The Primary Notes
(Sand)
2013

“Electronic music must be purged of its ‘chemical’ origins, so that as we listen we may catch in it the primary notes of the world” – Andrei Tarkowsky

The Primary Notes was a collaborative installation and improvised performance on piano (Gwilym Gold) with a piece of ‘live’ electronic music created and played by AI (produced by Gwilym Gold and Lexxx).

Tarkowsky’s quote from Sculpting in Time became a starting point for how we might create spaces for listening and examine the ways we collaborate and integrate ourselves with technology.

Drawing from cymatics as a way to manifest sound both physically and visually, the floor became a giant chladni plate with the audience translating the music through their contact with the sand. The installation existed for the duration of the performance.