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VISUALIZING BERIO’S SINFONIA: CHOREOGRAPHING ANIMATION FOR INDETERMINATE NARRATIVES

ROSE BOND*

* PacificNorthwestCollegeofArtatWillametteUniversity(USA)

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Rose Bond producesworkatthejunctureofexpandedcinema,experimentalanimation,andexperientialdesign.Herlarge-scaleanimatedinstallationsnavigatetheallegoriesofplaceandilluminateurbanspace.Recentworkincludesmulti-screenprojectionsforavant-gardecomposersOlivierMessiaen‘sTurangalîla-SymphonieandLucianoBerio’sSinfonia.Withrootsinframe-by-frame,handdrawnanimation,shehasfocusedonpublicsite-basedanimatedinstallationsandnowengagesincollaborationsforliveperformancewithcomposersandmusicians.RoseBondisaCanadianbornmediaartistandProfessor inAnimatedArtsatPacificNorthwestCollegeofArtatWillametteUniversityinPortland,Oregon.

Corresponding AuthorRoseBondrbond@willamette.eduPacificNorthwestCollegeofArtatWillametteUniversity2043CollegeWayForestGrove,OR97116503-352-6151USA

AcknowledgementsTheauthorwishestogratefullyacknowledgeCharlesCalmer,ScottShowalterandCarlosKalmeroftheOregonSymphonyfortheiradventurousprogrammingandsupportofmywork.ThanksalsotoRoomfulofTeethandtheSeattleSymphony’srecordingofBerio’sSinfoniawhichservedasaninspiration.

Papersubmitted:8thApril2021AcceptedforPublication.7thOctober2021Publishedonline:17thDecember2021

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Introductory Note

Inthelatterpartof2019IsecuredacommissionfromtheOregonSymphonytocreateamulti-screenanimatedprojectionforBerio’sSinfonia.ItwasscheduledtopremiereonMarch14,2020.Needlesstosay,twodaysbeforeweweretoopen,withevery-thingcuedandgoodtogo,theGovernorshutdownliveeventsduetoCOVID.Wecreatedaflattenedcompositeofthevisualsasatemporarydocumentationofthecanceledperformance.

Abstract

In1968,ayearofmassivepoliticalandculturalupheaval,LucianoBeriocomposedascorethatwouldshapehislegacy.EntitledSinfonia,whichliterallymeanssoundingtogether,thesymphonywassparkedbytheassassinationofMartinLutherKing.Her-alded as“theultimatepre-postmodernistmusicalpalimpsest”(Service,2012).Sinfoniareverberateswiththepoliticalassassina-tionsandmassiveprotestspunctuatedbypolicerepressionthatmarked1968.

In late2019, Iwasofferedananimatedprojectioncommissionwithaprimaryvoice inchoosingapiece for livesymphonicperformance/projection.Aftersomeresearching,IfoundBerio’sSinfonia.IthadwhatIwaslookingfor-a“contemporary”piece,itresistedillustration,linearnarrativeand19thcenturyromanticismwhileeschewingtherigidformalityofserialism.Instead,itembracedtwocoreModernistprinciples–fragmentationanduseofthearchive.Berioquoted/sampleddisparatechunksofliterature,music,andeventsof1968intheserviceofthepoliticalandthepoetictodiscoverunityintheheterogeneous.Hisscoreseemedripeforvisualinterpretation-andexposition-withanimationastheprimedriver.FollowingBerio’slead,IchosevisualsamplingasmyentreandturnedtoGoogle.Byanimatinginandoutoficonic(andlesserknown)imagesintheorbof1968,Icreatedacommensuratepuzzlepiecethatmirroredthesuggestedavant-gardeintentIfoundin Sinfonia–“Wherenow?Whonow?Whennow?”(Beckett,1965,p.291).

Withthatchallengeinmind,thispaperexaminesnon-linearnarrativestrategies,documentaryelements/influencesandanover-ridingpoeticsatworkinmymulti-screenanimatedprojectionforBerio’sSinfonia.Insheddingsomelightandanalysisonspecificinstancesandsequencesinmy4-channelwork,Ihopetoprovideinsightintotheaestheticchoicesandcinematicmechanicsthatsustainalevelofindeterminantnarrative.

