteristics like volume and frequency content had to be sacrificed in order for a given loop to work with others. It quickly became evident that the piece was very much about altruism and it’s difficulties.
When So It Goes… was finished, I wanted to do something dealing with selfishness. I figured out a way to do this as I was working on sound design for other people’s projects. The sound design I was making was obviously being driven by content outside of my control. I decided to look at the content as a form of selfishness. By composing to this selfish content and then removing it, i.e. video, voice over, etc, and leaving the sound piece to stand on it’s own, I was able to create totally new, loose compositions that induce a “book reading” experience in which the listener’s imagination is called upon to paint it’s own visual picture. This is very similar to how many things in the natural world present themselves to us. Something exists in it’s current state because it has been affected by things outside of it’s control, and when we encounter something, we are only given hints as to what those things may have been.
The order in which the pieces play is Untitled #1, Untitled #2, and So It Goes… Their combined duration is a little over thirty minutes before starting over again. The installation will be played through a multi-channel speaker configuration in order to envelop the listener in it’s content and enhance the concepts behind it’s construction.
Bio: Tim Fodness is a sound designer, sound artist, and producer. In 2012, he collaborated with sculptor George Turner on the sculptural piece Bertha Mars Fossillator (The Harmonic Crusade or So it Goes) and released an album of original compositions entitled Robert Cane’s Unusual Collection. He is an Assistant Engineer at Duro of Brooklyn and a freelance sound designer.