21
October
2018
11 a.m.
Donaueschingen, Donauhallen, Mozart Saal
Donaueschinger Musiktage
Case White
UA UA UA UA
Koka Nikoladze — 21.10.18
I enjoy toggling between two extremes — I either give a lot of agency to performers turning them into co-composers or I take away all their freedoms and control them, turning them into “human robots”. I use technology to accomplish this, on the side of musicians I use visual cues, aural commands, etc., and on my side I use some mainstream MIDI controllers, a joystick and custom made sensors.
For several years now, I’ve been exploring technology as extension of my human self. I gradually moved away from composing works with common notation and focused more on developing technology instead. My works aren’t printable, they exist in the form of algorithms and sketches. I build customised hardware and software mostly for every other performance and use that for interfacing with human ensembles.
In this context, I’m trying to stop giving implausible names to my works and name them by their first performance date. 21.10.18 is one of such works. The keyword I had in mind when composing 21.10.18 was "immediacy" — something I’ve been missing a lot when working with common notation in the traditional manner. I don’t feel comfortable with composing fixed and reproducible works for months to be performed several times, but find building technology way more entertaining, satisfying and inspiring, as it lets me make my works modular and gives me a lot of immediately accessible creative space.
In 21.10.18, every member of the ensemble has an interactive note stand where I display and change musical elements during performance turning the ensemble into an acoustic synthesizer. This lets me build dynamic landscape structures by turning knobs, moving faders and pushing buttons. With such landscapes in the background, I also trigger short “solos” and give a voice to each member of Klangforum Wien. 21.10.18 is an immersive documentary about Klangforum Wien and about myself.
—Koka Nikoladze, 2018
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