On the weekend: A response to the question, from a colleague, about my modus operandi in art:  ‘Is your approach – what’s called – phenomenological?’:

I wouldn’t see my approach to sound art as phenomenological, in the traditional philosophical (Husserlian) and psychological sense. Granted, there is a dimension of subjectivity in the work; (I make choices and decisions in relation to the object of my inquiry that are influenced by, and reflect, concerns external to it). But it’s the object (either a found sound or a text), first and foremost, that gives rise to the possibility of an artwork. My task is to identify, extract, interpret, and give form to ideas and potentialities that are imbedded within that object, which might otherwise remain overlooked (email, 10 09 16).

I took in the current Arts Centre exhibition, Flora:

Ori Gerscht‘s exploding flowers was exceptionally well-conceived and executed.

9.00 am: Today, I responded to a ‘call for papers’ for the Transmedia Music conference, which will be held at Leicester University in November. When you begin to propagate any new project in an academic forum, necessarily you do so from at the bottom of the pile and in competition with everyone else. This was how the R R B V E Ǝ T N Ƨ O A was publicised, initially. Within two responses to CPFs from conferences in Cardiff and London I was being invited to be a keynote speaker on that project. Put in the spade work, plant the shrub, apply the water, pray for sunshine, and, just maybe, a tree will grow.

In the studio, I generated another test rhythm to explore recording directly to my computer DAW via an Apogee Duet Firewire analogue/digital device:

After a little teasing and coaxing, the device (which is on its last legs and not entirely compatible with the latest IOS) integrated successfully. (TestRhythm (12 09 16)) In tandem, I wrote a very brief biographical note to accompany my response to the CPF.

After lunch, I began composing the response proper while dealing with postgraduate correspondence: a succinct encapsulation of the Image and Inscription project. There’s something both compelling and satisfying about composing to a 250-word limit … like writing Tweets, but on a larger scale. By the close of the afternoon, the abstract was more or less in the bag.

6.30 pm: As ever … practise session 1. 7.30 pm: I refined the abstract further: ‘Say more with fewer words, John!’ (He’s such a taskmaster, this one.)

9.30 pm: Done! I slept on it before posting: