Paranoia in the Expanded Field: Four Forms of Alienation (2016)

Program notes: Paranoia in the Expanded Field: Four Forms of Alienation is an unstable environment of constantly shifting power structures. Sometimes performers are ignored and respond aggressively, sometimes a performer tries to maintain a neutral indifference, sometimes a performer takes the lead, etc. Relationships are formed, explored, and destroyed through sonic material and theatrical action. Self-preservation and “the greater good” clash but occasionally common goals align, if only for a moment.

Explanation:  Paranoia in the Expanded Field: Four Forms of Alienation explores themes that are common in much of my technology-driven work, most notably, the composition of power structures between entities. In this case, those entities are the human performers and their relationships are composed mostly through theatrical instructions in the score.

In addition to this theater, however, the piece also develops the performer relationships through sound. Some moments of the piece offer sonic freedom, others are painfully strict, and some are targeted directly at certain individuals. The end result is theater that both results from and results in sound.

The title is a nod to the famous Rosalind Krauss essay Sculpture in the Expanded Field but also draws influence from Stanislaw Lem’s Memoirs Found in a Bathtub as well as the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The piece was composed for Yarn|Wire.