In his illustrated talk at Moogfest, Brian Eno provided a context for his latest work, outlining the history of music as it relates to science and society.
The history of European classical and experimental music is one of a hierarchical structure, exemplified by the orchestra. In this model, there is a creative “source” or a “god” in the conductor, The orchestra then adheres to this “god’s” will. In the 20th Century Musique Concrète took a radically different approach with recorded sounds on tape and phonograph becoming the source for a new form of music. As experimental music was moving away from the idea of the composer as creator, it was also moving away from notes being the vehicle as field recordings and microtonal systems became more prominent.
According to Eno, it seemed this was the only direction for music to move until Terry Riley came out with In C. In C made complex music with very simple rules. 35 musicians were given multiple phrases in the key of C to play any number of times and in any order.
Eno was inspired by Riley’s use of a single key combined with surrendering some of the aspects of being a willful composer. He experimented and expanded on some of Riley’s ideas in his work in 1978 on Music for Airports.
Acknowledging the underlying feeling when you’re at an airport that you just might die, Eno wanted people to feel, “Does it really matter?” He found inspiration in the idea of the feeling of surrendering to something larger than one’s self and he did so even in he act of creating the music.
Brian Eno shows a drawing of him composing Music for Airports while simply lounging and listening.
The history Brian Eno presents is a narrative of what he calls the human states of control and surrender. The movement of generative music and art is one that mirrors our view of science and society. It mirrors the way we see ourselves in relation to the universe. It challenges the artist to accept the possibility that, as we are not at the center of the universe, we also may not be the center of our own creativity.
“The act of composing becomes the act of something happening to you”
Eno plays with the ideas of creative forces and immortality with 77-Million Paintings, a generative piece using computer software to combine images of his own work. They fade slowly into each other at a rate such that it would take more than 400 years to see the repetition. This is, of course, accompanied by Eno’s music, an ambient mosaic of bells and unidentifiable sounds.
“Generative art is an idea where you stop thinking about the artist as an architect… and you start to think of them instead as a gardener.”
The result is something truly moving – a space where one loses all sense of time – a space one doesn’t want to leave. A space to sit and experience creative genius from wherever it may come.
77 Mililion Paintings Official Site
Brian Eno’s Official Shop