Editorial: Beyond Pythagoras

This fourth journal issue of Divergence Press is a selection of papers given at the Beyond Pythagoras Symposium held at the University of Huddersfield’s Centre for Research in New Music, 21-23 March 2014. The symposium sought to explore new trends in the sonic arts and experimental electronic music particularly new tuning systems, post-acousmatic and post-digital aesthetics, as well as the re-embodiment of sound production and listening

Exploring the Perception and Identity of Place through Sound and Image

In this paper the concept of place is explored as the stimulus for the creation of original works combining electronic music and photography. Although the compositions of both authors take inspiration from different facets of place there is a similarity of theoretical approach regarding the identity of the individual and their relationship to geographical situations and place. We will draw upon aspects of psychogeography, psychosonology, the theory of ‘atmosphere’ by Gernot Böhme to explore complexity of place in 21st centur

Perspectives on Gerhard: Selected Proceedings of the 2nd and 3rd International Roberto Gerhard Conferences

Perspectives on Gerhard expands several papers given at the 2nd and 3rd International Roberto Gerhard Conferences in 2012 and 2013. The book focuses on two aspects of Gerhard. Firstly, the pre-1939 period in which he was a student of Schoenberg and then, on returning to Catalonia, began to establish a reputation as a composer. Secondly, and more generally on the composer's stylistic and aesthetic evolution. This latter focus includes both Gerhard's approach to serialism both harmonically and melodically as well as the pivotal role the USA was to play in his later life. The book concludes with two personal reminiscences given at the conferences by Ferran Gerhard and Mariona Agustí Badia

Borderlands: an Exploration of Contemplation in Creative Practice

Borderlands is an experimental audio performance by Monty Adkins (composition) and Deborah Templeton (text) and features the cello playing of William Mace. The work explores liminal states and the borders of consciousness. The text is performed by Templeton, and was recorded and mixed by Adkins at various points throughout the sound component of the work with the cello1 . Borderlands was originally created for Totum One, an interactive installation designed by the British company, IOU2 , and premiered at the Junction in Goole (UK) in September 2014. A large white inflatable space, created by the artist, Lisa Gort, housed examples of IOU’s current experimentation in 360° sound and virtual world technology. Borderlands was the heart of the installation: the audience was invited to recline on white deck chairs and listen to the audi

Skyler and Bliss

Hong Kong remains the backdrop to the science fiction movies of my youth. The city reminds me of my former training in the financial sector. It is a city in which I could have succeeded in finance, but as far as art goes it is a young city, and I am a young artist. A frustration emerges; much like the mould, the artist also had to develop new skills by killing off his former desires and manipulating technology. My new series entitled HONG KONG surface project shows a new direction in my artistic research in which my technique becomes ever simpler, reducing the traces of pixelation until objects appear almost as they were found and photographed. Skyler and Bliss presents tectonic plates based on satellite images of the Arctic. Working in a hot and humid Hong Kong where mushrooms grow ferociously, a city artificially refrigerated by climate control, this series provides a conceptual image of a imaginary typographic map for survival. (Laurent Segretier

Digital Music, Digital Distribution

This paper examines the EMS’14 conference theme regarding alternative forms to the concert of listening and distributing experimental electronic music. The paper presents ways in which current practitioners are engaging with new forms of technology to enhance the reception and appreciation of their music and provides two case studies by the authors as examples of this – Adams’ work in the duo ‘Hollow Mountain’ and Adkins’ Rift Patterns (Audiobulb 2014)

Borderlands

An audio performance, co-created by Monty Adkins (music) and Deborah Middleton (text and voice) and presented by IOU Theatre in the audio-visual laboratory, 'Totum-One'. Middleton's work is presented under the pen-name, Deborah Templeton

Shadow Worlds | Writer’s Rooms: Freud’s House

This submission comprises an audio-visual installation created by Brass Art with composer Monty Adkins and programmer Spencer Roberts. The installation comprises a looping 4-minute film and uses footage captured via three Kinect scanners of staged ‘sojourns’ by Brass Art at 20 Maresfield Gardens, the house Sigmund Freud occupied during the last year of his life in London