On the entropy circuit: Brian Ferneyhough's Time and Motion Study II

Abstract:

This article discusses aspects of the relationship between the vocalising cellist and the live electronics in Brian Ferneyhough's piece Time and Motion Study II . These include: first, the suggestion that the relation, rather than being oppositional as Ferneyhough himself has suggested, is actually one of a combined cyborg identity, albeit one that will end in mutually assured destruction; and, second, the idea that the electronics act as an `entropy circuit', both absorbing and preserving the piece's potential gestural energy, and simultaneously guaranteeing that the energy will be exhausted by removing its gestural element.

Keywords: Ferneyhough, Brian; Haraway, Donna; Cyborg; Entropy; Gesture

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/07494460600647493