Ephemeron is a music living organism. During each concert, the work is born, evolves, and dies at the end of the performance. The performance space, including the audience, is the “natural environment” of this music organism. This music organism is fed from the sound of its environment through microphones while it feeds back the environment with sound through the speakers. Music organism and the environment are an interconnected and inseparable ecosystem.
There is no pre-recorded material at any stage. The work emerges as a music organism from the interactions among space algorithm and (if any) user-performer. In the original version, the initial material of the composition is the applause coming from the previous piece.
The Recording
The recording is a fixed acousmatic version based on the material of Ephemeron. It uses material from two organisms in different environments and audiences’ reactions (the De Montfort University, U.K. concert hall and the Kubus of Z.K.M., Germany). The material of these live organisms was taken from particular spatio-temporal situations to construct transferable realities in time and space.
Now, there is no live organism any more. Here, you are in this place, observing the history of another reality. You are experiencing the construction of a new reality surrounding you, the reality of your actual perception.
The recording can be considered a ‘photograph’ of the music organism that existed under particular circumstances. The recording provided is a stereo mix of the original version.
Ephemeron was commissioned by the Z.K.M. institution and saxophonist Pedro Bittencourt. Originally, it was conceived as a real-time electronics “concert work”.
It was initially developed in the concert hall of Z.K.M. Karlsruhe and the Maison de Science de l’Homme/Univerité de Paris 8. It premiered at Z.K.M. Kubus Concert Hall.
Ephemeron has been presented as a concert piece or installation numerous times worldwide. The algorithm has become an ecosystemic music instrument, the backbone of several projects of Kollias.
Research papers about Ephemeron:
Ephemeron: Control over Self-Organised Music
The Self-Organising Work of Music
Overviewing a Field of Self-Organising Music Interfaces: Autonomous, Distributed, Environmentally Aware, Feedback Systems
