abaton: a hidden, secret, inaccessible space (originally the inner sanctum dream-chamber of the healing complexes dedicated to Asclepios, where patients came to receive dream-cures)
limen: threshold
making use of miniature camera technology, this collaborative work developed by Elizabeth Ditmanson & Gavin Osborn explores threshold intersections of light & sound from an unusual perspective; a luminous property of the mechanical body, glimpsed illuminations & shadow sounds from a hidden space...
about the work:
abaton | limen uses internal & external light in relation to an actively-played flute & its sounds in relation to projected video to explore the concept outlined above. the following elements were used:
- open-hole flute
- endoscopic camera with controllable LEDs
- sealing cork & tissue
- external LED light sources
- video projection (laptop, projector, screen)
- score (combination of text score, notated score, & poetic text in french)
genesis: the work emerged from: a shared interest in Laurie Anderson, particularly the simpler technologies of earlier & later performances; a shared interest in liminal, thresholdy sounds & aesthetics; a shared feeling that sticking a camera up a flute & making something creative out of that was pretty cool.
process: in performance, duties are divided between the camera operator (elizabeth) & the flautist (gavin), who also turns the external LED lights on & off. the flautist is responsible for the performed sound (including spoken text), the camera operator is responsible for very finely-tuned live dimming, brightening & other operations of the camera. these two separate activities must operate together as a chamber performance - this is exactly a duo performance in tandem, not flute plus technician.
in making: the making process was entirely collaborative: although both creators worked individually on elements of their separate duties, sounds, video options, lighting options, compositional structure, aesthetics, performative aspects, & everything else were evolved collaboratively through workshopping & discussion.
- open-hole flute
- endoscopic camera with controllable LEDs
- sealing cork & tissue
- external LED light sources
- video projection (laptop, projector, screen)
- score (combination of text score, notated score, & poetic text in french)
genesis: the work emerged from: a shared interest in Laurie Anderson, particularly the simpler technologies of earlier & later performances; a shared interest in liminal, thresholdy sounds & aesthetics; a shared feeling that sticking a camera up a flute & making something creative out of that was pretty cool.
process: in performance, duties are divided between the camera operator (elizabeth) & the flautist (gavin), who also turns the external LED lights on & off. the flautist is responsible for the performed sound (including spoken text), the camera operator is responsible for very finely-tuned live dimming, brightening & other operations of the camera. these two separate activities must operate together as a chamber performance - this is exactly a duo performance in tandem, not flute plus technician.
in making: the making process was entirely collaborative: although both creators worked individually on elements of their separate duties, sounds, video options, lighting options, compositional structure, aesthetics, performative aspects, & everything else were evolved collaboratively through workshopping & discussion.
text: the following text was developed:
score: this is the final version of the score:
notes on lighting:
endoscope LEDs: the endoscope camera is tipped with 4 LEDs; these are controllable via a dimmer wheel on the cable, & have a range from dark, to extremely dim (producing a beautiful silver rosette on screen), through various medium settings, to very bright (rarely used, as it makes the interior of the flute very clear & plain).
additionally, this was used in the opening section to light the flute solely from the inside, so that the audience saw only individual tone holes lighting up when fingers were lifted; moved rapidly, this produced a rippling effect, similar to motive bioluminescence in sea creatures.
it was also discovered that the condensation produced & reduced by exhaling & inhaling into the flute mouthpiece could dim or brighten the camera display.
external LEDs: several different external LED lighting sources were experimented with; in the end, two were settled on: a weak, circular 4 LED click-light, & a long rectangular 72 LED work-light. these were used to create internal lighting effects inside the flute's body, passing light through the keywork into the flute, giving various effects when the keys were pressed, &/or when the flute was moved in front of the lights. the difference in strengths of the devices was incorporated structurally into the work.
notes on sound:
in order for the endoscope to function properly, external light (except that introduced deliberately via the keywork) had to be excluded from the flute; to this end, a wine-bottle cork was used to seal the end of the flute (different sealing materials turned out to affect the internal lighting reflectivity - in the end a synthetic cork tipped with tissue was selected).
sealing the end of the flute radically altered the sound - several notes no longer worked, others were changed in pitch, timbre or both; air sounds became altered, & special playing techniques (harmonics, multiphonics, etc) were all affected by this; these alterations directly influenced the pitch content of the piece, & the compositional structure.