sinfonio samothraki

(for underground speakers, radio-controlled microphones and goat bells)

written by you nakai

premiered at the jetLag festival 2010, wind gap, pennsylvania

18 & 19 June 2010

with nikita sharimoff and yoni niv

and one rc car

I - to be performed outdoors, above a non-concrete ground, preferably in the evening.

II - disperse 10 - 20 speakers throughout the performance space and bury them underground. divide the speakers into two groups (A and B) and connect each group to a distributer. connect the two distributers to a mixer via a matrix mixer. use wireless transceivers if necessary.

III - attach a portable microphone (and a contact microphone, if necessary) to a radio-controlled vehicle (helicopter, car, boat, etc). connect the microphone(s) to a wireless transmitter. connect its receiver to the mixer.

IV - attach a portable microphone (and a contact microphone, if necessary) to the performer controlling the radio-controlled vehicle. connect the microphone(s) to a wireless transmitter. connect its receiver to the mixer.

V - arrange setting of matrix mixer so that the two inputs from the rc vehicle (V) and the controller (C) can be output from both and/or either group of speakers. enable the switching between of at least the following connections: V to A, C to B, V to A+B, C to A+B, V+C to A, V+C to B, V+C to A+B

VI - prepare as many goat bells as there are audiences (expected). attach the bells to clippers with strings. calculate the size of the bell and the length of the string so that it is hard to notice when clipped onto one’s clothes. attach one or two bells to the performer and two or three to the rc vehicle.

VII - in performance, a) control the rc vehicle while moving around among the audiences and switching the matrix mixer, b) clip the goat bells to each audience secretly while they are distracted by the decoy sounds created by the interaction between the rc vehicle microphone and the underground speakers. distribute these two tasks among two performers if necessary.

VIII - decide on the movement of the rc vehicle and the matrix switching based on the sole aim to distract the audiences who have not yet been bell clipped. listen attentively therefore, not to the sound coming from the underground speakers, but to the sound of the bells and the direction they are coming from.

IX - when all the audiences are bell clipped, turn off the rc vehicle and mixer.

X - let each audience decide whether to leave with the bells attached or to return them back.

samothraki - new york - pennsylvania, 1-18 june 2010