Tomás Vtipil

Schönberg For Free (Garbage Music)

The idea behind this sound piece (which stems from discussions with music critic Boris Klepal and curator Jozef Cseres) plays with the fact that the works of the Vienna-born pioneer dodecaphonist are in the public domain from 2022 on, having exceeded the statutory deadline of 70 years after the composer’s death. This is an interesting and ambiguous situation: it seems to be affirming the composer’s iconic status as one of the classicists but at the same time deprecating his music as something expired and thus worthless. In theory, it should be easier bringing Schönberg’s works more prominently to the public now, as they are freed from royalties. But how does this apply in a world where (1) most music is (seemingly) for free anyway and (2) despite the composer’s unquestionable position, most musicians consider his music unplayable and for most listeners it is unlistenable to, even for free?

With this in mind, I’d like to create a hybrid form between fixed and generative sound composition that would include quotations of now copyright-free Schönberg compositions — heavily time-stretched, transposed, misshapen and (mis)interpreted (also by means of spoken word and movement), in situ field recordings and occasional inept or even awkward moments, produced by smuggling counterpoint topics of physicality and free will into the mix.
– Tomáš Vtípil

Tomáš Vtípil, born in Liberec, Czech Republic in 1981, lives and works in Brno, Czech Republic. 79th TONSPUR-Artist-in-Residence at Q21/MQ.

Photo © Véra Vtipilová

Tomás Vtipil @ Q21 AiR: https://www.mqw.at/institutionen/q21/artists-in-residence/tomas-vtipil