BIRDSONG CRANNIES

Beschreibung
"In this piece I compose irate noise arising from the depth, out of the cracks and crannies opening within a smooth beautiful surface. Wrath is patterned onto a pleasant vocal surface.
This piece is part of a body of work: in which I explore the potential of punctuation as a compositional principle. My work and research are deeply linked to my personal experience. I am born in Vienna and have lived here for most of my life. Austria is a beautiful country with a rich cultural heritage. Life can be comfortable and pleasant in Vienna. However, there is tendency in Austria to hide the unwanted underneath the surface; certain themes are not discussed in public. Literally, in the basements, darkness is hidden.

In this composition, singing alternates with spoken passages. In the beginning, the spoken sections are whispered. As the composition unfolds, the spoken passages become more pronounced, turning into noisy and irate vocal utterings. Wrath never becomes loud in this piece; I experience strong wrath as contained and soft rather than loud. When I feel wrathful, there is a level of cold-blooded control and planning going on, before I would execute a wrathful action; I would not act on impulse, I would think before I act. I imagine a fictional wrathfulness in this work, which might be connected to the things unvoiced and hidden. Wrath and hidden understructures affect the social environment, they block and obstruct the welfare of the community. I can hear their noise, if I listen into the silence.

In my German text, I reflect on a passage from Romeo and Juliet in which William Shakespeare uses the image of a rose to lead a discussion about what might be essential for a person’s identity. Juliet talks in a poetic way about how a person’s ‘identity’ is constructed through their name, or through the outward appearance that can be perceived by others. But the true essence of a person – she talks about Romeo here – is beyond any of those categories, which are essentially empty and meaningless to her.

I contrast the German text with excerpts from Virginia Woolf, about birds and their activities being observed in a garden. At a closer look, the birds are transformed, and turn from lovely creatures into uncanny, cruel beings which fight among each other, pecking and killing. Both the English and the German texts are deconstructed and interlaced in my composition. With this method I want to open up space for a more direct mode of listening. In the space between the texts, the ears might listen into the interior of a situation, beyond the surface appearance."
Pia Palme (2015)

Uraufführung
25. Mai 2015 - Graz, KUG (ESC Medien Kunst Labor)
Veranstaltung: V:NM Festival Graz
Mitwirkende: Prof. Annette Giesriegl’s class at the Jazz department of Kunstuniversität KUG Graz - Lori van Gremberghe, Veronika Grießlehner, Svitlana Varava, Johanna Seitinger, Paik Sehyun

Aufnahme
Titel: BIRDSONG CRANNIES
Plattform: Vimeo
Herausgeber: Palmeworks
Datum: 25. Mai 2015
Mitwirkende: Prof. Annette Giesriegl’s class at the Jazz department of Kunstuniversität KUG Graz - Lori van Gremberghe, Veronika Grießlehner, Svitlana Varava, Johanna Seitinger, Paik Sehyun