DAVID FYANS

//CROSSING POINT//

 

Marconi, pioneer of radio once hypothesized that soundwaves, once generated, never die, that they fade, but continue to resonate indefinitely through the universe. From the age of radio onwards, we have been cast adrift in a sea of technology, waves of information crashing against our hull. Technology has the ability to connect people, it conversely can also lead to intense feelings of isolation, lack of human contact and disconnection. And so, I find myself scuttled, clinging to the wreckage I drift, trying to make sense of these new horizons which I inhabit.

This is a collected series of audio sketches made as immediate, response pieces to specific mental and emotional situations which I have found myself in over a period of two/three months.

Composed as a series of sonic self portraits (self landscapes?) using modular synthesis, the individual movements have been compiled into a single, continuous 72 minute piece for performance and recording as a long-form, sculptural exposition of the internal spaces which are brought into being in an attempt to give them solid form and allow the exploration and understanding of them.

Thematically following on from the concept of the audio, a visual treatment has also been produced. This uses visual analogue noise and feedback loops as a signifier of the times we live in where noise reigns over content, the illusion of social interaction brought about by the proliferation of Facebook where information is posted to be seen rather than to open dialogue, the pretence of connections and communication, the devaluation of the concept of ‘liking’ something to the push of a button on a website. The modern social environment has become little more than hundreds of people shouting and nobody listening.

The visual treatment presents the viewer/listener with a world of broken signal, of anomolous patterns, a world of noise in which to scry for visions, for synchronous elements and some form of order embedded in the chaos.

Note: The premiere performance of this piece was at The Outer Church in Brighton, 20th January 2012. Marconi's Shipwreck will be available on DVD via Broken20 in summer 2012.