Keywords: Animation,ExperientialDesign,ProjectionMapping,AnimatedInstallation,ClassicalAvant-Garde,LucianoBerio,Sin-fonia,RoomfulofTeeth,RoseBond,OregonSymphony,ExpandedAnimation,Non-LinearNarrative

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Visualizing Berio’s Sinfonia: Choreographing Animation for Indeterminate Narratives

In 1968, Luciano Berio composed a symphonic score thatwouldbothshapehislegacyandcaptureayearchargedbysocietal, cultural and political unrest. Berio titled the piece,Sinfonia,which literallymeans sounding together.TomSer-vice,amusic journalist for theGuardian,describedSinfonia as “the ultimate pre-postmodernist musical palimpsest”(Service,2012). Berio ‘quotes’-or, incurrent lingo, ‘extracts’- tracts fromMahler,Debussy,Ravel,Stravinskyandothers;and lifts linesfromthe likesofClaudeLévi-Strauss,SamuelBeckett,JamesJoyce,theSituationistsandothers.Sinfonia isapuzzlepieceofmusicalandvocalfragmentsthatasksbigquestions– “Wherenow?Whonow?Whennow?” (Beckett,1965,p.291).Onitsface,itseemstoreflect1968asayearofupheaval–andappearstooffernoanswersotherthantheadmonition“KeepGoing”(Beckett,1965,p.291).

In the latterpartof2019, Isecuredacommission fromtheOregonSymphonytocreateamulti-screenanimatedprojec-tion for Berio’sSinfonia. Over the course of the last twentyyears, non-traditional screens andmulti-media performanc-eshaveemergedgloballyprovidinglargescale,dimensionalexperiences.Myworkover thepast twenty years ispart ofthatmovementbutitcanbeclassifiedwithinasubsetbyitscommitmenttocontent,non-Hollywoodnarrativityandbothrepresentationalandabstract imagery incontrast toa fairlywidely held expectation for expandedanimation to tend to-wardsformalism,pureabstractionandlackofnarrative.

Insheddinglightandsomeanalysisonspecificinstancesandsequencesinmy4-channelwork,Ihopetoprovideinsightintoaestheticchoicesandcinematicstructuresthatsustainalev-elof indeterminantnarrative. In theend,Sinfonia remainsaspectaclerichwithcontent–amazeofillusionconjuringnet-worksofmemory,allusionandcross-referencethatcallsustocometogripswithinitialconfusionandlearn“tobereceptive

tothepeculiarlyvividaestheticimpactofthehalf-understood”(Osmond-Smith,1985,p.91).

Background on Sinfonia

IwanttobeginwithalittlebackgroundonthecomposerLu-cianoBerio(1925-2003).Italianborn,Beriohadphysicallyandculturallymigrated toNewYork City by the 1960s andwastherein1968-amomentousyear.InAprilMartinLutherKingisassassinatedignitingriotsinAmericancities;inMay,Parisexplodeswithproteststhatunitestudentsandlabor;inJune,RobertF.KennedyisshotdeadinaSanFranciscohotelkitch-en; in July,HaightAshbury blossoms in a Summer of Love;andthroughoutthefall,leadinguptotheUSelections,anti-warprotestsrockcollegecampusesacrosstheUS.Intheimme-diatewakeofMLK’sassassination,Beriocomposedatribute-“OKing”-whichusesonlythevowelsfromthenameMartinLutherKing–elongatingthemintoetherealstreamsorshort-eningthemtostaccatoobjects.Thatsongbecametheinsti-gator,andMovement2,ofSinfonia.HecompletedthreemoremovementsintheFallof1968.ArecordingofMovement2‘OKing’,madein1969byPierreBoulez&theOrchestreNationaldeFrancewithWardSwingle&theNewSwingleSingers,canbefoundatthislink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x-nonVCjKwc (DogsWhoHuntLions,2013).

Fig. 1 StillfromSinfoniaMovement2“OKing”,RoseBond,2020.

