DUBLIN SOUND LAB

3/4/24, PROJECT ARTS THEATRE

Dublin Sound Lab is a contemporary music project group specialising in electronic and
computer-mediated concert performance. As well as presenting existing works, we
initiate collaborations and use computer-based techniques to explore relationships
between compositional process and performance practice, and to create new and
engaging concert experiences. Formed in 2008 by composer Fergal Dowling and organist
Michael Quinn, Dublin Sound Lab has worked with many leading Irish and international
composers, performing works by: Ailis Ni Riain, Gérard Grisey, Salvatore Sciarrino, Kaija
Saariaho, Luca Francesconi, Karlheinz Essl, Peter Ablinger, Mauricio Kagel, Wim de Ruiter,
Ann Cleare, Scott McLaughlin, Barry Truax, Roderik de Man, Karen Tanaka, Jean-Claude
Risset, Ed Bennett, Judith Ring, Gerald Barry, Jonathan Nangle, Jonathan Harvey, Rob
Canning, Gráinne Mulvey, David Bremner, and Garth Knox, amongst others. In this new
programme of “classic”, new and commissioned works, Dublin Sound Lab explores the
relationship between musical material and visual representation.
Stan Brakhage, Glaze of Cathexis (silent film) (1990)
John McLachlan, Qualia I, music for Stan Brakhage silent film, Glaze of Cathexis, for clarinet, drums,
e-guitar, violin, and video (9 mins) (2024)

We are presenting today a silent and abstract film by Stan Brakhage called Glaze of
Cathexis, first as it was intended to be seen—silent, then you will hear a piece of music
called Qualia I, then the two combined. Each is under three minutes. Brakhage was clear
that if someone added any sound to his silent films (of which he made very many), it
should be properly understood to constitute a new piece of artwork that is not to be
confused with his intentions. He did not rule out the addition of sound, if this restraint was
followed. Having heard a few attempts to add music to his other silent films, I decided to
let the film lead the structure of the music. I do not mind if the music needs the film to
make sense—that will be interesting to find out; besides, I have other music.

People will ask, “what is cathexis?”

It is defined as the investment of mental or emotional energy in something: a person, an

object or an idea (etc). If you think about it, it is central to relationships, society, culture,
spirituality and art.

Given that Brakhage was fascinated by the visual images randomly generated by
hypnagogic and other states (i.e. what the eyes seem to see when shut, rubbed or half
asleep), we can say that here he took that as a point of departure for colourful and
expressive abstraction; which in this film arises from physical impression (painting,
singeing or abrasion) upon the surface of film stock (the glaze?). This must have taken
weeks of time for a very short film, which is where the cathexis must come in, since an
artist must start with an attachment to the first raw idea of the work, and must find that
attachment getting stronger during the realisation of the work. The result, a silent film
called Glaze of Cathexis, is a rich feast of colour that you can watch many times (it is on
YouTube btw). I do not think that there is any ‘explanation’ for the film other than the
sense impression you gain upon watching it.

People will also ask: “Remind me: what are qualia?”

Qualia is a term used to describe the ineffable quality of human consciousness. At least,
it is one attempt to pin these things down. Qualia are the aesthetic or experiential
bonuses of human existence. It is posited that machines will never experience qualia no
matter what else they can achieve (though we can not be sure). Qualia are the sensations
that arise in doing or experiencing something which do not feed into the practical doing of
it, nor do they particularly determine your next move. Most of the detailed stimuli of sense
impressions when you eat, for example, are not completely essential to your functioning,
nor to the purpose of eating; nor do they compel your next action. Human qualia include
the redness of a sunset or the experience of drinking a particular wine in a particular time
and place. Cathexis might be a very important class of qualia.

As Wilde said: “All art is quite useless”. He was flying the flag for aestheticism in
opposition to utilitarianism, that servant of capitalism and social engineering so
fashionable in his time—and today. Wilde was (not the only one) saying, in other words,
that qualia may be ‘useless’, but they are what actually make us human. We should not
rush to eliminate lingering on our sense impressions from our busy lives.
My process in placing sounds with the film turned out to consist of capturing and
amplifying some of the qualia of (my experience of) the film in acoustic form. In doing so, I
was also enlarging my own cathexis toward the film, and I hope, that of the audience. The
film’s qualia is substantially changed when combined with sound which was alien to the
original conception.

The Stan Brakhage film Glaze of Cathexis was made as an intentionally silent work. The
screening of the film with live music was not approved by the filmmaker and is not a
collaboration with him. Screening by permission of the Estate of Stan Brakhage.

Eryk Salvaggio / DSL, Flowers Blooming Backward into Noise, video by Eryk Salvaggio, for clarinet, drums,
e-guitar, violin (c.20 mins) (2023)

Flowers Blooming Backward Into Noise is a 20-minute animated “documanifesto” about AI

art. It explains how Diffusion models work, as well as their entanglement with composite
photography, statistical correlations and eugenics. In the end, the film veers into my own
work, and how I see my work: as bending the tool to create images that may not be
beautiful, but are a product of rejecting automated characterizations of images, bodies,
and human beings.

João Pedro Oliveira, for M, for clarinet, violin, electronics and video (7 mins) (2024)

For M is based on the contrast of two very different materials. One, more lyrical, almost
tonal, delicate. The other, more energetic and harsh.
It is the alternation between these two materials and their variations that pushes the
piece forward in time and creates its specific form.
For M was commissioned by Music Current and is dedicated to my wife.

Daniel McDermott, Bezier Lines, for clarinet, drums, e-guitar, violin, and video (7 mins) (2024)

Bézier Lines is an ambient piece of music that explores three ideas: temporality, melodic
line and timbre.
Bézier curves are curves that are defined by a set of control points. The curve can be
gentle or extreme as dictated by the points.
The electronic sounds trigger a control point, heard as a burst of sub-bass, which
switches the direction of the instrumental melodic lines. Throughout the composition
there is a constant blurring of these instrumental lines with the timbres occuring on the
electronic track also. Increasingly, I am interested in slowing down the sense of time in
my compositions to create a more sustained exploration of texture and timbre.

Alexander Schubert, Sensate Focus, for clarinet, drums, e-guitar, violin, and lighting (14 mins) (2014)

Abstract: Cats were reared in a light-tight box in which the only source of illumination was
a 9-psec strobe flash every 2 sec. This allowed them to experience visual form but they
did not experience visual movement. Most sampled signals are not simply stored and
reconstructed. But the fidelity of a theoretical reconstruction is a customary measure of
the effectiveness of sampling. Sensate focusing is a term usually associated with a set of
specific sexual exercises for couples or for individuals. Each participant is encouraged to
focus on their own varied sense experience, rather than to see orgasm as the sole goal of
sex.

PERFORMERS
Paul Roe, clarinets
Feilimidh Nunan, violin
Sarah Grimes, drums
Caitriona Frost, percussion
Shane Latimer, e-guitar