NEUMANN SHEPERD THORPE - TECTONICS OF ABSENCE

OCT
2013
Eyebeam
NYC
A sound piece for Douglas Kahn’s Earth Sound Earth Signal  book launch
by Suzanne Thorpe, Tristan Sheperd (w/ Eric Silberberg) and Daniel Neumann.

Performed at Eyebeam, NYC
Oct 17 2013

Broadcast at WaveFarm



The performance consisted of 3 different imaginary approaches towards this global phenomenon – these forces that are present & influential but rarely directly perceptible – the earth’s natural electromagnetism. The 3 approaches are overlaid simultaneously and intertwined to form the piece.

Suzanne Thorpe was participating from across the continent, absent but present with her instrumentation – electromagnetic pick-ups, flute and electronics – and reacted to what she could remotely perceive from the performance space at Eyebeam. Tristan Shepherd contributed a personal interpretation of Robert Ashley’s piece “String Quartet Describing the Motion of Large Real Bodies” in which the bow strokes are slowed down, but maintained with high pressure – to the speed of planetary movement. Only accidents caused by the high friction and the tension of the string were actually producing a sound. The part of Daniel Neumann was to create a room tone, an environment that is charged and ubiquitous, and was created with signal flaws and feedback near the borders of our range of perception.