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AsanartistandcomposerBeriowasnotimmunetopoliticsnorwashebeholdingtoanyparticularclassicaloravant-gar-de movement. He had a passing interest in the Serialists,dabbledinNY’s60’selectronicmusicscene,andknewmod-ernistmusic and literature.AtSinfonia’sNYpremiere, Beriowrotehisownprogramnotes“Sinfoniamustbeunderstoodin itsetymologicalsenseof the ‘sounding together’ofeightvoicesandtheinstrumentsor,inalargersense,the‘soundingtogether’ of different things, situations, andmeanings” (Be-rio, 2018).One result of this conceptof ‘sounding together’isthatyou’renotabletoheareverything.Thepiecefeelslikealayeredpuzzlewithfragmentsofstoryandthosesomehowfamiliarbuthardtoplacemelodiousphrases. Musicalquo-tations and fragments of spokenword combine to a dizzydegreeinMovement3.ArecordingbytheSeattleSymphonywithRoomfulofTeethcanbe foundhere.https://www.you-tube.com/watch?v=kpDzcJ50orI(roomfulofteeth,2018).

Asavisualistandmediaartist,Berio’sSinfoniahadwhatIwaslookingfor:rangeandgrist.Itwasa“contemporary”piecethatresistedillustration,linearnarrativeand19thcenturyromanti-cismwhileeschewingtherigidformalityofserialism.Instead,it embraced twocoreModernistprinciples– fragmentationanduseofthearchive.Hissamplingsofdisparatechunksofliterature,musicandworldeventsofthelate60’swerewovenintoakindofpoeticandpoliticalunity.Hisscore,imbuedwiththetensionsofthattime,seemedabsolutelyfittingforours.

Expanded Cinema – Micro-Narratives and Indeterminacy

By 1965 Stan VanDerBeek had coined the term ExpandedCinema and in 1970Gene Youngblood published his semi-nal bookExpanded Cinema.There’s little disagreement thatYoungblood’sargument forasynestheticexperienceoffilmhad ties to the heavy experimentationwith drugs in 1960sCalifornia. Inheressay “Paracinemaand theDematerializa-tion of Animation” Birgitta Hosea (2019) aptly summarizesYoungblood’sbeliefsas:“Insteadofthepassiveexperienceof

popularentertainment,expandedcinemawouldutilizemulti-plesensorystimulitoleavespacefortheindividual’sownfreeassociationandthusexpandconsciousness”(p.41).

HoseacontinuesdescribingtheturnexpandedcinematookinEurope.Ratherthantheimmersive,psychedelicormeditativeexperience,Euroexpandedcinema“tendedtowardsapoliticalattempttodeconstructtheillusionismandworldviewofthemainstreamcinematicexperience” (Hosea,2019,p.41).Of-tenprocessandmaterialcentric,thesefilmschallengedanddisruptedtherealityoftherepresentationalreal.Hoseawriteshowtheysoughtto“questionnarrativeasaformwithitsstu-pefyingeffectontheviewer.Theintentionwastoencourageamorepoliticallyawareandcriticalattitudetowardtheworldandallitscomplexities”(Hosea,2019,p.41).

In her 2003 essay entitled “SomeReasons for a Review oftheAvant-GardeDebatesAroundNarrativity”JackieHatfieldraisedsomequestions.WhilegivingduecredittobrilliantLon-donfilmcriticsandscholarswhosoughttosolidifyfilmstatuswithinthefineartworld,sheacknowledgesthat,indoingso,theysetabar thatcanonizedworkwithamodernist thrust–workthatwaspurist,non-imagisticanddecidedlyanti-nar-rative.Hatfield concluded that categorization and curatorialdefinitioncanbeformsofcensorialpower.Material formal-ismprecludedthatworkwithrepresentation–andworkwithamessage-wasmarginalizedasbeingnarrative.

Thethinkingaroundnarrativityinexperimentaloravant-gardeanimationcontinuestoevolve. Inheressay “AHermeneuticof Polyvalence”, Lilly Husbands citesTomGunning’s article“Towards a Minor Cinema” which centers on avant-gardefilmmakerswhowerere-engagingwithnarrative in“thesortof polyvalent montage that characterized earlier works oftheAmerican ‘poetic’avant-garde” (Husbands,2019,p.171).Heressayprovidesanin-depthanalysisofnarrativedevicesatwork inLewisKlahr’sThe Pettifogger (2011)aftercallingout“thelackofexaminationoftheformalandnarrativecom-plexities thathavemanifested inexperimentalanimations…”

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(Husbands,2019,p.169).Kindledbythatcallout,thispaperexamines non-linear narrative strategies, documentary ele-mentsandtakesaglimpseatthepoeticsinplayinmymulti-screen animated projection for Sinfonia. Not unlike Berio’scompositionthisvisualworkisapuzzlepiece- aspectacleinscaleenrichedbynuggetsofcontent–aphysicalexperiencethatcallsustocometogripswithinitialconfusionandfindmeaningintheallusions.

