Tomáš Vtípil

I intend to use my AiR stay in Vienna to prepare material for an eight-channel sound piece for the TONSPUR_passage in the MQ, with the working title "Free Schoenberg". This idea (which has stemmed from discussions with music critic Boris Klepal and curator Jozef Cseres) plays with the fact that the works of Vienna-born pioneer dodecaphonist are in public domain from 2022 on, having exceeded the statutory deadline of 70 years after the composer's death. This is an interesting and ambiguous situation: it seems to be affirming composer’s iconic status as one of the classicists but at the same time deprecating his music as something old and thus worthless. In theory, it should be easier bringing Schönberg's works more prominently to the public now, as they are freed from royalties. But how does this apply in a world where (1) most music is (seemingly) for free anyway and (2) despite composer's unquestionable position, most musicians consider his music unplayable and for most listeners it is unlistenable, even for free?

With this in mind, I'd like to create a hybrid form between fixed and generative sound composition that would include quotations of now-free Schǒnberg compositions - heavily time-stretched, transposed, misshapen and (mis)iterpreted (also by means of spoken word and movement), in situ field recordings and occasional inept or even awkward moments produced by smuggling counterpoint topics of physicality and free will into the mix.