For solo 21-string zheng.

Image taken from video shot by TIAN, Zi-Ping 田子平

Manufactured Realities is about overlapping spaces and temporalities, and the presence of unseen, but imaginable realities. It is a work that exists in three versions, each an "alternate reality" of the work. Version 1 is a 33-minute performance for zheng, sound-files and live electronics, video projected on two monitors, and two spaces. Version 2 is a fixed media work, essentially Version 1 recorded and played back with the same setup, except the hidden space is open to the public and the performer is replaced by two loudspeakers. Version 3 is a standalone 20-minute instrumental solo for zheng, but also serves as the instrumental part for Versions 1 and 2. In Version 1, the performer is confined to a hidden space, the sounds of the zheng captured, processed, and projected in real-time through loudspeakers in the presentation space. Using 3D VBAP (Vector Base Amplitude Panning) and a 49.4 loudspeaker system, this work divides a real architectural space into multiple virtual spaces. Each space inhabits and exhibits a unique temporality. As such, spectators travel through time by moving through space. 
Performed by Jing-Mu Kuo 郭靖沐.
Recorded at C-LAB Taiwan Sound Lab 臺灣聲響實驗室, August 2021.

Manufactured Realities ver.3 ｜2021｜Jing-Mu Kuo 郭靖沐

For 21-string zheng, electronics, two video monitors, and two spaces. 

Image taken from video shot by TIAN, Zi-Ping 田子平

This is an M/S recording captured by walking through the presentation space equipped with a 49.4 loudspeaker system. Please listen with headphones.

Zheng performer: Jing-Mu Kuo 郭靖沐
Videos captured and edited by Zi-Ping Tian 田子平
Presented at the C-LAB Taiwan Sound Lab 臺灣聲響實驗室, 3-5 September 2021.

Manufactured Realities is about overlapping spaces and temporalities, and the presence of unseen, but imaginable realities. It is a work that exists in three versions, each an "alternate reality" of the work. Version 1 is a 33-minute performance for zheng, sound-files and live electronics, video projected on two monitors, and two spaces. Version 2 is a fixed media work, essentially Version 1 recorded and played back with the same setup, except the hidden space is open to the public and the performer is replaced by two loudspeakers. Version 3 is a standalone 20-minute instrumental solo for zheng, but also serves as the instrumental part for Versions 1 and 2. In Version 1, the performer is confined to a hidden space, the sounds of the zheng captured, processed, and projected in real-time through loudspeakers in the presentation space. Using 3D VBAP (Vector Base Amplitude Panning) and a 49.4 loudspeaker system, this work divides a real architectural space into multiple virtual spaces. Each space inhabits and exhibits a unique temporality. As such, spectators travel through time by moving through space.

A live performance is commonly perceived as being more “real” than a recording. This perception of reality is often reinforced visually by the physical presence of a performer in the same space as the audience. In such instances of co-existence, individual identity is temporarily suspended, as performers, audience members, venue organizers, and even architectural spaces are expected to fulfill specific roles at appropriate times. The same sense of anticipation unifies all parties, as they collectively witness the unfolding of an event guided by ritual, chance, and uncertainty. Manufactured Realities, however, confronts the authenticity of a reality defined by physical presence. It explores the boundary between "reality" and "alternate reality" in various forms: the real architectural space and the multiple virtual spaces; the unprocessed instrument confined to the hidden space and the electronically-processed zheng in the presentation space; the physical absence of the performer and the video replacing that absence; grayscale (absence of colour) and colour (a cognitive illusion perceived as reality). Ultimately, this work invites audience members to examine their perception of reality, and to reconsider alternate realities as equally "real" experiences.

Manufactured Realities ver.1&2 | 03-05.09.2021 | Jing-Mu Kuo 郭靖沐

Recorded in a reading session with Broken Frames Syndicate conducted by Lautaro Mura Fuentealba.

This work consists of six fragments. The fragments in this recording are played in the order of 4-2-5-1-6-3.

i. A combination of three or more may be freely chosen and performed in any order; however each combination must include fragment 3, 4, or 6.
ii. Two out of any number of fragments chosen may be repeated 􏱸a maximum of 3 times each.
iii. Repetitions may occur consecutively or be split apart and inserted at different points during the performance.

An Index to a Myriad of Unformed Futures | 2021 | Broken Frames Syndicate

Program Note:
eidos; qualia oscillates between presence and absence, implying a continuity between being and non-being, appearance and disappearance. It is inspired by Yuk Hui’s discussion of recursivity, a concept that he likens to the mastery of shanshui painting: “when one sees something when there is in fact nothing; when there is nothing where one sees something.” I convey the idea of recursivity musically by rendering the soundless as equally audible as the sounding. By positioning the musicians around the audience and by gradually foregrounding the presence of space, I transform the soundless—the relation of one body to another—into something that is perceived both visually and aurally. In the final section of the piece, silent everyday objects (e.g. cardboard boxes and ceramic pots) emerge from their habitual silence as restless, unrelenting voices demanding to be heard.