Choreographing Fragments Across the Gutter

To understand cinema, especially in a classic Hollywoodsense,istounderstandthefunctionandlanguageofediting.Whilemise-en-scenedefinesthe‘look’ofafilm,theSovietfilmtheoristselevated the importofmontage.SergeiEisenstein(1949) inhisessay“ADialecticApproachtoFilmForm”sin-gledoutmontageas“thenerveofcinema”(p.48).Indeed,inthefollowingstatementonecanfeelhisaweasanelectrify-ingmomentofbirth:

Thelogicoforganicformvs.thelogicofrationalformyields,incollision,thedialecticoftheart-form.Thein-teractionofthetwoproducesanddeterminesDyna-mism… Ialso regard the inceptionofnewconceptsand viewpoints in the conflict between customaryconceptionandparticularrepresentationasdynamic-asadynamizationoftheinertiaofperception-asadynamizationofthe“traditionalview”intoanewone(pp.46-47).

Whilescholarlystudyofmontagetheoryisgenerallyconfinedtotherectangle-atraditionalsinglescreen,itcanbeappliedto multi-screen work especially if there is ‘gutter’ betweenthem.Oneexampleofampingupimagerybychoreographingdirectionality between screens (then topping it with anima-tion’spotentpowerofmorphing)canbefoundintheopeningsegmentofAnimate Sinfonia’sMovement3whichI’llrefertoasthecarouselsequence.Themovementbeginsindarknesswithanorchestral joltandthelowercenterscreenpopson.Weseeasinglefigureinpurpleseatedwiththeirbacktous.Asthefigureswivelstowardsus,wenoticetheredcurtains,thefloorboardsandabrightdirectionallight–aspotlight.Itisastage.At thispoint, theaudiencegazehasbeendrawnandfixedtothe lowcentralscreenfromtheprecedingshotofMLKliftinghisheadthatconcludemovement2’s‘OKing’.The pop opening ofmovement 3 with its illusion of ‘stagereality’fitsanaudienceexpectationofwhat ‘should’happenunderthetheatre’sproscenium.Amidaclusterofvoices,wehearBeckett’selongatedphrase“We’reback”astheheavyredcurtainsaredrawnback,thevirtualcameraslowlypullsoutfromthepurplesuited‘Joker’torevealfootlights.Asthehighnotesofthewindsandstringsswirl,thestringoffootlightsbeginstoriseandslowlytwist–andthecameratrackstheirfluiddance.

Allthiscomplexdirectionalvisualmovementcircleswithinthelowcentralscreenuntil,abovethewaltzingstrings,sopranovoicesemergesinginganindiscerniblechildren’sroundwhileabovetheproscenium,intopcenterscreen,acirclingcrown

Fig. 2 StillsequencefromopeningofSinfoniaMovement3,RoseBond,2020.

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oflightsbeginsatiltingdescent.Momentsbelowthecrownoflights,whichwenowrecognizeasacarousel,issettodropintothelowerscreen,beamsofcarnival lightsliftupwardinthe sideorwing screens.As the turning carousel slows itsdescent and its outline fills in with painted scenes from a1910midwayride,horsesfadeupinthewingsliftingandde-scendingontheirpoles.Voicesbecomemorealarmedandamalevoicepleads“Weneedtodosomething!”and“Whatjusthappened?”againstarisingcacophony.“Wherenow?”asthechurningcrownlosesitsformandpiecesoflinescatterinacirclingwake.

While I don’t profess to be a full-fledged Eisensteinian, se-quencesliketheonejustdescribedareinformedbymontage

theoriesinthatthissequenceisdesignedtounseattradition-alexpectationsanddynamize“theinertiaofperception”foranewmeaning(Eisenstein,1949,p.46).Theblockingforthissequence can be seen in the storyboard excerpt shown inFigure3.

