KРОЗ ОБОЈЕНА ТАЛАСНА ПОЉА
THROUGH COLORED WAVE FIELDS

Technological and Compositional Solutions in Marko Nikodijević’s and Robert Henke’s Piece From Within

Summary/Abstract: The composition by Marko Nikodijević and Robert Henke From Within, for a large orchestra, electronics and an interactive LED sculpture from 2018, ordered by the ensemble Intercontemporain and IRCAM, is in the center of this text, given that it is realized, other than through traditional musical means, by using an intricate system of mutually unrelated audio-visual technologies that were brought to a functional relationship by virtue of creativity of the authors in thinking about contemporary possibilities of interactions through digital protocols in the artistic context. This paper initially describe the process of technology selection for this piece, and ways of communication between participants in the composition (orchestra-electronics-sculpture), while presenting details concerning the wave field synthesis, used in the realization of the electronic part, that is, the workings of the Touch Designer software used to control LED strips that form the visual segment of the piece. The central segment of the text will focus on the analysis of the musical-visual flow of From Within, while considering the applied compositional solutions and their structure. Given that the work is dedicated to the possibilities of interaction between different, temporary and spacially independant „layers“, the analysis will attempt to point to examples of „encounters“ between methods of sculpting the sound and lighting the sculpture, which are reflected in the spatial audio-visual interaction as well. Bearing in mind the fact that the PA system, comprised of 60 or 48 speakers on stage enables the composer to, using the orchestra and methods of wave field synthesis, parry the spaciality and the coloring available to the sculptor, we could say that the color of the sound projected in this way (timbre), in this composition, represents a parameter, equally important as the color of LED lights. In addition, the relationship between these two kinds of „colorings“ of the material which is built throughout the piece, is one of the central questions that came forth during the analysis. The closing remarks incorporate an outlook on possible genre and stylistic definition of this/these kind(s) of artistic works, attempting to position From Within in relation to similar pieces created in recent past.

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