A Composition for a Peal of Bells
Volkmar Klien swings St. Florian’s bells producing aural shapes in the sky around the abbey with the assistance of AI-based pattern-recognition and interpolation. The shapes emerge and morph to melt back into homogenous sound fields covering everything within earshot. They then subside, to give way to distinct sonic formations from above.
Cumulus – Stratus / Volkmar Klien (AT), Credit: vog.photo
Cumulus – Stratus / Volkmar Klien (AT), Credit: vog.photo
Cumulus – Stratus / Volkmar Klien (AT), Credit: vog.photo
The peal of bells has a longstanding secular and religious tradition, not only as a way to announce social occasions but also for defining the daily rhythm of people, even of a whole social community. Today, we are oblivious to this fact: our chronological rhythm has changed, especially with the development of digital technology. Our daily routines follow algorithms – of apps, electronic devices and computer programs. Cumulus – Stratus is mixing the traditional peal of bells with AI-based pattern recognition, letting the audience – between swipes, algorithmically picked music on Spotify and Bluetooth headphones – re-experience a sound that has been part of human life for centuries.
Project Credits:
- Komposition: Volkmar Klien
Biography:
Growing up in Vienna, Volkmar Klien (AT) spent his childhood engulfed in the city’s rich musical life, with all of its glorious traditions and ingrained rituals. Working from this background, Klien now strives to extend traditional practices in composition, production and listening well beyond the established settings of concert music. He is a professor of composition at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz (Austria).
http://www.volkmarklien.com