Atthesametimeasprinciplesofmontagecanbeappliedtoseveralscreens, it isalsoemployed insinglescreenscenesforparticularimpact.BecausemuchofAnimate Sinfoniaisre-pletewithrepresentationaldrawing,itlendsitselftocinematicmethodsofaestheticgratification–whatStefanSharffcallsits‘cinestheticelements’.Sharff(1982)explains,“theuniquequalityofthecinestheticelementsisthattheyarerepeatableconfigurations with stylistic and narrative functions which

Fig. 3 StoryboardPage1of6fromSinfoniaMovement3,RoseBond,2020.

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everymoviegoer learnshowto ‘read’… thecognizancesofthese cinesthetic elements of structure is essential to therecognitionofcinemaasanartform”(p.5).Thequestionforthefilmmakerbecomeshowtostructureformandcontentinordertoorchestratethesubliminalinteractionofillusionandtheperceivedreal.

WhilenotreferencedbyHollywood-centeredSharff,addition-alcinestheticelementscanbeidentifiedinSovietmontage,asubjectofintenseinterestinmygraduatestudies.Dialecticed-iting,thecollisionofshots,theKuleshoveffectarewellknown.Sergei Eisenstein employed another technique in Battleship Potemkinthatcaughtmyattentionasananimator–onacuthewouldoverlaptheframesoftwoactionshots.Framesofthesameactionwouldrepeat.Itoperatesinasimilarwayasstepframinginthatitmanipulatestheexperienceoftimeaf-fectingviewerreceptionthroughsubtlediscontinuousmove-ment.Onewaytodescribeitwouldbetocompareittoagulpofairoragaspwhenalarmed. If theaudience issutured in,reachingtodecodemeaning,theselapseshaveahapticeffect–adisturbancethatraisesthehairsonone’sneck.

In Animate Sinfonia, theretro-actionoverlap isusedincom-binationwithanotherofSharff’scinestheticelements– the

three-shot salvo -made famousbyHitchcock inThe Birds. InstoryboardformSharff(1982)illustratesall21shotsfromwhatIcallthe‘DeadDan’scenefromHitchcock’sfilm.Sharffexplains, “Throughout, Hitchcock uses opposite juxtaposi-tions: left-right, high-low, horizontal-vertical. The stroke ofgeniuscomesinthecenteroftheclimaticshots(14,15,16),disclosing themutilated body of Dan in a three-shot-salvo,frommediumclose-uptoextremeclose-upandfrom1 ½ to lessthan¾ secondslong,astaccatoononeaxisofview.”(p.9)Thethree-shot-salvoisputtoworkinaclimacticmomentfromMovement2.TheiconicphototakenonthebalconyoftheLorraineMotel -threepeoplepointingupwardasMartinLutherKingliesmortallywoundedattheirfeet-isgesturallyactivatedandinfusedwithpotencythroughthecombinationofdrawnanimationandthesecinestheticchoices.

Again, thiswork,Animate Sinfonia, differs froma traditionalmovie. You are applying and choreographing cinematic el-ements not justwithin a single rectangle – but tomultiplescreensurfaces inahugehall–aspace itself thatcallsonpeopletoswivelinattemptstofollowtheaction,knowingtheywillneverseeitall.

Fig. 4 ThreeshotsalvopreliminarydrawingsfromSinfonia Movement2,RoseBond,2020.

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Non-fiction Animation & The Archive

Iwanttoturnthisshortanalysistoanareaofstudythatap-pearstobeheatingupinourfield–non-fictionordocumenta-ryanimation.AsImentioned,Beriowasawareandinfluencedbyeventsfrom1968.WhileinnowayadocumentaryorevenamusicalequivalentofLiteraryJournalism,hisSinfonia doesseem anchored to fragmented realities of world events. ItwasthecrazyvocalizationsofMovement3thatpuzzledandhookedme.OnceIwasdeepintheresearch,wellbeyondjustlisteningand feeling, thevisualapproachbecameevident. Itoowould sample just from images. Googling names andterms brought up photographs of the times– some iconicandsomerandom.TheybecamethestillframesIcouldelon-gate–themissingpiecesandgapspartiallyfilled.

