The Film Sextet: a performance malfunction and the wrong audience

Speech


Ghikas, P. 2015. The Film Sextet: a performance malfunction and the wrong audience.
AuthorsGhikas, P.
TypeSpeech
Description

This presentation / performance tracks the story of a musical composition’s unintentional capacity to mislead both its performers and its audience. At rehearsal, the first run-through of The Film Sextet produced an event that could only have been the result of multiple and continuing failures in a process that typically should have lead the work to a performance-ready status. This aimless, structure-less, emotionless and intention-less version of The Film Sextet bared no resemblance to the composer’s idea of purposed control within a broader scheme of free agency for the performers.

For a work inspired by the performance-driven, improvised narratives found in John Cassavetes’ films, this first take seemed to resemble the anti-language, non-narrative conceptual approach found in The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (Handke, 1970 – Wenders, 1972). The reasons for this generic “malfunction” are multiple: a partly instructions-based score, reliance on non-traditional performance practices, the ensemble is used to playing specific kinds of “new music”, the performers expect a linearity in the score’s presentation. As the composer listens back to the recording, there is a hopeless realisation: like any work, ownership ends at the performance, but how could one replicate this “failure”? How can one intentionally design the absence of intentionality in a musical performance?

The Film Sextet received a “successful” performance, now publicly available to view and listen to online. The viewing statistics are uncharacteristic for this kind of marginal work: a title similarity has exposed thousands of viewers to the wrong Film Sextet. What where they thinking?

KeywordsComposition; mobile form; improvisation; performance; notation; instructions-based score; improvised narrative
Year2015
ConferenceGLITCH 2015: The Politics and Poetics of Failure, Error, Disorder and Noise
Related URLhttps://www.canterbury.ac.uk/arts-and-humanities/cpbra/conferences/glitch-2015.aspx
File
Publication process dates
Deposited08 Jan 2016
Completed14 Dec 2015
Permalink -

https://repository.canterbury.ac.uk/item/879ww/the-film-sextet-a-performance-malfunction-and-the-wrong-audience

  • 68
    total views
  • 15
    total downloads
  • 1
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Free improvisation duo: P Ghikas and Tom Ward
Panis Ghikas Free improvisation duo: P Ghikas and Tom Ward.
Connections
Herbert, D., Ghikas, P., Hodgson, J., Long, T., Glanfield, W, Cook, P, Sloman, N, Fletcher, L, Bailey, S., Wolloshin, M, Cano, D., Chenour, P, Braithwaite, A, Bailey, N., Hues, J., Williams, S., Smith, M., Leahy, D., Slawson, K., Burrows, W., Peddie, K. and Parker, E. 2023. Connections .
Expanded radio: Panos Ghikas & Yannis Patoukas
Ghikas, P. and Patoukas, Y. 2023. Expanded radio: Panos Ghikas & Yannis Patoukas.
Classic escalation of commitment
Ghikas, P. 2022. Classic escalation of commitment.
Reconbins
Ghikas, P. 2022. Reconbins. The Complex, Little Green Street, Smithfield, Dublin, D7
Classic escalation of commitment - London Premiere, March 2022
Ghikas, P. 2022. Classic escalation of commitment - London Premiere, March 2022.
PALNIK
Panos Ghikas, Nick Roth and Alex Bonney 2022. PALNIK. Migro Records.
“A place of images, plus sounds” (Chion, 1994)
Ghikas, P. 2022. “A place of images, plus sounds” (Chion, 1994).
Unrealtime
Herbert, D. and Ghikas, P. 2022. Unrealtime.
Free Range Orchestra performance with Evan Parker
Herbert, D., Ghikas, P., Hodgson, J., Long, T., Glanfield, W, Cook, P, Sloman, N, Fletcher, L, Bailey, S., Wolloshin, M, Cano, D, Chenour, P, Braithwaite, A, Bailey, N, Hues, J, Williams, S, Smith, M, Leahy, D, Slawson, K, Burrows, W, Peddie, K and Parker, E 2021. Free Range Orchestra performance with Evan Parker. Colyer Fergusson - University of Kent 25 - 25 Jul 2021
Unrealtime combat
Ghikas, P. and Wright, M. 2021. Unrealtime combat. Migro Records.
Digital technology
Ghikas, P., Von Weizsäcker, J., Duncan, K., Immig, B., Hope, C. 2020. Digital technology.
Unrealtime mores
Ghikas, P. 2020. Unrealtime mores. Online 08 - 10 Sep 2020
The consuming flame: Open exercises in group form
Ghikas, P., Daniel, D. and Schmidt, M. C. 2020. The consuming flame: Open exercises in group form. Thrill Jockey.
Unrealtime
Ghikas, P. 2020. Unrealtime.
Unbread
Panos Ghikas and Alex Ward 2019. Unbread. Migro Records.
Unrealtime video improvisation software
Herbert, D. and Ghikas, P. 2018. Unrealtime video improvisation software.
Unreal-time improv
Ghikas, P. 2018. Unreal-time improv. in: Glover, R. and Redhead, L. (ed.) Collaborative and Distributed Processes in Contemporary Music Making Newcastle Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 147-166
Night visit
Ghikas, P. 2012. Night visit.
Unreal-time improv - Open Cycle collaborations
Ghikas, P. 2016. Unreal-time improv - Open Cycle collaborations.
Migro Records
Ghikas, P. 2010. Migro Records. UK Migro Records.
Historical documents of the Irish avant garde
Ghikas, P., Walshe, J., Roth, N., Berndt, J., Ford, F., Gilgunn, P., Graham, S., Munro, M., O’Rahallaigh, R. and Schlepper-Connolly, B. Walshe, J. (ed.) 2015. Historical documents of the Irish avant garde. USA Aisteach Institute Ireland.
Free improvisation at Cafe Oto (London) performance featuring Jennifer Walshe, MC Schmidt (Matmos), Panos Ghikas and Vicky Bennett
Ghikas, P., Walshe, J., Schmidt, M. and Bennett, V. 2015. Free improvisation at Cafe Oto (London) performance featuring Jennifer Walshe, MC Schmidt (Matmos), Panos Ghikas and Vicky Bennett. London, UK 19 Nov 2015
Historical documents of the Irish avant-garde
Ghikas, P., Walshe, J., Roth, N., Berndt, J., Ford, F., Gilgunn, P., Graham, S., Munro, M., O’Rahallaigh, R. and Schlepper-Connolly, B. 2015. Historical documents of the Irish avant-garde.
What music, what politics? How corporate work and academia made me improvise more.
Ghikas, P. 2015. What music, what politics? How corporate work and academia made me improvise more. Conference: Compositional Aesthetics and the Political. Department of Music, Goldsmiths, University of London 21 Feb 2015
Unreal-time improv: composing an instrument that builds a performance
Ghikas, P. 2015. Unreal-time improv: composing an instrument that builds a performance.
Performers under the influence: The Film Sextet
Ghikas, P. 2011. Performers under the influence: The Film Sextet. in: Costa Valente, A. and Capucho, R. (ed.) Avança Cinema 2011 Avança Editions. pp. 43-57