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Multiplexing at MOMus Museum of Contemporary Art | Thessaloniki

Multiplexing is now exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art MOMus at Thessaloniki as part of the exhibition “Public Domain”. The exhibition takes place from 11th of March 2022 till 25th of September 2022. The opening on 11.3 is free for the public.

In telecommunications and computer networks, multiplexing (MUX) is a method in which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one over a shared medium. The aim is usually to share a scarce resource. For example, in telecommunications, several telephone calls may be carried using one wire. Multiplexing originated in telegraphy in the 1870s, and is now widely applied in communications. In this particular work, the idea of MUX is transferred into the sound domain. A series of logically performed processes are channeled and distributed through a transistor array, activating a matrix of micro-sound sources thus building a large, mechanically generated, sound-cloud. Each cell of the system is becoming a part of a larger sound body. Each voice, no matter how infinitesimal,  matters in order to build a collective sound-set. The work symbolically refers to the unity that we all need -in these dark days- in our world.

More information about the work here
Information about the exhibition here
Museum opening hours: https://www.facebook.com/MOMusContemporary

Read More »Multiplexing at MOMus Museum of Contemporary Art | Thessaloniki

Music always wins | Longleash Trio | New York

meta.ξ | music always wins | a dramatized installation by Longleash Trio

Chaconne for piano, violin, Violoncello, and fixed media is going to get its premiere in New York on the 7th of July 2021 by the American Trio Longleash. The piece is focusing on the sonic moment of a glass breaking and creating a crystalline sound while its particles fall apart on the ground. A special poem was composed by Gundega Smite and myself for this purpose and was used as an outline for the development of the form of the piece.

poem by Gundega Smite & Dimitris Maronidis


When asked about his work words and music and the battle between the two, Samuel Beckett was clear: music is the absolute winner, as it “is the idea itself, unaware of the world of phenomena”2, in contrast to Beckett’s view on language and its expressive limitations

This is indeed true, since music ―especially abstract music― has no signified meaning, at least in the way language has. Even when an extra-musical idea or text is signified through the music, to the unaware listener music remains ―and can be perceived as― a signifier, since there is no established code attaching certain meanings to certain sounds.

When it comes to a live performance of music, is this autonomy a virtue or a flaw? Especially when more than one fields of art are involved and a certain ―or uncertain― message is to be delivered, is the absence of the signified a desired quality of music?

At the bottom line, this principle seems to be inevitably present. Thus, the question raised is not how to change the nature of music, but rather the way it is perceived. That is, to question Beckett’s note: why does music always win? Why is language ―or its visual representation― inferior to music?

In a conventional concert situation, the audience is placed against the stage (and the music) and perceives it in a rather passive way, in the sense that no action that can interfere with the performance is meant to be taken. In this way, any other element that could possibly function as a reference (or even signified) is imposed on the top of music and is decorative. In this situation, music wins again.

Read More »Music always wins | Longleash Trio | New York

Multiplexing now in permanent collection of MOMus | Thessaloniki

As of today 22.6.2020, my kinetic sound sculpture Multiplexing belongs to the permanent collection of MOMus Museum of Modern Art in Thessaloniki, Greece. I feel thrilled! I am taking this opportunity to share a few thoughts about the way a composer might feel when expressing himself in a quite different medium than pure sound (visuals, sculpture, etc). 

Generally, I believe that apart from the technical differences between various forms of art, there is common ground in the process of expressing oneself through artistic means. Same agonies, efforts, failures, etc. Nevertheless, there were two very special aspects I experienced with this work and I would like to share. The first is the way I interacted with the audience-spectators and the second is the way I had to treat the work after its first exhibition was over.

Read More »Multiplexing now in permanent collection of MOMus | Thessaloniki