There’smoreandmorebeingwrittenonanimateddocumen-tary–butI’mthinkingofBellaHonessRoe’s(2015)term“theexcessofanimation”(p.14)Materialsmatter.Mychoiceforthispiece,mydrawingtool,wasthePalominoBlackwingpen-cil.Theinstabilityofitssoftgraphiteservesasametaphorformemoryandperhapsforthehistoric–itselfsovulnerabletoerasure.

Clearly, for thisproject, I approached the internetasavisu-alarchive–oneorganizedbysearchenginesandunlockedby keywords. Inhis introduction toThe Archive: Documents of Contemporary Art,CharlesMeriweather(2006)introducesvarious relationshipsbetweenartand thearchive.Onesec-tionofwritingsthathecalls‘Traces’dealswiththeperceptionandunderstandingsthateventsleaveintheirwake,“theindex,or residualmark,of theoccurrence” (p .10). Hegoeson todistinguish thearchive fromremembranceorhistory. “Man-ifesting itself in the formof traces, it contains thepotentialtofragmentanddestabilizeeitherremembranceasrecorded,orhistoryaswritten,assufficientmeansofprovidingthelastwordintheaccountofwhathascometopass”(p.10).

ThewhiteMustangsequenceinMovement4mayprovideanexampleofMeriweather’straces.MartinLutherKingwasfa-tallyshotonabalconyoftheLorraineMotelonApril4,1968.Theday before JamesEarl Ray pulled intoMemphis in his1966white FordMustang and rented a room in a roominghouseacrossfromtheLorraineMotel.WhatIanimated,theMustang’sslowcruise,thebrakelights,isfootagethatdoesn’texist.Itisreenactmentmeanttoapproachtheauthentic.

Fig. 5 StillsequenceofanimatederasurefromSinfoniaMovement2,RoseBond,2020.

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Inmanywaysthearchivecanbeseenastheproviderofthebuilding blocks for documentary work. And yet, there arechallengesastohowsuchimagesareusedinanartspace.Animating still photos and choregraphing vignettes makessomesensetomeasthefilmmakerbutmyreferentsbecomeunstableandvulnerable to counter-readings.ProtestsareamotifthatrunsthroughAnimate SinfoniayetthegenesisandgoalsofitsprogenitorsinmypiecevarypoliticallyfromParis1968,toCivilRightsmarchesintheUSA,tothetheatricsofHongKong’sshoppingmallsitedprotests.AlthoughIhavenoexpectationthateveryviewerwilldiscernthosedifferences,Itrustmyresearchtolayerinmeaningformulti-leveledread-ings.

TheNewDelhibasedRaqsMediaCollectivedealssquarelywiththisissue.TheCollectiveworkswithdocumentsandar-chives to generate public dialogue around postcolonialism.Intheir“FirstInformationReport-2003”(Meriweather,2006)theyspeaktothedifficultiesofworkingwithrawdocuments

and the vigilance it takes to negotiate the externalizing orunearthingofthismaterialwiththesubjectivityimplicitinitsselection.Theyconclude, “…justas the recoveryofmemoryandhistory(ofdefeatsanddispersal,powerlessnessandser-vitude,asmuchasofsurvivalandcreation),andthepainstak-ingreconstructionofanarchiveoflostandscatteredmean-ingsareoneof thefirstcultural tasksontheagendaof theinsurgent, a critical engagementwith adocumentarymodeofpracticetoobecomes(forthesamereason)oneofthekeyundertakingsofthecurrentartpractitionerwhoseekstoex-press contemporaneity asmuch as s/he engageswith art”(Meriweather,2006,p171).

Poetic Points of Contact

An aspect that made Sinfonia so appealing to me was itsdeliberateindeterminatenesswhileworkingincollusionwithmultiplelayeredallusionstotherealconditionsofhumanex-perience. Increatingmyanimations itbecame important to

Fig. 6 WhiteMustangstillfromSinfoniaMovement4,RoseBond,2020.

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understandmoreofBerio’s allusions and referents, be theyliterary, musical or historical without letting that researchdictateorillustrateasetmeaning.Formetherehadtobeagapbetweenmyanimationandthemusic–timeswheretheorchestraledandthescreensweredarkandtimeswhenmyimages,strongandbeautiful,hadaslipperylinktothesound-ingofvoiceandinstrumentsand,lessoften,momentsoftruecollusion.

