theory v. praxis

in spite of this afternoon's escapades, i still believe in the conceptual viability of tamari/mirin pumpkin seeds. unfortunately, the stickily sweet glob drying in the kitchen tells a different story, and - besides their distressing, distinctive lack of tamari-ness - my cooking them stove top also led to the inclusion of olive oil, which i now realize was applied in excess. rather than viewing it as a failed experiment, however, i prefer to think of it as an illustration of the gap between theory and praxis. but this is beside the point.

the point is that my yin and i leave for North Carolina in a few days, and last night we entered into a conversation regarding Cao Guimarães' maddening masterpiece nanofania. we encountered the piece at the midpoint of our Art Basel excursion, and if not for my attempt to (self-)medicate a wicked headache with Coca-Cola, we may have passed it by without giving it the time and attention it deserved.

fortunately, the botanical garden (and its outbuilding) next to the convention center had been overrun (like the rest of Miami) by the Swiss art behemoth, and one room - empty and dark - made it the perfect choice for my convalescing. inside,

(i listened:)

to most composition systems,

(languages, codes, etc.),

there is an internal logic,
cohesion and coherence.
the piece

(a filmic score)

breaks those ties.
for example,
the image of a bubble bursting

()

has no relation to the sound

(volume, pitch, etc.)

of a toy piano -
other than that determined by the composer.
furthermore,
a different note on that same piano

(found noise, etc.)

need not relate to the first sound.
the composition is thus freed from the bounds

(and limitations)

of its notation system.