“unintentional intersections” by John Alan Kennedy.
“intersections, where things meet, when times converge, in opposition and intervention, why things stall, why things accelerate. the natural world recycles itself without ever trying.
i’m deeply interested in the place where “the natural world” intersects with the evidence and residue that humankind heaps upon it. absent-minded interventions, unconscious inevitabilities that once took the form of thought and industry: these things are trash, are marks, are signals, are sigils, are evidence of mind. this is a conflict we are conscious of—occasionally—which leaves a residue on nature, on invention and each other. what is this one thing, of all the things, that cannot be ignored? it is the thing most unlike its environment. a stray thought, a lost ball, a disembodied sound, an empty bottle.
i’m repurposing these intersections by combining video of an improvised exploration through the rolling woods beyond my back gate with a soundtrack created by improvising musicians using that video as a score. no one will hear each other’s sonic contribution until the final project is realized, they will each be flying blind. because the position and perspective of the camera is quite foreign to that of my own eyes, the result will be a document of an event that even i never actually witnessed, accompanied by a soundtrack of unintentional intersections that the musicians never heard.”
John Alan Kennedy (Austin) is a multi-instrumentalist and multimedia artist who specializes in the composition of unusual sights and sounds. An avid improvisor, he has also been performing and recording experimental, electronic and electro-acoustic music as Cyclops Joint since 1991. He relocated to Austin in May, 2020.
musical collaborators:
Sandy Ewen (Houston) is a guitar player, video artist & architect currently based in Houston. She hates the pandemic.
Lisa Cameron (Austin) uses amplified/acoustic percussion and strings to locate resonant frequencies in space to create oscillating overtones, which are then employed as sound sources for live improvisation.
Chris Cogburn (Mexico City / Austin) is a percussionist who works mainly in the field of improvised music. Current practices focus on the threshold between acoustic and electronic sounds, their differing timbral qualities, and their sites of resonance. The tension between just intonation and the unfettered resonances of objects is a burgeoning concern informing his most recent work. He has organized the annual No Idea Festival since 2003.
Parham Daghighi (Austin) is an Iranian-American multi-instrumentalist active in contemporary improvised music. Recent foci include electric guitar, alto saxophone, and instruments from the Persian art music tradition including setar, dozaleh, and tombak.
Rebecca Novak (Houston) explores sound through a constellation of instruments and objects including piano, cornet, melodica, Autoharp and shortwave radio. Her interdisciplinary approach extends to text-based & visual scores that merge writing, movement, acting, drawing, sculpture, photography and sound.