[ISEA97] Artist Statement: Stephan Dunkelman — Rituellipses

Artist Statement

Rituellipses (1993-96), movements for ellipses, verticals, curves and transverses, was realized at Musiques & Recherches Studio (Ohain, Belgium). It has received special mention for the Stockholm Electronic Arts Award (1993) and Ars Electronica (1995). The basic source materials are percussion (metal, wood, PVC), voices (adolescent, woman, man), blowing in blowpipes, whistling, and “chapman stick” guitar playing. Even if I dance silently, I can only dance musically. Rituellipses is a music of “sounds in movement”, made by and for dance. The sonic objects, made from fragments of concrete or instrumental musical patterns, are pulled along as if by a centrifugal force. They follow each other in continuous rotational movements which only silence can dissemble. These studies of trajectory combinations are developed in short movements alternately lively, calm, restrained or uninhibited. An equilibrium was achieved when the whole appeared to be multipliable, complete yet open. The memory of two film scenes, by A. Tarkovski and the Taviani brothers, have been with me throughout the creation of this work. They were about the relationships that each of us can have with a tree, an object of archaic worship which, like stone, seems to carry the traces of lost wisdom. It is their impression which feeds the spirit of the piece. Audio: Rituellipses (#2) and Rituellipses Extrait

  • Stephan Dunkelman (Belgium) was born in Brussels in 1956. Electroacoustic composing in Music Conservatorium of Brussels: First Prize. Studio music: Signallures (1991): Finalist at the Luigi Russolo Competition (Varese, Italie, 91) selected for the CD Acousmatica (December 96); Rituellipses (1993): Special mention at the Stockholm Electronic Arts Award 1993; Prix Ars Electronica 95, computer music, Aquaera I (1996): Commission of empreintes DIGItales for the CD, Electra-clips bis (1997).”One aspect of my work deals with associating movement-in-time and movement-in-space, developing techniques of spatial language for music and adapting them to those already for time, or even better, drawing them as they emerge when expressions of time are revealed. I try to grow my music thanks to creative relationship with sculptors or painters for the perception of time and with choreographers for growth of movement.” Concert: Rituellipses: Ars Musica 93, ICMC 94, Ars Musica 94, Gaudeamus Festival 95, Acousmatic Festival 96 L’espace du sort; Aquaera I: European Electroacoustic Festival 97, ICMC 97, ISEA 97. Music for exhibitions of sculptors/painters: Phil Billen, Charlotte Marchal and Axel Miret.