linguini A-D
The linguini are a series of four near-identical sculptural notations. Methods for interpreting them have been left intentionally ambiguous.
origins
I was recording a performed version of “Sanction of the Victim” when I noticed a gorgeous, jagged shape in the waveform representation, lasting somewhere around 0.09 seconds. This shape reappears a few times in the recording, and it is the result of all the tones in a pitch constellation flock being struck simultaneously, and the filterbank momentarily exploding. Because of the flocking algorithm used to determine rate and alignment between the tones in the constellations this only happens once per computer. It occurs at the moment when the system on a particular computer starts up. I grabbed the brief snippet (only 4096 samples long) and performed an analysis of it, breaking it into 12 layers using Haar wavelets.
After seeing the beautiful ‘ur-scores’ of Doug Wadle– and initially misinterpreting them to be of mixed media rather than paint, due to the fact that I was looking at pictures– I decided to investigate the possibility of using a 3-dimensional object as a kind of notation. Precedents include Cage’s “Rocks Role (after Riyoanji)”, the aforementioned Wadle, Xenakis’ 1958 architectural work with Le Corbusier on the Philips Pavilion in Brussels, and the use of electronic circuits themselves — not their schematics– as scores by the likes of Tudor, De Marinis, etc. How can the ambiguity inherent in using an object as notation be overcome and used as a strength?
I first cut the shapes of these layers into foamcore, discarding the top 4 layers because they were too complex at that scale. As it turned out, the top two layers were still nearly impossible to realize into foam by hand. I sent the vectors, along with some 1/2” thick medium density fiberboard, to AMS for lasercutting. To my chagrin, I learned that 1/2” MDF proved too difficult for their laser to cut through without starting a fire, and they sent me home with a charred piece of synthetic wood. I came back with 1/4” thick masonite, which they cut without incident. The resulting layers I fixed together with woodglue so that the lowest values lined up and the piece could stand upright. All this was a welcome change of pace from directing vocal pieces for humans or programming computers to simulate them.
The recursive, hierarchical nature of the wavelet transform, as well as the sculptures' visual similarity to noodles led me to call them “Linguini,” meaning both the type of pasta and “little tongues.” I made four nearly identical copies of this form, and, as if to celebrate their uniqueness despite this, I named them A, B, C and D.
Despite any apparent ambiguity as a notation, a physical object has mass, texture, fragility, uniqueness, and an abundance of other attributes that can constrain the variety of approaches to realize it. While the set of legal realizations remains infinite (just the same as, say, the set of legal realizations of a Bach chorale), the notation’s physicality both enriches and limits the variations among set members. I’m excited to distribute these notations among friends to see their decisions.
structures
Wavelets are a class of orthogonal functions that can be used to resynthesize a signal, using coefficients derived from corresponding wavelet transform. I have used Haar wavelets, the simplest and earliest basis function discovered/constructed. Wavelets are often used to decompose a complex signal into terms of simpler basis functions. Fourier transforms are a popular subset of Wavelet transforms, using a sinusoid basis function. The wikipedia articles are particularly good on this topic, as well as these pages by Ian Kaplan.
I wrote the software do this transform both in Python and in SuperCollider. I will post both versions here once I've cleaned them up a bit.
coefficients
Although I do not take these files to be on the same semiotic level as the objects themselves, the coefficient files may be found here for further realization.