Concert for Double Bass ‘In Absentia’

The project “Concert for Double Bass ‘In Absentia’” explores the effects of spatial displacement between performer and audience on the production and reception of free improvised practices. An instrument fitted with contact speakers and placed in a space becomes a conduit for sound, creating a reversal of roles–the audience is present in the performance space while the performer streams an improvisation from another location. This setting breaks established conventions and expectations of a performance situation, and therefore allows for a thorough analysis of the various ways in which improvisatory practices are perceived and conceptualized. The framework of the performance provides stimulation resulting in a series of qualitative interviews with members of the audience on the topics of absence, classification, perception of musical form, distraction, and interaction. Through these interviews, clear irritations in relation to the absence of a performer have been observed. These initial irritations in turn stimulated heightened levels of imaginative thinking and listening during the performance. This project shows how an experimental performative setting can provide a starting point for subsequent theoretical research.