Music For Liminal Spaces – Purgatory

In “Purgatory” [2021] the underlying code creates an original version of the piece each time it is restarted. Although always familiar no two versions are ever the same and if allowed, each composition will play endlessly, subtly evolving over time. Consciously listening to a machine compose music in real time has a strange yet pleasant effect on one’s experience. Knowing that each combination of sounds you hear is happening at the whim of an algorithm and may never be heard again creates a perpetual anticipatory state that seems to heighten the experience of “Now”, similar to the feeling of a liminal experience: moving from one state of being to the next. Finally, In an homage to another icon of liminality, the visuals are based on the analog TV test card which would appear when that evening’s schedule had ended. Again bolstering that feeling of being in between states.

James Murphy (IR)
Originally from Co.Down, Northern Ireland and now living and working in Berlin, Germany Not James Murphy (NJM) is a composer and creative-coder focused on generative and aleatoric audio-visual works. He uses algorithmic sound and vision to explore themes of time, free will and the concept of creativity.