Installation | Finlay Graham: an egg with fouled neurons
an egg with fouled neurons is a variable duration installative performance on a synthesizer fully coded by the composer in MaxMSP which utilizes a post-tonal framework to transform large harmonic sets, preserving the fidelity of harmonic intervals while transforming harmonic identity, allowing for movement through a complex harmonic pattern. Through a 1-4 hour long performance, this unbound harmony is explored within a spatialized environment. “The egg lacks organs and cellular structure, but it could be alive. When vibrated, it would notice the each simplified frequency. If you apply equal pressure to all sides, it doesn’t break, but moments of concentration are dangerous. If permeated and submerged, it’s unclear where the egg begins, and what is inside.
This work is structurally built around the frequency at 440 Hz (A4), but temporally it moves moves through 8 sections:
1. the breath
2. Subconscious initiation
3. Embodiment/mirroring
4. silence
5. onset
6. liberation
7. oneness and death
8. contraction
About the artist
Finlay Graham (b. 2005, he/him), is an American composer and educator based in Asheville, North Carolina and Oberlin, Ohio whose work is inspired by nature, spirituality, emotion, and intimacy.
Graham is currently enrolled at Oberlin College and Conservatory studying Music Composition and Neuroscience with a minors in Music and Cognition and TIMARA (Technology in Music and Related Arts). He currently studies composition under Jesse Jones.