Ina recentconversationwithLillyHusbands (personalcon-versation,July2021)whograciouslyacceptedmyinvitationtowatchtheflattened,pseudodocumentationofAnimate Sin-fonia,herinterestwasperkedbywhatshecalled“thepoeticpointsof contact”– thosemomentswhere the interplayofsight, soundandspacecome together.Of course, to cometogetheronemustfirstbeapart.Eisenstein(1949)acknowl-edges the importofpointsofcontactwhenhewrites, “Thequantityof intervaldetermines thepressureof the tension.”(p. 47) In otherwords, if thegapor separation is toowide,werisklosingtheartisticintention-certainintervalsbecomeinaudible.Wehavenopointsofpoeticcontact.

Inpopularmusic,thereisabeatbutininana-rhythmicpiecelikeSinfoniatherearemyriadpointsthatcouldbehitorover-lookedinfavorofanunfoldingvisualrhythm.Animate Sinfonia isperformedliveandratherthanusingagenerativeapproach,weengagewith thescoreandcall livecues for eachvideosequence. Assuch therearepoints in thescorewhereweknowtheimageswillsyncwiththemusic.Yet,whilecertaincues seemobvious,manymore are discretionary.Humanslovemakingmeaning. Being ‘lost’ and then found, brings aparticularjoy.IfindMovement4,whichBeriooriginallymeantasthefinalmovement,tobeespeciallyintriguinginlookingatthesemomentsofresonancejustbecauseitsslowpanofakitchenscapeissohumblyanti-climactic.Afterthegreatmenandtheirmovementshavebeenrememberedandensconcedinhistory,insolemnitythecamera,thelight,makesalingeringpassovercups,apieceoftoast,somecansofpeasraising

them–likeunrememberedmonuments–thenrests,inthatsmallkitchenoftheeveryday,onawomandoingdishes.

To summarize, this analysis of Animate Sinfonia acknowl-edges its historic references, the archive, cinematic struc-turesandexpandedanimationbutitalso musttouchonthepoeticand thequestionofpoeticpointsofcontact.GastonBachelard makes the case that poetry summons more ofrealitythanalistingofthefacts.InThe Poetics of Spacehealludes to the phenomenologist EugeneMinkowski and histheoriesonretentirorreverberation–whichisdescribedasakindofsonorityofbeingastherealmeasureofapoeticimage(Bachelard,1994).

In2011Iwroteaboutthisideaofsonorityinmypaper“Poet-icsandpublicspace:an investigation intoanimated installa-tion”(p.75)andquoteMinkowskitoexplainhowaform,orabuilding,orananimatedinstallationcomestolife–orfillswithlife–inaspace.Minkowskidrawsananalogytodescribethispropertyofreverberation“asifawell-springexistedinasealedvaseand itswaves, repeatedlyechoingagainst thesidesofthisvase,filleditwiththeirsonority”(Bachelard,p.xvi).

In the end, it is the sounding together – the orchestrationandthevisualchoreography–muchofitsampledfromstillphotos,theverydefinitionoftheindex,thatanimationenters

Fig. 7 KitchenscapePan,StillfromSinfoniaMovement4, RoseBond,2020.

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-steppingwellbeyondManovich’s‘clayimprint’-toconjureafictiveexpressionofthereal.Attimesanaloofdancepartner,Sinfonia’svisualsunmoorexpectationsandreverberatewithBerio’smorphingorchestralscoreanditsmazeofillusionandallusion-callingustocometogripswithourinitialconfusionandlearn“tobereceptivetothepeculiarlyvividaestheticim-pactofthehalfunderstood”(Osmond-Smith,1985,p.91).

References

Bachelard,Gaston(1994).The Poetics of Space.Boston:Bea-con.

Beckett, Samuel (1965).The Unnameable. NewYork: GrovePress.

Berio,Luciano(2018).Berio, Boulez, Ravel.CDProgramNotesSeattleSymphony.

Boulez,Pierre&theOrchestreNationaldeFrancewithWardSwingle & the New Swingle Singers (1969). Sinfonia. Re-trieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xnonVC-jKwc

Bond,Rose(2011).Poeticsandpublicspace:aninvestigationintoanimatedinstallation.Animation Practice, Process & Pro-duction,1(1),75.

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