Will Self; Notes Inégales; Peter Wiegold
Release Date: 29 November 2019
Label: Club Ingales
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 0610370620649
Genres: Electronic Experimental
Description
Contemporary thought joins contemporary music for this musical realisation of writer Will Self's digital essay Kafka's Wound, commissioned by the London Review of Books for BBC/ACE digital arts platform The Space. The CD showcases expertly crafted new music and cutting edge improvisation with Will Self as a guest narrator. Simple versions of traditional Klezmer tunes were spontaneously scored, and then directed live into improvised transformations. The spirited, freewheeling playing of the band pushes the music to unearth the unconscious, the raw fear so graphic in Kafka and his cryptic, hallucinatory tale. Self-selected the texts from three sources: Kafka's A Country Doctor, Kafka's diaries, and his own essay Kafka's Wound.
"Kafka's Wound": A Digital Literary Essay is a subjective examination of Franz Kafka's work through the lens of one of his stories, A Country Doctor (1919), and in particular through the aperture of the wound described in the story.
The essay was commissioned and directed by the London Review of Books, the largest literary magazine in Europe, and brought together a group of web developers, editors, researchers, academics that include Peter Wiegold, and artists, led by Self. The team explored the possibilities offered by digital media to fashion a different kind of literary essay, interspersed with music, animation, film and text inspired by Kafka's story.
The innovative project is highly collaborative, with over 70 contributors researching and creating much of the additional content. These contributors included a host of Brunel staff and students who Self challenged to produce creative digital responses to the story, including readings of Kafka's work by Brunel School of Arts Professor Johannes Birringer.
Archival material was unearthed and incorporated, and readings, interviews, translations, debates and videos documenting the creative process were also interwoven with the essay, allowing readers a unique insight into the writer's intellectual journey.
"I began by talking to people about my own ideas, about where I might be going with this piece before I had written it," explained Self in an interview featured on The Space. "It became an exercise in extended collaboration in thought in real time".
The essay is available online and through smartphone, tablet and connected TV, and is exhibited at The Space, a new digital arts platform developed by the Arts Council in partnership with the BBC.
Will Self is Professor of Contemporary Thought at Brunel University and worked closely with Peter Wiegold and Notes Inégales as the Kafka's Wound wider collaborative processes developed.
Tracklisting
Will Self; Notes Inégales; Peter Wiegold
Notes Inegales; Torbjoorn Hultmark (solo trumpet)
Note Inegales
Sam Lee; Notes Inegales; Peter Wiegold
Eclectic Maybe Band
U
Tullis Rennie
Spaceheads
Various Artists
Saagara
Dal:um
Neil Feather
