Immersion into Noise - an international seminar with Joseph Nechvatal on 22nd January 2015

In this seminar, we were introduced to noise music. How it was composed and originated from futurist movement where the main interest is on speed. We experienced noise music listening to some of the masterpieces from Luigi Russolo, Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry, John Cage, La Monte Young, Pagam Muzak to recent bands and artists like Liturgy, Merzbow and Joseph Nechvatal himself. Some of them are subtle, some are extreme.

The idea of ‘noise’ was discussed on how we, as an audience perceive it. Nechvatal states that it creates frustration and change consciousness to engage audience. Noise has also become part of the elements in his visual works.

Based on own’s inquiries, Nechvatal’s early works focus on drawings, (problematising) appropriation of mass media and re-contextualisation. Personally, I recall sense of noise in them. The lines drawn cancel (intersect) others. He later shifted interests during the early 90s concerning with AIDS which lead to ‘viruses’ and generative art. He has collaborate with programmers to create computer programming that creates moving image randomly. The term ‘viractuallity’ (virtual+actual) as an art theory has been developed concerning technological, virtual reality. 

Most of his works are in big scale. Nechvatal has an idea that bigger scale ‘hits the whole body (of audiences) and creates certain impacts’.