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seen as a problem-solving task, and thus an in doing so, the hunters might narrate
plans in a chosen symbolic system. Robert Jourdain (
1997
: 305) and others have
hypothesized that because the precise sites in those French caves where paintings
were found had far better acoustics than other spots in the same cave, it was likely
that the painters were accompanied by song. Theories regarding child development
seem to reinforce the plausibility of these speculations. Singing may be a form of
problem solving, as is painting or coordinating muscles in behavior (Curtis
1992
).
This, coincidentally, is applicable to categorization of color perception, and
exactly Joseph Campbell's point (
1949
), based on Jung (
1935
), mentioned previ-
ously, regarding mythologies throughout the world. The crucial step in all of this
is for us to recognize that myth is not only culturally specific, taught and learned
by culture, allowing the individual to membership that culture, but also allowing
for neurological fine-tuning, as with trance. This describes music as well. In fact,
music and myth are essentially the same, save the trivial matter of modality. That
we might devoutly believe sonic events to be profoundly distinct from conceptual
organization is ultimately a matter of how well we are fooled by our own ability to
apply categorizations.
12.3.2
Utilizing Reality
A piece which gathers text from RSS feeds and converts the ASCII characters
found into musical pitches would certainly qualify as AR. However, in the larger
scheme, this experiment failed in the way it set up a relationship between the
intelligently organized text and chaotic output of the musical composition software.
In
Composomatic
(2008), information was gathered from multiple feeds and thus
from multiple authors, with multiple unrelated contexts. No singular organizing
scheme came through. Imagine if single notes (and rests) were selected from various
compositions and strung together
at random
. The resulting music would not reflect
what each note was leading towards. This is a peculiar relationship, where the
individual notes are somewhat arbitrary out of context, but are essential building
blocks in creating a context.
In
You've Got Bugs!
(2006), the conversation is similar (Fig.
12.3
). The screen
depicts a closed-circuit video of the space in front of the screen, which includes
the audience member. The scene is somewhat distorted and discolored but easily
recognizable. One may wonder why this particular unappealing effect has been
applied. The answer appears. Small virtual insects then crawl onto the scene. The
audience member does not know at first, but the insects are crawling toward points
of motion. Thus wherever the observer moves, the bugs follow. In the course of
discovering what is happening on the screen, the audience member must behave in
ways that the gallery setting would not predict. In fact, without this explanation, it
would be rather unclear as to why the gallery visitor is ducking and swaying. This
unpredictable behavior is rather conspicuous.