Performed by Talea Ensemble at the Annex Theatre in Vancouver on April 23, 2022.
My deepest gratitude to Giorgio Magnanensi and Vancouver New Music.
Thanks also to conductor James Baker for assisting with the initial rehearsals. 

Performers:
Barry Crawford, flute
Marianne Gythfeldt, B-flat clarinet
Carrie Frey, viola
Chris Gross, cello
William Kuo, live electronics + guitar pedals

Sound technician: Sam Torres

eidos; qualia | 23.04.2022 | Talea Ensemble

Saturdaymorning

Premiered in Frankfurt at Naxos Hallekonzert by Broken Frames Syndicate on 13 November 2022. Recorded and mixed by Pablo Garreton

Broken Frames Syndicate: Lautaro Mura Fuentealba (conductor), Katrin Szamatulski (flute), Moritz Schneidewendt (clarinet), Peng-Hui Wang (bassoon), Yu-Ling Chiu (percussion), Marco Ramaglia (piano), William Overcash (violin), Veronika Paleeva (violin), Laura Hovestadt (viola), Nathan Watts (cello)

Program Note
In the process of producing sound we confront its potentiality, its mode of being, and its mortality. Each sound binds itself to various levels of subjective experience, simultaneously collapsing and becoming through interpretation and perception. Each sound recalls its mode of production—the labour that summoned it into existence—signalling degrees of resistance and effort. Through An Index to a Myriad of Unformed Futures (ii), I create snapshots of a sonic being’s existence in various states, contexts, and configurations that point towards possible futures and alternative realities. The musical materials take detours and inform one another to generate new ones. Avoiding commitments to concepts of “beginning” or “end”, they simply exist from one moment to the next. As such, this work attempts to transcend finality and linearity, instead embracing fluidity and circularity.

An Index to a Myriad of Unformed Futures (ii) | 13.11.2022 | Broken Frames Syndicate

for orchestra and amplified percussion

Premiered by Orchestre Symphonique du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal under the direction of Louis Lavigueur (March 28, 2015)/ Thierry Jacques-Soudin (March 29, 2015) at Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste.

A huge thanks to Loïc Guilloux for his recording and mastering work.

noli me tangere | 29.03.2015 | Orchestre Symphonique du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal

geht auf wie eine Blume (2016) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano

Premiered by Ensemble Paramirabo on March 12, 2016 at Salle Multimédia, Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.

Jeff Stonehouse, flute;  François Gagné, clarinet; Geneviève Liboiron, violin; Viviana Gosselin, cello; Daniel Áñez, piano

Mastering: Mariane Generale

geht auf wie eine Blume | 12.03.2016 | Ensemble Paramirabo

Juliet Fraser, soprano

Ensemble Multilatérale:
Léo Warynski, conductor
Keiko Murakami, flute
Alain Billard, clarinet
Aurélie Saraf, harp
Lise Baudouin, piano
Nicolas Crosse, contrabass
Hélène Colombotti, percussion

Royaumont Abbey, 10 September 2017

Regulation | 10.09.2017 | Juliet Fraser and Ensemble Multilatérale, conducted by Léo Warynski

for saxophone quartet, tubes, water, snare drum, and electronics

Quasar Quatuor de saxophones https://quasar4.com/
31 May 2018
Amphithéâtre, Le Gesù
Montréal

Intended Assembly (excerpt 1) | 31.05.2018 | Quasar Quatuor de saxophones

fascia (2019) for clarinet and electronics

This work situates variable elements within a fixed environment: the clarinet assumes a shapeshifting form, breathing life into the monolithic rigidity of the electronics. 

Borrowing heavily from improvisations by clarinetist and improviser, Juliette Adam, the live-performed clarinet part permits an elasticity that welcomes risk, suspense, and uncertainty. The electronic counterpart recalls malfunction and inhabits a dark, science-fiction-inspired ambience invoked by sub-bass frequencies and heavily processed recordings of machines, mechanisms, and manufactured materials. 

Uncertainty proliferates with each musical unfolding, as the clarinet is subsumed under a chorus of insistent, subterranean rumblings and mechanical stridulations intoned by a network of non-musical objects, consumer electronics, and modified instruments.

Performed by Juliette Adam at Le Centquatre-Paris on 18 June 2019. 

Presented at Festival ManiFeste hosted by the Institute of Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM).

WKuo

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