Re: Stan Brakhage Copyrights _Experimental sound-art

From: Peiman Khosravi (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Oct 19 2009 - 11:32:09 PDT


Hello,

I forgot to press reply to all before. So here is my reply again :-)

Thanks for your reply.

My thesis does not actually focus on this subject. The main topic of
my thesis is about the conception and perception of spectral space in
electroacoustic music. I have written a paper on this, published on
the EMS website if you are interested: http://www.ems-network.org/ems08/papers/khosravi.pdf

In a way my main interest is compositional here. I have not been
advices by my supervisor (Denis Smalley) to carry out this project, it
is purely born out of my personal interest in audio/visual
relationships and the route I want to take in the near future.
Naturally this interest relates to my attitude towards musical
composition, which is discussed in my thesis. As part of my research
into spectral space I have realized that there is no such thing as a
purely sonic experience (although we often turn the lights off and
focus on the "listening experience"). Spectral space is an aspect of
spatial totality in music and the conception of it is largely ruled by
our perception of spatial really in the world, which in turn brings
out the question of visual experience. Note that we also deal with
perspectival space in ea music, in addition to spectral space
(frequency range, register or height).

It is my understanding that Brakhage is visually dealing with similar
ideas that we are dealing with in EA music and that a marriage of the
two (or at least an attempt to relate the two) could prove interesting
as a project.

I would be very interested to hear your views and why you believe this
to be a "misbegotten project". In your reply I can only read between
the lines since there is no real critical commentary.

Best,

Peiman

On 19 Oct 2009, at 15:58, Tony Conrad wrote:

> Hi Peiman-------
>
> This is such a misbegotten project that I hardly know where to
> begin. If as you
> say you are actually a PhD student (of something), and this is "part
> of my
> research/creative interest in transmodality (multi sensual
> perception) of musical
> experience, particularly with regard to the creation of musical
> space" and "part
> of my composition portfolio, and discussed in my thesis", your
> project certainly
> impugns the credentials or advisement capabilities of your thesis
> adviser.
>
> Riding this jejune project on Brakhage's back does no credit to
> either of you.
>
> --------------t0ny
>
>
> On Sat 10/17/09 9:21 AM , Peiman Khosravi email suppressed
> sent:
>> Dear All,
>>
>> This is my first post here so apologies if this is not the place for
>> it.
>> I am a PhD student at City University London, focusing my research
>> and
>> practice in studio based Electroacoustic music composition. At the
>> moment I am exploring audio/visual relationships as part of my
>> research/creative interest in transmodality (multi sensual
>> perception)
>> of musical experience, particularly with regard to the creation of
>> musical space. As a result I am interested in creating an acoustic
>> counterpart to part II of Brakhage's "Dog Star Man". Once
>> completed this will be part of my composition portfolio, and
>> discussed in my
>> thesis. It may also be played in presentations/concerts.
>>
>> This will not be a conventional soundtrack, nor does it intend to be
>> in anyway representative of -or remain true to- Brakhage's original
>> work, which I understand and agree that should be watched in silence.
>> The project will be my attempt to create a new work born out of a
>> network of audio/visual relationships. Naturally this will
>> reinterpret
>> the original film, acoustically magnifying certain visual aspects
>> that
>> are formally dominant in my experience of the work.
>>
>> As it happens I have come to realize that Brakhage is one of the most
>> "musical" filmmakers and working with his films would be like re-
>> interpreting a piece of Bach: the work already contains and
>> represents
>> a very pure form of musical thinking. For this reason it will no
>> doubt
>> be a challenge and may prove impossible for me to complete, or arouse
>> other's criticism. However, I cannot avoid a challenge when I see
>> one!
>>
>> In short I am writing here with two questions:
>>
>> 1- Could someone please clarify for me the issue of copyrights with
>> Brakhage's works and point me to the right direction for getting
>> permissions for this project.
>>
>> 2- Any ideas and suggestions are more than welcomed... as I am not a
>> filmmaker your ideas will for sure be very helpful to me.
>>
>> Many thanks in advance.
>>
>> Best,
>> Peiman
>>
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________________________
>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <(address suppressed)
>> om>.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.