Proxima

I thought having photos the 'right way up' was a little lame. Ben and I met earlier today because we realised that we didn't have a shot of us together yet, so we met at his building and in the elevator we took this (and a few other) photos. I selected to use this one because the use of the phone camera is less obvious in our glasses... but don't let that subtle curation fool you; this is most certainly a selfie in an office elevator, flipped vertically.

We took the photo because we're creating a work for this event coming up May 4 in Sydney; http://www.andrewbattrawden.com.au/more-events/2018/5/4/the-experiment#. We're essentially looking at personal vs communal interpersonal sonic-spacial experience using a massive software web-based synth Ben's been developing for our Vordenker project. We'll be able to relay our heartrates through everyone's phone, and create soundscapes that respond to everyone's proximity to one another. I seriously cannot wait. It's a 25 minute score and we're using a bunch of sounds I've created over the years - sort of organic mutated to synth sounds - kinda like what the work is portraying at a deeper philosophical level. Will we be immortal?

Dean and I went up to Coffs Harbour recently with my dad, who's moving back to Australia after living in Thailand for a long time. Whilst we were up there we viewed this property... we so so so want to use it to build an artist residency in Coffs; just all the "how" stuff is quite complex. As you may know, I recently went into liquidation with my publishing company, so personal finance is a little complicated (to say the least) at the moment. The beauty of this property is the 7acre rainforest that comes with it....

An absolute beauty.

It makes me think of the music I'm creating... I'm more and more interested in "organic rhythm"; which is inconsistent, responds to the elements and its context... so beautiful is the rhythm of the waves on the beach, the phrases of gusts of wind and rain, the heart beat, the breath, the beating of wings... sometimes too fast for us to see, and so fast the sound is a drone - but the rhythm is organic. I'm also really interested in timbral modulations (over extended periods of time)... much like how nature on this property goes from the dry gum flora to deep wet rainforest... the transition is gradual yet adroit at the same time.

Whilst all this has been (and is still) happening, I've been training with Dean in mind-body awareness. We're producing a 2 hour (which usually stretches to nearly 3 hour) class at the Abraham Mott hall on Saturday afternoons. It makes Saturday quite a big dancy day for us... so I'm foregoing Ballet for the moment.... but this class is growing and is thoroughly enjoyable. For the first time ever I'm beginning to feel comfortable learning sequences in movement.

There's not much else really to report on - life, the universe and everything is endlessly fascinating. This gig at BrandX in May is going to be a good one :) I hope to see you there!