ODE to Länadk. A Myth-Science Sound Piece.

Summary.

ODE (Ordinary Differential Equations) to Länadk is a myth-science work realized with sound. It explores the conflict between spirituality and science. The concept of the sound piece is the result of experimental activities based on the deconstructing views of Dadaism, the analysis of Gilles Deleuze’s and Simon O’Sullivan’s writings, and the effort to abstract from the conventional structured perceptions of the world.  These postmodern views are contrasted here with the scientific method and its organized understanding of nature.  An analogy with the predator-prey mathematical model of Lotka-Volterra is made to represent this recurrent tension of the ancient mind-matter problem.  This work was inspired by the search to integrate art and technology under the spiritual-scientific lens.  It is a reflection of the research on this endeavor.

Elaboration.

The activities that preceded the production of this sound piece are shown in Figure 1 and were as follows:

1.  A box was presented with different objects that served as core references to characterize a fictional persona.  These objects were: a white crystal ball the size of the palm of a hand; a Daniel Hechter tag; a picture of the Chukku monastery in front of mount Kailash in Transhimalaya, Tibet; and a couple of sticky notes referencing the concept of transformation.
2. An interplay with another person, in which one had to describe him/herself and the other would reject these descriptions, leading to the questioning of self concepts and to an insight of self perception.
3. A visit to the Kunsthalle, Bremen where a painting was chosen for its peculiar sound imagery to add meaning to the overall construction of the work. (Die Kindheit des Zeus, Lovis Corinth).
4. An exercise of exquisite corpse with drawings, poem improvisation and text from a book of personal preference (Music and The Mind, Anthony Storr).

Additional references were taken from a concert of Klassiker der Neuen Musik at Sendesaal, Bremen and other music mentioned in Figure 1 (Fleet Foxes, The Shrine/An Argument).

Furthermore, the Lotka-Volterra ordinary differential equations describe the behavior of a predator-prey system, in which a species’ population grows by eating another species.  When prey’s population declines, so does the predator’s and then the cycle reverses.  This behavior is used as a metaphor to describe the internal clash of the fictional character Länadk.

Sound aesthetics:

How was this myth-science narrative approached with sounds?  Sound has been used in this work to touch the gradient of implementation of art and technology and to give a sense to what constitutes spirituality and science.  The initial part of the this sound piece introduces a typical psychophysics experiment to determine a discrimination threshold in cognitive science.  Then it changes to spacey atmospheres; a dark crystal spherical dimension where Länadk exists in tension.  His fragile harmonic reality is represented by minor tones played with tubular metallic reverbed synths.  They give a feeling of tranquility, but at the same time the tension of clinks and atmospheric uncertainty portray the conflicting concept of the topic being discussed.  In the background, opposite hard-panned pure tones of 121Hz and 124Hz combine each other in an oscillating hum that changes according to the dynamics, i.e., binaural tones.  A nostalgic melody and a rolling sound indicating motion, lead the progression to an organic environment.  A minimal soundscape consisting of dense air flow  and crackling sounds of crawling textures serve as the framework that is threatened by artificial phenomena.  In the end, silence and acoustic guitar atonal musical structures accompany the spoken words to finish with an anguished howl.

Humans come up
with knobs and cogs
to find our mother and father

Still orphans we are
while death reaches out
at the gate where we see off each other.

Is it time to pick up my spirit?
It’s time.
It is the time.

Oh father.  Where are you?

While mock downward tendrils keep growing
out in the dark and inside our home
old pictures are burned by a promising dawn
of statistical truth and uprising power.

I know where this will end.
Institutions are crumbling.
Religion believers, science makers, society
struggle to keep their structures.
They don’t hold.

The work is represented in three parts:

1. The spatial atmosphere which represents calm and piece, but which is also haunted by continuous change.  Here the human struggle is presented.  We have evolved to a high degree of technological evolution, but we still don’t know where we come from.
2. Artificiality is slowly replacing the organic, natural relationship we have  with our surroundings.  This process is establishing across all fields as a reliable truth in the name of progress.
3. The science-religion struggle needs to evolve in order to give a renovated sense to society, which is loosing its trust of traditional fundamental institutions such as governments, churches and schools.

The Sound Piece:

Discussion and further work.

The quest to discover the workings of nature and the universe to find meaning and certainty,  leads the human species to a cyclical self-destructive paradox.  This behavior exists in different dimensions.  ODE to Länadk represents this paradox within the postmodern dimension that clashes with empirical science.  The idea that science leads to the control of nature through technology, and that technology in turn leads to destruction, collides with the positive achievements of the scientific community.  These views should not compete with each other, but should rather exercise tolerance to benefit our common growth.

In light of current debates around the religion-science topic  that are being held in western countries, it is interesting to see an evolution that is bringing different angles to approach this discussion.  As Jordan Peterson lays it down:  In the far left we have an infinite number of potential interpretations, i.e., moral relativism.  On the far right we have a dogmatic fundamentalism proclaiming universal truths strictly based on ancient scriptures.  Somewhere in the middle there is a reality being constructed by proven science which may reconcile both poles with the view of metaphorical truths, i.e., unproven stories that have proven to be useful in a positive context (the bible).

This sound piece will be part of a live audiovisual project that maintains the same conceptual background.  The progress of this project and further work is explained in the following link:

Towards the Design of an Iterative Synbiotic Life Cycle.