Stephen McEvoy ~ Sonic Romanticism

Stephen McEvoy's "Sonic Romanticism" was presented before live audience at Centrale Fies, Dro, Italy on August 3, 2024 as one of 38 AEROPONIC ACTS of CHAMELEON ORBIT curated by Elisa Giuliani & Giulia Crispiani.

Here you will find the documentation of Stephen McEvoy's presentation as filmed by Baha Görkem Yalım. The written report is by  Bethany Crawford and it includes a summary of the comments by esteemed guest respondents.

Sonic Romanticism

Stephen McEvoy's question: If sound is the answer, then what is the question?

Stephen's introduction: A long-awaited return to orality. Imaginings of vibration and quantum entanglement. Ontologies that begin with the Big Bang and sigh tirelessly underneath the layer of language. If capital has alienated us from ourselves, each other, and nature, then what kind of fantasies make us feel like this state of affairs is not undoable? Sound holds the promise of such an exit, the story of the sonic antidote repeated again and again. What is it about sound that makes it the perfect escape vehicle?

Bethany's report: As the performer enters the stage, they take a seat at a soundboard, speaking into a microphone with a filtered voice that jutters and pitches high. After a moment, they shift to a lower tenor voice, inviting the audience to participate in a reflective act of waiting: "Wait for 10 seconds, and if it feels good, give it another 10."

A video begins to play on the screen behind them, showing someone playing the piano—hitting several keys at once in a fragmented melody, as if starting and stopping again. The screen then goes blank, and the performer is spotlighted center stage. The video transitions to a close-up of a hi-fi speaker, visibly vibrating but emitting no sound. The association between the moving speaker and its usual function evokes a spectral sound that is felt rather than heard. Water inside the speaker begins to ripple, forming patterns and fractals, trembling and vibrating into mesmerizing shapes.

The performer starts singing with a voice filter, their lyrics subtitled on the screen: "Is this the wave?" The filter fragments and alters their voice, refracting and multiplying it into spectral tones. The rippling water in the speaker begins to take on three-dimensional forms, as the interplay of voice and visuals deepens.

The natural low tone of the performer’s voice emerges amidst the filtered layers, creating a multiplicity of voices resonating through the space. Echoes and reverberations ripple across the building, creating a sensory dialogue between sound and space. At one climactic moment, the water in the speaker ruptures and overflows form the speakers bowl. This rupture underscores the performance’s central inquiry: how sound, vibration, and materiality interact and transform each other.

As the performer live-modulates their voice filter, the tones and notes seem to visually and materially shape the room. The audience witnesses how the resonance of the voice invokes shifting imagery and materiality, forming a poetic interplay of sound and vision. The performer asks questions about waves, reverberation, and resonance: "Does forgiveness come in waves?" These questions echo through the space, exploring the eternity of vibrations and the fracturing of reality through the multiplicity of voices. By differentiating and fracturing reality through voice and vibration, the performance invites the audience to consider the eternal nature of resonance and the transformative power of multiplicity.

Ramon Amaro: Ramon shared that the performance held particular significance for him, as it brought to mind a project he had initiated called Decolonial Vibrations. This project, which involved collaboration with individuals in sonic culture, explored alternative sensory and affective ways of perceiving the world. Its guiding principle was to investigate whether the vibrations, aftereffects, and weight of colonial processes could be felt purely at a vibrational level—without relying on monuments or visual representation. Although he had set the project aside to focus on a book, recent experiences, including this performance, had reignited his interest in the topic.

He referenced a former colleague, Julian Henriques, a professor at Goldsmiths who works extensively in sonic theory, particularly in relation to dancehall culture in Jamaica. Ramon mentioned an abstract from Henriques' work, The Vibrations of Affect and Their Propagation on a Night Out on Kingston’s Dance Hall Scene. In this paper, Henriques proposes that vibrations offer a better model for understanding the transmission of affect and the movement of bodies, rather than traditional frameworks. The vibrations—referred to idiomatically as "vibes"—circulate among audiences through sound systems. Henriques’ methodology, inspired by spectrometry, explores how auditory amplitudes, feelings as frequencies, and affect as temper challenge the traditional view of the self as autonomous and rational. Ramon appreciated how this framework tied into broader discussions of sonic dominance and affect.

