This study is designed to provide access to and facilitate the recording of life and death events. Each event requires a complete commitment to sound as an instrument of communication. The recordings will be used as storytelling devices, mixed and arranged into a final production. The sound from these events, and the final album produced, will be the heart and soul of this project, prioritizing sound in a way not often highlighted within multimedia artwork. The goal is not to make “songs” in the strict sense of the word, but rather to respectfully portray the emotions experienced during each event, through recorded sound.

The human body, and the context it finds itself in, is the central subject of each event. It is every instrument, every voice, and every source. By using the body as sound material, we hope to be able to really understand others in order to better understand ourselves. What is unique about this approach, and what differentiates it from the sounds musicians make using their bodies, is that we will record life and death as it happens naturally, without directing the human subjects; we will merely be sensitive witnesses. In doing so, this study puts audio recording into the role of observer. Rather than invent something new, we seek to understand what already exists. In every case, with every human experience, we will be granted unique permission into intimate lives. Our documentation will not only bear witness, but will also pay tribute to humanity.

This study is a challenge. The idea behind the study asks us–creators, participants, observers, and the audience–to investigate our own humanity. A preparation routine, moderated by the project clinician and the ritual designer, both before and after each event, will be required in order to respect the mental stability of everybody involved.

The final work, which will consist of a recorded album, plus supporting multimedia, will be carefully designed and strategically released to the public with the utmost respect to every life story it contains. All of this will be produced and managed by SPACE, an international collective of communication art professionals who seek to challenge traditional formats of media. SPACE is committed to guarantee that the organic experience of the study be carried through to the listener’s experience of the finished work. This will yield a product which will be as haunting, surprising, predictable, beautiful, tragic, and as simple and chaotic as human nature itself; all through the objective eye of individuals that are committed to the representation of life as it is: no more, no less.

UAIQ is powered by SPACE. Visit iwantspace.com for more.