Issue 12/24
New release SR-026 'Incidental Effects' by handsandnumbers and SR I/O totebags
SR-026 Incidental Effects by handsandnumbers
Stochastic Resonance is extremely proud to welcome in its roster of artists handsandnumbers, the brainchild of Giuseppe Torre.
Giuseppe reached out to us months ago as he was seeking an experimental music label that could match his same approach to music, media, philosophy and art in general. He shared with us his work Incidental Effects, which is intended to be a live performance created via the exclusive use of free/libre open source software (FLOSS). Incidental Effects has been performed in live-coding at: Piksel Festival 2022 (Bergen Norway) and at the International Computer Music Conference 2023 (Shenzen, China).
When we listened to the very short (and apparently unambitious) 3-piece EP we were literally blown away. Incidental Effects is, in its very purest essence, a data-driven punk statement. It is extremely raw, uncompromising, fist-in-the-face, brutal; it is chaotic yet controlled, groovy but impossible to dance to. It strongly relates to the algorave scene, but it kills the rave-vibe by hitting you with so many questions. And it leaves you wanting to know more about the whole thing. It’s basically contemporary philosophy, masked as music.
Each of the 3 “songs” is a semi-improvisation created for 1 single synth sound. The 3 different sounds are manipulated live through an ORCA software patch that contains minimal available commands. The improvisation is structured and confined by numerical parameters. The work is an exploration of the non-obvious, yet ubiquitous, relationship between individual choice and operation/performance, within the digital domain.
Incidental Effects is a striking work because in its small time-lapse, it manages to raise some of the most fundamental questions in art, philosophy and music. Who chooses what is art? What is a beautiful performance and what is a wrong performance? Would the same concepts be possible without a given medium? And many more.
To put it in Giuseppe’s words:
Incidental Effects explores the displaced relationship between numbers and self. To what point will I recognize the unequivocal trace of my gestures once I transcode them through logical operators into digital-quantitative entities – i.e. numbers – literally “through the hands” of digital technologies? If all of our digital actions and interactions undergo a numerical transcoding via a gestural spatio-temporal segmentation, should we then think that the only traces left of ourselves are numerical traces?
Can a live performance condition and its extemporaneous character, ever so gently alleviate the above paradox, that literally defines every work of digital art practitioners?
Incidental Effects is centered around the utilization of minimal technology and sonic material. By minimizing technology and constraining sonic possibilities, the intent is to maybe enhance chances for the ownership of our own gestures.
By purchasing the EP you will gain access via QR code to the complete image of the operating system used by Giuseppe to create Incidental Effects, for Linux, Mac and Windows. The operating system is plug and play and includes ORCA, SurgeXT, CARLA KXStudio as well as the 3 patches for the performance of Incidental Effects [c1, c2, c3].
Incidental Effects marks the start of an incredibly creative collaboration between Giuseppe and Stochastic Resonance – more to come soon!
SR I/O at Rhizome 100gr Cotton Tote Bag
We also have some 100gr cotton tote bags which we released during the 2-days event SR I/O at Rhizome in Rome on 22–23 november 2024.
The artwork is by Andrea Ucchino and designs by Scual. Edition of 30.