He also brought up the work of a master’s student at the University of Leiden who will soon undertake a residency to explore gravitational waves and sonic vibrations. Ramon shared an anecdote from the artists research: the first observation of gravitational waves from a black hole, a phenomenon previously only theorized. The artist critiques the scientific community for focusing solely on the visual representation of these waves, despite the fact that the phenomenon was first emitted as a sonic spectrum. Her project delves into how vibrations and sonic frequencies can enact new sensory modes of understanding the world. Ramon suggested that there could be exciting overlaps between her  work and the themes of the performance, expressing his willingness to facilitate a connection.

Reflecting on the performance, Ramon noted the interplay between the body, vibration, and visual representation. He found it fascinating how the performance challenged the conventional approach to vibration, which is often aestheticized or reduced to materiality—such as the image of a speaker's vibrations used in advertising. Instead, the performance inverted this relationship by foregrounding the parasitic connections between visual, sonic, and physical elements. Ramon appreciated how the performance presented these components as disjointed at first glance but revealed their interconnectedness through a collage-like approach. He described this as a profound intervention that reframed the understanding of vibration and its relationship to the body and technology.

Ramon concluded by praising the performance’s beauty and its conceptual depth. He likened the experience to "the album Kanye West was supposed to release," highlighting its innovative and impactful nature. He expressed an eagerness to learn more about the project’s motivations and potential future directions, emphasizing his admiration for the work.

Inti Guerrero: Inti began by expressing his admiration for the performance, noting its beauty and depth. He drew a connection to his personal taste and the joy of being exposed to new mediums, particularly the integration of performativity and machine learning in a karaoke format. He appreciated how the performance pushed boundaries and engaged with sonic art in innovative ways.

He followed up with a question for Stephen, asking if they were familiar with the performance music work of Bo Burnham. To illustrate his point, Inti played an excerpt from Burnham's "Can't Handle This" video into the microphone as part of his response, and in reference to Ramon’s earlier mention of Kanye West.

He emphasized the importance of moments of pause, taking 10 seconds of silence to reflect before continuing, describing it as a way to fully absorb the piece's impact.

Drawing on his foundation in sound art, Inti referenced Noise, Water, Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts, a significant book in the field. He felt the performance echoed some of the ideas from this text, particularly its exploration of spiritual and circular forms. While the performance didn’t explicitly reference these concepts, he noted connections to East Asian art traditions, particularly Zen Buddhism and Korean art, which often emphasize circularity and energetic fields. He described how these traditions merge sculpture and coding into experiences that feel both supernatural and spiritual. Inti suggested that this resonance added an additional layer to the performance’s industrial and digital aesthetic.

He also referenced an exhibition by a Taiwanese sound artist who worked with music, noting how the performance reminded him of "other types of waves." These waves, he explained, could be interpreted beyond the literal—such as feminist waves or communal waves—transforming into something like a cave, a space of resonance and meaning. Inti emphasized that these waves go beyond the ocean, symbolizing broader cultural and communal phenomena.

While discussing these connections, Inti acknowledged the importance of avoiding essentialism or over-generalization when engaging with art from different cultural contexts. He highlighted the unique art histories and influences present in different regions, including the Zen Buddhist-inspired work of an artist featured in an exhibition in Singapore. This artist, while not religiously Zen Buddhist, was deeply informed by its philosophy, much like how Frank Stella’s exploration of vibrations engages with similar energetic and spiritual ideas.

Antonia Majaca: Antonia began by sharing her curiosity about the piano in the opening section of the performance. She remarked that it puzzled her, prompting her to reflect on its role as a prelude to what followed. She admitted to becoming somewhat fixated on the concept of the "sonic antidote," which was referenced in the summary, and how it related to this prelude.

Her thoughts turned to the oppressive structures embedded in the equal temperament system used in Western music. She observed that the piano, constrained by the logic of equal temperament, represents a form of hegemony in musical tradition. By contrast, she pointed out that most world music is inherently microtonal, citing examples like Inuit music, Arab music, and Gamelan. For Antonia, microtonality represents a universal, planetary dimension of music, in stark opposition to the rigid, standardized system of the piano keyboard.

She proposed that perhaps the "sonic antidote" lies in the process of undoing this hegemonic logic—creating a kind of spell to counteract the structures of oppression embedded within it. Antonia connected this idea to the notion of "spelling" she had observed in previous performances, referencing the joyous spells performed the day before. She saw this performance as a continuation of that lineage, crafting antidotes through diverse iterations and resistances to oppressive frameworks.

Antonia concluded her thoughts by framing the performance as part of an ongoing exploration of how sonic practices can dismantle established systems and open up new possibilities for planetary, inclusive forms of expression.

AEROPONIC ACTS 2024 ~ Chameleon Orbit

About Stephen McEvoy